User Experience for Travel Websites

I’ve visited 40+ countries, and one shift feels impossible to miss: Travel is no longer being planned around places. It’s being planned around outcomes. Not “Where should I go?” But “What do I want to feel, do, learn, or experience?” That is a much bigger shift than it looks. Because when travel becomes experience-led, the destination stops being the product. It becomes the setting. You can see it in the data: 63% of travelers are willing to pay more for room upgrades or special extras, 42% say AI helps save time planning, 37% use it for personalized recommendations, and 36% use it to find new destinations. At the same time, word of mouth remains the most influential travel research source at 36%, while user-generated video follows at 26%. That tells us something important: Travel discovery is becoming more personalized, but trust is still deeply human. People are using AI, reels, creator content, Reddit, and recommendations together, not separately. Amadeus calls this “Travel Mixology”, a multi-source planning behavior that blends machine speed with human authenticity. And on the experience side, the shift is just as clear. American Express found that 79% of Millennials and Gen Z are likely to seek out local workshops or destination-specific activities, 76% of global respondents say skills gained on a trip stay with them longer than material souvenirs, and 83% of Millennial and Gen Z travelers prioritize unique, authentic experiences over popular tourist attractions. So the real trend is not just “personalized travel.” It is the redefinition of travel value. Earlier, value meant, more landmarks, better hotels, tighter itineraries. Now, value increasingly means, better stories, local immersion, memorable skills, and trips that feel personally designed. 📍That is why smaller destinations can win. 📍That is why curated itineraries are growing. 📍That is why social discovery matters more. 📍And that is why AI will shape planning, but probably won’t replace human taste. My view: The next phase of travel will belong to brands, creators, and platforms that understand one thing well: People are not buying a destination. They are buying a version of themselves in that destination. What kind of travel do you think is growing faster now, destination-led or experience-led? #TravelTrends #TravelIndustry #ConsumerBehavior #ExperienceEconomy #TrendAnalysis #BusinessInsights #TravelPlanning #AI #DigitalConsumer #TourismTrends #ResearchInsights

My #WiT2025 takeaways (1/10): Hospitality Show-off Luxury is dead. Long live Meaning. The new battleground in Asia Pacific hospitality is not distribution or price. It's Experience Orchestration. If your tech stack creates friction, you're losing the most valuable guest. 1. The Luxury Pivot: From Having to Becoming Luxury is shifting from material expense ("bling") to profound personal connection and purpose. Top-tier clients are moving from having (material goods) to becoming (experiences), favoring experiences that emphasize social impact or personal immersion. Some panelists therefore mentioned that the core metric for success is moving beyond RevPAR and occupancy to the Return on Emotional Investment (ROE). Loyalty is no longer just driven by points, but in some cases by co-creation and "money-can't-buy experiences", such as COMO Hotels and Resorts collaborating with NASA, as mentioned by Puneet Mahindroo during WiT (Web in Travel). 2. The Crisis of Data Orchestration While distribution channels are largely "solved" (or at least manageable at scale today), the biggest challenge is Experience Orchestration. Systematic data fragmentation still prevents a unified view of the guest, meaning technology operates in silos (pre-stay versus in-stay, F&B, spa, rooms) while the guest interacts with the hotel as a single entity. This causes visible friction: even guests who pre-check-in online frequently waste time at the front desk being asked for information they have already provided. This friction is most acute during the transition from the platform (mostly OTA but also direct) to the physical check-in. This aspect is key as a better in-stay experience may increase the probability for a guest to return by 3.8x according to panelists. 3. OTAs as Experience Partners, Not Gatekeepers In the long standing “love-hate” relationships between OTAs and Hotels, Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) are pushing to redefine their role, shifting from being mere "gatekeepers" to genuine experience partners. For example, according to Xing Xiong, COO of Trip.com, more than 50% of guest queries on platforms like Trip.com occur before the booking is finalized. By providing AI-enabled tools and pre-sale support, OTAs aim to reduce customer friction and increase conversion. 4. Scaling Independent Hospitality Independent hotel groups, such as Worldwide Hotels (WWH), benefit from flexibility and agility. As Carolyn Choo, her CEO, pointed out, the democratization of technology, especially AI, acts as an "equalizer," enabling independent operators to adopt powerful, non-proprietary revenue management and guest experience tools. In highly fragmented sectors, like luxury villas and rentals, scaling is best achieved through an M&A roll-up strategy as mentioned by Stephanie Chai from The Luxe Nomad: acquiring specialized property management companies to gain scale and market expertise. #HospitalityTech #CustomerExperience #LuxuryTravel #AI #TravelStrategy #TheWayForward

