User Experience for Travel Websites

A lot of destinations are spending big money on marketing and still blending into the background. Not because the places aren’t incredible, but because the content feels completely lifeless. I visit roughly 15 countries per year, I see it every single day, drives me crazy. Every destination says the same things. Hidden gem. Authentic culture. World class hospitality. Breathtaking views...blah blah blah. Once you’ve seen it a thousand times, it all becomes wallpaper. The problem is that most destination marketing is built around what executives want to approve instead of what travelers actually connect with emotionally. Real travel is messy, emotional, funny, loud, human, spontaneous, cultural, and personal. But most tourism content feels like it was written by committee inside a boardroom. Here’s the tactical part that DMOs seriously need to understand: 1. Stop marketing your destination like a brochure. Nobody opens social media hoping to read tourism slogans. 2. Put real people at the center of the content. Chefs, taxi drivers, bartenders, musicians, fishermen, hotel staff, street vendors, grandmothers cooking local food. That’s the soul of a destination. 3. Show movement and energy. Too much destination content feels static. Travel is emotion in motion. 4. Create content around moments, not landmarks. A place becomes memorable because of how it made someone feel. 5. Stop trying to make every post look luxury. Some of the best performing travel content online feels raw and immediate. 6. Think platform first. A LinkedIn audience, Instagram audience, TikTok audience, and YouTube audience consume content completely differently. Most DMOs still post the exact same thing everywhere. 7. Build long-term creator relationships. One influencer trip and 12 Instagram Stories is not a strategy. 8. Start creating content for AI discovery now. The destinations that tell deeper stories online today are going to dominate search visibility tomorrow. Tourism marketing has changed. Attention spans changed. Consumer behavior changed. The algorithm changed. AI changed discovery. But a huge part of the tourism world is still marketing destinations like it’s a printed magazine ad from the good old days. And then they wonder why engagement is flat. 🙄🙄🙄 --- If you like the way I look at the world of hospitality, let’s chat: scott@mrscotteddy.com

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

Here's what a 21 year-old content creator can teach the advertising and marketing industry... After a whole month, ishowspeed's Africa tour comes to an end. A tour that has delivered millions of live viewers (record breaking numbers), a multitude of experiences, with countless moments that celebrated often uncelebrated cultures, cities, languages and subcultures. A big shout out to Speed and his team for delivering a constant stream of moments that have made so many smile, laugh and feel emotional in good measure. And the learnings of it shouldn't be solely a content creators playbook, so much needs to be applied to adland. 🤣 Edutainment is a key to unlocking new consumers. 54% of consumers discover new brands within entertainment content. 82% engage more effectively with brands who create emotional connection. Edutainment is our formula at Word on the Curb to ensure audiences feel something when engaging with content. Speed's tour did this in abundance. Brands need to stop treating entertainment and storytelling as optional and start building it into the core of their comms. ⏳ The idea that content needs to be short to gain attention amongst modern audiences on social media is nonsense. Recent studies have shown that videos between 30 and 60 minutes have the highest conversion rates (17%) vs clips under a minute (2%). If your brand is looking to create human connection, vanity metrics shouldn't be the sole focus. Audiences reward content that takes them on a journey, allows them to feel engaged and leans into formats. For a month, audiences were engaged through both the long form and the short form. It shouldn't just be during Christmas that advertising focuses on long form. ✈️ The travel industry needs to level up its communications efforts. Travel is literally about crossing borders, expanding perspective and experiencing difference. Yet most tourism comms only sell landscapes and price points. What Speed’s tour did has seemingly reframed perceptions of Africa and directly led to purchase intent. I’ve seen emotional videos of young Americans (mostly) saying how this tour changed how they see the continent, upset that education did them a disservice. Imagine if travel brands actually invested in cultural storytelling? So for all the industry veterans in senior positions, I hope you take note of the cheatcodes that this content creator has provided you with over the past month.

Booking.com reminded me what most brands still get wrong. I was booking a hotel recently and when looking at reviews, they let me filter by traveler type: couples, solo travelers, business travelers, families. Because they understand something fundamental: I don't care if a family with three kids loved it. If I’m traveling alone, my requirements are completely different. So instead of drowning me in generic 5-star reviews, they showed me reviews from people like me. That's when social proof actually matters. But social proof is only one layer. After years of building trust in fintech, healthcare, and insurance, I've realised there are actually five layers: 1.Trust by Social Proof (done right): Filter social proof by who's reading it — what they do, what they're trying to solve. Make it specific to their situation, not everyone's. 2. Trust by Trial: Let them use it free. No credit card. Easy exit. Because if you've actually solved a real problem, they'll stay. 3. Trust by Affiliation: Investors. Regulators. Experts. NHS approval. FCA regulation. Credibility by association. People will delegate their trust if you've earned the right affiliations. 4. Trust by Design: Airbnb nailed this. Their entire platform is built on trust prompts. "Tell your host why you're coming." Suddenly there's rapport. Suddenly the guest understands the implicit contract: this is a community built on trust. You're not asking for it — you're designing the path to it. 5. Trust by Greater Good (without greenwashing): Why do you actually exist? At Pharmacy2U, we weren't just dispensing prescriptions at scale — we were bringing remote healthcare to the patient's doorstep. Faster access, and a freed-up NHS able to focus on what matters most. Trust is the most important commodity in relationships. And it should be the same for brands. But most brands treat trust like something you add at the end. A testimonial section. A security badge. It should be built into every single touchpoint: Your design. Your messaging. Your experience. Your why. That's when social proof actually matters. Because it's not just saying "people like you." It's proving that people like you are winning with this. What layer of trust are you actually building into your product? ♻️ Found this helpful? Repost to share with your network.  ⚡ Curious about scaling and entrepreneurship? Hit follow Maya Moufarek.

