Tag Archives: Facebook

With the app economy gaining prominence and hotels increasingly encouraging consumers to have direct transactions, the role of mobile in hotel bookings is expected to increase. As per a study by KPMG-Facebook, 9 out of 10 bookings in the hotel category are expected to be mobile-influenced by 2022. The findings further suggest that in case of hotel bookings, 16 per cent of consumers drop out due to media friction and enhancing the media mix with mobile can reduce this friction by 3 percentage points, leading to a USD 2 billion opportunity for the brand within the category by 2022.

The ‘FB Travel Report’ commissioned by KPMG, Facebook and Nielsen suggests that nearly 90 per cent of hotel bookings in India are expected to be mobile-influenced by 2022, while nearly half of the hotel bookings in 2022 are expected to be Facebook-influenced, both nearly three times their current levels. This growth is expected to be driven on the backdrop of the swell in the traveller pool from an emerging middle class, niche experience-seeking consumers and increase in OTA bookings through mobiles in the five years between 2017 and 2022. Brands, therefore, have a USD 12 billion worth of incentive to re-look at their marketing strategies and adapt to the fast-evolving mobile-first internet economy of India.

More than four out of five airline bookings in 2022 are expected to be mobile-influenced, while nearly two out of five are expected to be Facebook-influenced, suggests ‘FB Travel Report’ compiled recently by KPMG, Facebook and Nielsen. The influencing factors iinclude awareness, consideration, intent, average influence and sales opportunity. Mobile internet users in India are expected to increase to 677 million by 2022 from 420 million users in 2017, the report further reveals. This growth is expected to be driven on the backdrop of organic penetration of the internet, digitally-savvy travellers, connectivity through social media and digital technologies over the next 5 years. Brands, therefore, have a revenue opportunity worth USD19 billion to re-look at their marketing strategies and adapt to the fast-evolving mobile-first internet economy of India.

Hahn Air Systems has launched chatbot ‘Heidi’, increasing its digital servicing channels to now include passengers. It will initially be available on Facebook with plans to expand it further in the future. Developed in cooperation with Spain-based technology company Caravelo, Heidi was launched to support passengers travelling on one of over 80 Hahn Air Systems’ partner airlines. By visiting Heidi on Facebook, travellers will now able to chat privately via Facebook Messenger and receive immediate assistance with matters relating to the provider’s H1-Air solution and the respective partner carriers’ services. They can thus enquire about their booking details, baggage allowance for their flights, itineraries as well as obtain support for web check-ins. In the initial phase, Heidi will communicate with passengers in English, other languages will follow. Alexander Proschka, Head, Hahn Air Systems, said, “Although Hahn Air Systems is a purely business-to-business solutions provider, we wanted to give the growing number of travellers who travel with one of our H1-Air carriers, the possibility to access instantaneous, round-the-clock support. We will be continuously developing Heidi and expand her bank of frequently-asked questions to cater to the growing needs of passengers.”

NYC & Company has unveiled its refreshed digital-first global tourism campaign “Famous Original New York City” to reach travellers around the world, celebrating the personal ways NYC can be experienced. Original in-house creative—along with supporting video, photo galleries, editorial and social content—is pegged to distinct newly curated travel “affinities”. Fred Dixon, President and CEO, NYC & Company, said, “Our refreshed campaign ‘Famous Original New York City’—with its affirming tag line ‘Welcomes You. Always.’—is designed to reinforce New York City’s fundamental values of diversity and inclusion and its world-class welcoming spirit. Utilising our new digital tools and affinity-driven content, we invite global visitors to discover their ‘Famous Original New York City’ now.” Digital, in-kind and partner media contribute to an approximate campaign value of $15 million, with promotions running globally across 17 countries through summer 2019. Out-of-home advertisements will appear domestically in New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and San Juan. Internationally, the campaign will appear in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. With our out-of-home media partner JC Decaux, the promotions will run for the first-time in Colombia, India and Peru. In partnership with Facebook and Instagram, the campaign will utilise content marketing that has been developed to attract members with specific interests and behaviours. Artificial intelligence will target social media users with an intent to travel, ultimately encouraging visits to the campaign landing page, where dynamically-generated content—pegged to the travel affinity of interest—will live, along with market-specific travel offers. NYC & Company holds several tourism alliances domestically and internationally. These strategic city-to-city partnerships spotlight New York Cityvia in-kind media in Toronto, Canada; Madrid, Spain; and Tokyo, Japan.