The biggest shift in travel is not pricing. It’s who understands the traveler first. The more you know about the traveler at the moment of aspiration, inspiration, and shopping, the more you control positioning, pricing — and ultimately economics. Platforms figured this out long ago. They don’t price rooms. They price intent. And that’s why we now see: • Layered, personalized pricing • Behavioral merchandising • Loyalty as a pricing engine • Demand routed by probability, not availability • Pricing shaped across the journey, not just at booking Take Expedia: what looks like simple demand growth is often powered by multi-layered segmentation and pricing orchestration — loyalty, package, geo, device, targeted promotions, B2B redistribution — all shaping perceived price and traveler behavior. Smart? Absolutely. Neutral? Not always. For suppliers, this raises a deeper question: Are we still pricing inventory… while platforms price travelers? Multi-sourcing is accelerating. New T&E players, alternative connectivity, and open ecosystems are expanding access to content and demand. But they are also shifting control toward whoever understands the traveler earliest. This is why next-generation revenue management cannot be single-dimensional. The future is multi-variable value optimization: • Traveler intent & lifetime value • Channel economics & control • Mix quality, not just volume • Loyalty, identity, and relationship depth • True net profitability, not surface ADR And AI will amplify this divide — rewarding those with rich, structured, interoperable content and real traveler intelligence. The real question is no longer: “What price should I set?” It is: “Do I understand the traveler early enough… or am I letting someone else shape the outcome?” #TravelTech #Distribution #RevenueManagement #FutureOfTravel #AIinTravel #MultiSource #Hospitality #DemandEconomics

For consumer-facing platforms, delivering relevant and personalized recommendations isn’t just about convenience—it’s key to enhancing the traveler experience. In a recent blog post, Expedia Group's Data Science team shared how they’ve refined their property search ranking algorithm to better match user intent and provide more meaningful results. Expedia’s recommendation system is traditionally designed for destination searches, where travelers enter a location and filter to find suitable lodging. In this case, the algorithm ranks properties based on their overall relevance. However, another common scenario is property searches, where users arrive on the platform looking for a specific hotel—often through external channels like search engines. If that property is unavailable, simply displaying top-ranked hotels in the area isn’t the best solution. Instead, the system needs to recommend accommodations that closely match the traveler’s original intent. To tackle this, the Data Science team enhanced their machine learning models by incorporating property similarity into the ranking process. They improved data preprocessing by focusing on past property searches that led to bookings, ensuring the model learns from real traveler behavior. Additionally, they introduced new similarity-based features that compare properties based on key factors like location, amenities, and brand affiliation. These improvements allow the system to suggest highly relevant alternatives when a traveler’s first choice isn’t available, making recommendations feel more intuitive and personalized. While broad recommendation systems lay the foundation for personalization, adapting them to specific user behaviors can greatly improve satisfaction. Expedia’s approach highlights the power of fine-tuning machine learning models to better address evolving business needs. #MachineLearning #DataScience #Algorithm #Recommendation #Customization #SnacksWeeklyonDataScience – – –  Check out the "Snacks Weekly on Data Science" podcast and subscribe, where I explain in more detail the concepts discussed in this and future posts:    -- Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gKgaMvbh   -- Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gj6aPBBY    -- Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gcwPeBmR https://lnkd.in/gFZSXpMQ

