How Retail Media is Taking Flight in the Travel Industry

Retail media is growing rapidly in every sector and travel, an industry built on experiences and dreams, is perhaps the perfect sector for this exciting new technology to take flight. For platforms in the travel industry, it’s a way to break free from the chains of Big Tech and create new revenue streams, while for brands it’s a simple, targeted way to reach travelers and offer them the holidays of their dreams. Infrastructure-first, transparent, artificial intelligence (AI)-native retail media campaigns are already beginning to reshape the travel industry, via sponsored listings with personalized offers and context-aware bidding, alongside AI-powered ad placements. For platforms, this offers a new revenue stream, and for brands, it’s a unique opportunity to take the reins of their advertising campaigns and ensure they deliver campaigns that really hit home. For travelers, this means they see more holidays that are relevant to them, with adverts that add to the buying journey rather than getting in the way, all delivered by a clean AI-native infrastructure. Travel platforms can promote everything from vacation packages to hotels in a way that feels relevant and helpful to the user journey, appearing as sponsored listings within search, all powered by behind-the-scenes AI. When a traveler books a flight through a travel platform, for example, the technology can simultaneously recommend nearby hotels in their destination, and even local tours and activities to help round out their trip. For the traveler, it feels like the platform understands them and has their interests in mind, and for platforms and brands, it makes for a new way to reach the right customers, transparently and seamlessly, at exactly the right moment they are ready to buy. Why Retail Media Works Retail media already has transformed the landscape in online retail with optimization and real-time attribution, as well as AI-based bidding platforms offering brands in every sector from clothing to groceries a new way to reach the right customers. Research shows that retail media is growing extraordinarily rapidly: it will make up 21.8% of total media ad spend by 2027. AI is shaping new ways to reach interested customers at just the right time, and also helping retailers move outside the closed ecosystems of ‘Big Tech’ advertising platforms and towards data-sharing partnerships. With global travel media spend forecast to surpass $2.9 billion in the coming years, it is time for a mindset shift within the sector. Platforms have a huge opportunity to build new ad ecosystems that deliver both measurable ROI for advertisers and a smarter, smoother journey for travelers. Delivering for Travelers How can new approaches deliver for companies in the travel sector? Despegar is Latin America’s leading travel tech company, having been a leader in the sector for 25 years, and including brands such as Best Day, HotelDO, Viajes Falabella, Koin, ViajaNet and Stays.net. With 30 million customers, the company hoped that a new approach to retail media could deliver better travel experiences that enriched customers’ lives. Despegar operates in 19 countries in the Latin America region, offering alternative payment methods and financing to help people in the region make their travel dreams a reality. The company’s new retail media approach allowed Despegar’s clients to create campaigns themselves, monitor them and optimize performance. With a cookie-free approach (which also means adverts are not blocked by ad blockers), advertisements appear that do not disrupt the traveler experience and look like a normal part of the listings. Hotels can create campaigns, bid for destinations and dates and run their reports, while Despegar has full control over where ads are shown, along with relevance, rank and other advert logic. Despegar also has visibility into advertiser performance and ROAS and other metrics. The AI Difference For travel companies, the integration of such sponsored posts is a win-win. Advertisers gain a simple and efficient way to launch campaigns showcasing everything from vacation packages to hotels, and this can be integrated directly into search results. The latest retail media technology is built to be ‘plug-and-play,’ and platforms can start seeing results in weeks rather than months. Advertisers can see data including clicks, impressions and ROAS to help them optimize campaigns, while such adverts can be integrated tightly into websites, meaning travelers see relevant adverts while still enjoying the seamless experience they always have. Going forward, the addition of AI to travel retail media will help make retail media work for everyone in the industry, from tiny to large, removing historical barriers to entry and increasing ROI. Travel companies will no longer be forced to rely on expensive in-house ad tech stacks, with new AI-driven retail media systems transforming retail media from a static ad channel to an automated, AI-powered system. A New Way to Work It is clear that the travel industry stands at an inflection point in terms of ad technology. Forward-thinking players in the sector are taking this moment to use AI-native retail media campaigns to truly deliver what travelers need, with personalized offers and AI-enhanced ad placement. For travelers, it’s a fresh approach that will deliver ‘extras’ that will enhance their journeys, and for brands and platforms, it’s a way to deliver increased revenue and reach the right customers, every time. Regina Ye is the CEO and Co-founder of Topsort, an artificial intelligence (AI) and auction-based retail media infrastructure company. A serial entrepreneur, software engineer and former ecommerce founder who experienced firsthand the challenges of performance-based marketing, she’s now on a mission to democratize clean advertising and protect data privacy. She launched Topsort after running the beauty brand Zirui and wrestling with the complexity of Facebook and Amazon Ads. Today, she’s focused on building transparent, privacy-first ad tools for retailers, marketplaces, and brands across the globe.