You have to speak the same language without saying the same words. That is how a ‘brand consistency’ is built I onboarded a client recently who had been working on her socials through 3 different agencies. But after almost a year, she felt like something was missing or there’s something just not right. That’s when she reached out to me. And the main problem was a very inconsistent brand presence. The website felt high-end. But the LinkedIn posts sounded like a generic “growth hacker.” The newsletters looked overly sophisticated, But Instagram felt like an afterthought and more so casual. Obviously when 3 different agencies are going to handle 3 different platforms, maintaining a consistent tonality becomes a major challenge. Especially when brand doesn’t have a solid foundation. This inconsistency doesn’t just look unaligned but also creates a disconnect from your audience that slowly chips away your perceived value. We started working on her LinkedIn first and later her Instagram, website and newsletters as well. And what did we do? On LinkedIn we positioned her with authority but kept accessible. On Instagram, we maintained the visual language but simplified the messaging. On the website, we brought depth, showcasing expertise without overwhelming. In emails, we carried the same tone as conversations: personal, valuable, intentional. And even in DMs, we protected the brand voice (because that’s part of the experience too). When done right, your audience feels the same trust, familiarity, and confidence, no matter where they meet you. Platform aesthetics may change. Personality doesn’t. If you’re serious about building a consistent, premium brand presence across LinkedIn, Instagram, Website, and Email, let’s talk. Because building an online brand is not just mindless posting. #aashified #linkedin #brand

The travel industry is leaving serious money and impact on the table. Hotels, airlines, and tourism boards still lean heavily on traditional editorial coverage when it comes to media or FAM trips. Journalism will always matter (I’m a freelance journalist myself), but the data is undeniable: most travelers are booking trips because of what they see on social media. I have worked in this space from every angle: ✈️ as a journalist telling destination stories 📸 as a content creator with a loyal, engaged audience 🌏 and as the founder of a travel community that physically brings travelers to destinations, directly impacting tourism dollars From where I stand, one thing is clear. Creators and community founders are not just a “nice-to-have” in your marketing mix. They are one of the most powerful, conversion-driving tools a destination can have. Yet somehow, we are still being asked to work for free. The same brands who will spend tens of thousands on a glossy print ad will hesitate to invest in the people actually driving bookings. Here is why that mindset needs to change: Recently, I worked with a tourism board as an influencer on a media trip and at the same time, I hosted a private trip there. While on the FAM, I brought 5 paying travelers booked in 24 hours, two weeks before departure. Those travelers posted content too, even though they are not influencers. The tourism board was shocked at both the speed of sales and the ripple effect of organic content created by everyday people. Next month, I am hosting a trip to Bali. Seventy Americans are flying across the world for this experience. That is over $300,000 in tourism dollars generated from one trip. That is 70 travelers capturing moments, telling their own stories, and inspiring their own networks. That is 70 sources of user-generated content, plus my own, plus the long-tail impact when their friends and followers start planning their own Bali trips. This is not hypothetical ROI….It’s real and measurable right now. Travel brands, this is your sign. Stop asking creators to work for free. Start seeing the value of influencer and community-led travel, and pay accordingly. The future is not just about one campaign or article posted once. It is about the social ripple effect that drives bookings, loyalty, and lasting brand love. If you want travelers to choose you, you need to meet them where they are already planning and booking. Right now, that is on social media and in communities they trust. #travel #tourism #hospitality #communitybuilding #creatoreconomy #hotels #airlines #tourismboards #journalism

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.

While the travel industry races to dominate Instagram and TikTok, many sustainable travel brands, especially those who are unbranded, local or community-driven are missing out on a quieter but incredibly powerful platform: 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭. Unlike traditional social media, Pinterest isn’t designed for likes or virality. It’s a visual search engine where users go to plan their lives, not scroll through them. And that’s precisely why it’s one of the most aligned platforms for sustainable tourism. Pinterest is where people search for how they want to travel, not who they want to travel with. And here’s where it gets interesting: as of now, 96% of all searches on Pinterest are unbranded. That means users are typing in things like “eco retreats in Latin America”, “cultural trips for women”, or “offbeat travel experiences” not company names. This creates a rare opportunity for grassroots, regenerative, and offbeat tour operators to be discovered without needing global recognition or massive ad budgets. 𝟏. 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 In a space where big OTAs (online travel agencies) dominate Google and social algorithms, Pinterest flips the script. The fact that almost every search is unbranded makes it the perfect discovery tool for small, community-rooted experiences from a women-led trek in Morocco to a seaweed-foraging tour in Chile. If your brand centers around values instead of volume, Pinterest is your space. 𝟐. 𝐈𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐀𝐠𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 Pinterest’s core users are women aged 25-44, many of whom are sustainability-conscious, wellness-driven, and in a phase of life where they’re actively planning meaningful travel solo retreats, family holidays, cultural immersions or low-impact honeymoons. These women are not just dreaming, they’re deciding. This demographic is increasingly steering tourism demand toward slower, greener, and more inclusive experiences. 𝟑. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 One of Pinterest’s biggest advantages is how content remains evergreen. A post today about “regenerative farming stays in Portugal” can resurface six months or even six years later and still drive traffic. This is vastly different from platforms where visibility dies within hours. Plus, Pinterest doesn’t rely on followers. It's driven by visual design and keyword search, meaning anyone can get visibility with the right content strategy. If you're a sustainable travel brand or tour operator especially one focused on authenticity, culture, and community. Pinterest could be your most impactful channel. The conscious traveler is already out there, searching. Pinterest is where many of them begin that journey.