Travelers don’t care about your brand. They care about what works. Right now, OTAs are winning. Everyone in travel is obsessed with who owns the customer? Hotels think they do. OTAs really think they do. But does this matter if the customer doesn’t care? They don’t care about your brand loyalty program. They don’t care if you’re “direct.” They care about three things: Price. Flexibility. Whether your site doesn’t make them want to throw their laptop out the window. This is where OTAs have quietly eaten everyone’s lunch. They don’t pretend to be anyone’s favorite brand. They just work. Wide selection, smart filters, easy changes, and yes, still better prices than most hotel websites, even in 2025. Hotels, to their credit, are trying. But adding more flags to your brand portfolio won’t magically turn Bonvoy into an OTA. You’re not going to out-tech Expedia. And guests aren’t waking up thinking, “I hope I get elite status after night 43 this year.” Now enter AI. We’re about to move from “who has the slickest booking interface” to “who understands the traveler before they even search.” AI agents won’t care about loyalty points. They’ll care about context, price, availability, and whether your platform makes it easy to book and rebook with zero friction. The next generation of travel platforms won’t win because they shout louder. They’ll win because they’re smarter. So the real question isn’t “will AI reshape travel?” It already has. The question is: when the AI agent books the room, will it book yours? #VentureCapital #AI #Traveltech

India's travel market is projected to cross $125 billion by 2027. At the same time: - More than 70% of travel discovery now starts online - AI powered trip planning is becoming mainstream globally - Travelers are spending more time researching than booking Which means travel is quietly becoming an intelligence problem. But most travel companies are still competing like it's 2015. Right now, India's travel ecosystem is dominated by platforms like MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip.com, Cleartrip and ixigo. And to their credit, they're already using AI. We're seeing personalized recommendations, dynamic pricing engines and AI customer support ixigo has invested heavily in AI driven fare prediction. MakeMyTrip is introducing conversational planning experiences. Global players like Booking.com and Expedia are building AI trip assistants that help users navigate millions of travel combinations. But most of these systems still optimize transactions, not decisions. And that's where the next opportunity is emerging. Because travel isn't actually difficult because of booking, it's difficult because of uncertainty. People don't know: 1. Which destination fits their budget this month 2. When prices are likely to rise 3. How weather affects the experience 4. Whether their itinerary is actually realistic 5. What to do when plans suddenly change That uncertainty creates friction long before a booking happens. And AI is finally becoming capable of solving it. 📌 Adaptive Trip Planning Today's itinerary generators create a plan. Tomorrow's systems will continuously redesign it. Flight delayed? Weather changes? Attraction closed? The itinerary updates automatically. The trip becomes dynamic instead of static. 📌 Budget Intelligence Most travelers start with a destination but many should start with a budget. AI can reverse the process - "Here is where ₹50,000 gets you the best experience this month." That is often a more useful decision than searching destinations manually. 📌 Hyper Personalized Travel Most recommendation engines still think in categories. But real travel intent is far more nuanced. Someone might want Remote work + beach, Adventure + luxury and Wellness + short travel time The platforms that understand intent instead of demographics will create stronger user loyalty. 📌 Real Time Travel Copilots This is the opportunity I find most interesting. Not planning Not booking But execution Imagine an AI layer that tracks disruptions, suggests alternatives, rebooks activities, adjusts schedules and optimizes spending during the trip Travel becomes an active system instead of a static purchase. And this is where newcomers should pay attention. Because competing with giants on inventory is almost impossible but competing on decision intelligence is not. So let’s talk if you want to know how you can implement these for your Traveltech brand.

