That headline is unlikely to make me popular with my travel advisor friends. Think of it as a combo of click bait and trending truth. But it’s undeniable that AI is changing the way we research AND book travel. I wrote a couple weeks ago about how ChatGPT recently partnered with Expedia and Booking.com to allow direct purchase through the platform. In a separate post, … [Read more...]
How AI is shaping your brand perception
AI agents and their impact on search AI agents are emerging alongside traditional search engines as the starting point of discovery. The way they perceive and present your brand shapes customer perception, trust and buying decisions. Do you know what ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity or Gemini are say about your brand? AI large language models don’t know your brand the way people … [Read more...]
Marketing insights from judging US Travel Esto Awards
It was an honor to be a lead judge once again for the US Travel ESTO Awards, a celebration of award winning travel marketing. Judging is now complete, and the 2025 finalists have been announced. Check them out HERE. Although I am very much sworn to secrecy until after the awards ceremony, held at the end of the ESTO conference Aug 17-19 in Phoenix, AZ what I can offer is … [Read more...]
Brand USA Talks Travel Podcast interview
It was my pleasure to be interviewed by Mark Lapidus from Brand USA Talks Travel podcast. We talked travel marketing, trends, insights from judging the ESTO awards, the annual premier event in the US for acknowledging excellence in travel advertising and promotions. We also dove into the back story on my parallel brand, carryonqueen.com, and how leveraging writing and content … [Read more...]
Five Travel Trends for 2025 plus three societal trends driving them
This week I’m looking at Five Travel Trends for 2025, and how elements of those trends have percolated up from larger society shifts today. That spill-over has implications across many product and service categories for marketers. But first up, the five travel trends... 5 Travel Trends for 2025 1. SKI Trips. Where SKI stands for “Spend Kids Inheritance” And you thought … [Read more...]