🌴 Bali’s booking journey remains heavily intermediated. That has strategic implications for hotels. 🏨 One of the more commercially important findings from the 2025 international visitor survey is not only why people come to Bali, but how they organise and book the trip. In the survey, the most frequently used online travel agents and digital travel platforms were: Booking.com — 34.1% Airbnb — 14.1% No OTA used — 11.3% Other platforms — 9.6% Tripadvisor — 9.0% Agoda — 8.7% GetYourGuide — 6.1% Klook — 5.8% trivago — 1.3% The headline is clear: Booking.com is not just leading the category; it is structurally dominant. Its share is more than double Airbnb and nearly three times the share of visitors who did not use an OTA. For Bali’s hotel and accommodation sector, this is not a minor distribution detail. It speaks directly to margin, guest ownership, pricing discipline, and conversion strategy. OTAs are powerful because they solve real problems for travellers: visibility, comparison, trust, reviews, payment ease and booking convenience. But for operators, heavy OTA dependence can also create revenue leakage. The guest may discover the hotel through social media, destination content, influencer posts or direct search, but still complete the transaction through a third-party platform. That means the property may win the stay, but lose part of the economics and much of the relationship.This is especially important in Bali, where international visitors are highly digital, independent and experience-driven. The same report shows that social media and personal recommendations are major information sources. The commercial issue is therefore not visibility alone. The real question is: Does digital attention convert into direct demand, or does it leak into intermediated channels? For developers, owners and operators, the implication is clear. OTA strategy should not be treated as a back-office revenue-management issue. It should sit at the centre of the commercial strategy. Hotels need to understand: ◾ how guests discover the property, ◾ where they compare alternatives, ◾ where they finally book, ◾ what value proposition justifies direct booking, and ◾ how loyalty can be captured before, during and after the stay. The winners will not be the hotels that simply appear on more platforms. The winners will be those that use OTAs intelligently for reach, while building stronger direct-booking pathways, better content narratives, sharper rate architecture and more compelling guest-owned relationships. In Bali’s next phase of tourism competitiveness, distribution is not just about channel mix. It is about who captures the value created by demand. 📎 (Source: Bali Provincial Tourism Office/Udayana University & Pt Hotel Investment Advisory) #Bali #Hospitality #HotelInvestment #RevenueManagement #TourismStrategy #DestinationMarketing #HotelDevelopment #IndonesiaTourism #OTA #DirectBooking #VisitorEconomy

“Today’s travel activities offer no real connection to the city you’re visiting.” Airbnb just dropped its biggest update with the goal of changing travel again. From personal training to cooking with top chefs, and more tours with locals, it's growing its experience offer and reframing what it means to connect with a place. So… what does this mean for the industry and places? ⭐ Major platforms are normalizing deeper experiences Airbnb is no longer just about where you stay. It’s positioning itself more strongly as a way to engage with a place. Experience is becoming a baseline expectation, not a niche ⭐ They’re expanding the definition of local experiences Not all of it is deeply rooted in tradition and culture, but it responds to demand for personalization, lifestyle, access and diversity ⭐ It shapes traveler behavior at scale When major platforms put spotlight on these offers, even travelers who wouldn't otherwise start to look for them by default. This puts pressure on destinations and small providers to differentiate their offer, team up, or… ⭐ It keeps on blurring the line between tourism and everyday life What used to be seen as ordinary, a workout, cooking at home, is repackaged as experiences at scale. I see the future of travel as about shared experiences - this challenges us to think about what makes something meaningful, and for who? ⭐ It forces different providers to clarify their edge If everyone can now offer "experiences", what sets community or mission-driven ones apart? The response can’t just be "we’re more authentic”. It needs to be clearer, smarter, and resonate emotionally. What's a quality experience, who gets to decide? ⭐ It creates opportunities, but not without risks Yes, scaling meaningful travel becomes more possible when big players get involved. But it also opens the door to dilution, over-professionalization, and copy-paste tourism if not done with intention… ➡️ What do you think, does this make it easier or harder to build something meaningful? ➡️ Can experiences still feel personal and grounded when platforms start to scale them? What’s needed to protect depth and local integrity as “authentic” becomes a global product? 📷 Read the full update here: https://lnkd.in/d3UpHMMT #communitytourism #travelandtourism #meaningfultravel

TikTok has officially launched TikTok GO allowing users to discover and book hotels, tours and experiences directly inside the app. And honestly? This is already exactly how people are planning travel. A few months ago, I sent a TikTok about Bodrum to a friend. Within minutes the response was: “Shall we weekend?” 😂 Three weeks later, we were in Bodrum doing the exact same beach clubs, restaurants and experiences we’d seen in the reel. That’s how quickly travel inspiration now turns into intent. And it’s why TikTok GO feels like such a significant shift for the travel industry. The traditional customer journey used to look something like this: Inspire → Research → Book Now? A single video can do all three. People aren’t just consuming travel content anymore. They’re saving it, sharing it in group chats, building itineraries from it and booking directly from the same platform they discovered it on. And now there are even AI-powered apps emerging that can identify and save locations directly from TikToks, Reels and videos people share. The customer journey is becoming shorter, faster and far more socially influenced than ever before. Which means the travel brands winning attention now aren’t necessarily the loudest… They’re the ones creating content people can actually picture themselves inside. 👉 Would someone send this to a friend? 👉 Save it for later? 👉 Instantly picture themselves there? This shift is something I explore in my book Strategic Branding in Tourism particularly around content strategy, media partnerships, creator marketing and the growing role influencers now play in shaping tourism demand and booking behaviour. Because increasingly, travel decisions are no longer being driven by traditional advertising first. They’re being driven by culture, creators and community. Really interesting read below on TikTok GO and what this could mean for the future of travel 👇 https://lnkd.in/eRSERAtX #TravelMarketing #TikTok #TourismMarketing #TravelIndustry #SocialCommerce #BrandStrategy #DigitalMarketing #TravelTrends

83% of travelers now say trust — not price — defines value when booking a hotel, according to a recent Choice Hotels survey. At first glance, that reads as a loyalty or brand affinity headline. But, in practice, I think it reflects a deeper shift in how travel decisions are being made. For much of the past two decades, the decision flow was relatively stable. A traveler would choose a destination (Paris, for example) then move to a familiar platform, whether an OTA or a loyalty ecosystem, and select a hotel, often guided by brand affinity. In that model, brand played an early and influential role, shaping the consideration set before a specific property was ever evaluated. But I think this survey, and other observed consumer travel trends of late, suggest that sequencing is changing. Increasingly, the journey begins with a property rather than a destination. A hotel hits your instagram explore feed, or someone DMs you a Reel of the property where the most recent White Lotus was filmed. The initial reaction is not to identify the brand, but to understand the place: where is it, what is it, why does it feel compelling, and how do I get there? From there, the traveler works outward — toward the location, then the broader trip — often building the itinerary around that initial point of interest. Brand still matters, but its position in the decision-making process has shifted. It is less likely to be the driver of discovery and more likely to serve as a reinforcing signal at the point of conversion. Affiliation with a trusted ecosystem (whether a major loyalty program or a third-party designation) can VALIDATE the choice, reduce perceived risk, and influence final booking behavior, BUT it is no longer the primary entry point. This distinction has meaningful implications for how hotels think about demand generation. If discovery is occurring earlier and outside of brand-controlled channels, then competing at the point of booking is no longer sufficient. Hotels must find ways to participate in the creation of demand itself through content, positioning, and association with experiences or ideas that resonate before a traveler begins a formal search. In that context, loyalty may become more valuable, not less — but in a more targeted role. Not as the mechanism that initiates interest, but as the one that helps close it. We explore this shift, along with the rise of food-led hotels and its implications for differentiation, in this week’s episode of This Week in Hospitality. Stream below or wherever you get your podcasts — and share your thoughts with Ben Wolff, Edwin Kramer, Scott Eddy, and I on the episode here or in the YouTube comments. Happy streaming!