Icicle lights hanging from neighboring roofs, balsam and cinnamon candles lit, snowy remote workdays– it’s that time of the year again! The holidays are here and brands in the travel and hospitality business are vamping up their marketing efforts in an attempt to give consumers the holiday they deserve. Whether that looks like traveling to visit family, or maybe taking a solo-vacation with your dog, people are looking for a release of the quarantined emotions that can only be brought on by a year like 2020.

There’s no denying that most brands, especially those in the travel and hospitality industry may be looking to reach a new set of consumers this year, but who? We did the heavy lifting for you and compiled our top five best audiences for those in the travel and hospitality industry.

One of the best audiences to reach for the travel and hospitality industry is the Starbucks brand loyalist. Though this might seem like a random advertising audience for travel and hospitality, it could have a lot to do with the age of Starbuck’s most loyal customers. For example, according to Statista’s Share of Americans who visited Starbucks in the past 3 months, in 2018, Starbucks’ main visiting audience were people between the ages of 18 and 29 accounting for 33.7% of their customer base that year.

What do we know about younger people and travel? Everything that they do, they do from their mobile phones, for example,  getting vacation “inspo” from Instagram and booking a cute holiday cabin in Breckenridge, Colorado within a span of five hours. This means that a travel brand could send out targeted ads to Starbucks loyalists and see a higher conversion rate than if they had just sent their ads out without considering their audience.

This one shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The self pamperer is someone who will travel just to visit their favorite hotel’s spa. Imagine being able to advertise your new hotel spa only to those customers who would immediately click just to see what your holiday specials are this season. The self pamperer can be defined as those individuals who frequently visit salons and spas, or events that center around self-care. 

Why is this a good audience for holiday travel? In a year like 2020, self-care has taken a whole new meaning. Instead of lavish vacations sightseeing the wonders of an ancient city, or a Caribbean cruise, people are looking for cozier getaways like a hotel with a nice spa, or a “staycation” holiday where it’s easy to curl up with a glass of champagne and a cozy bathrobe by a fire instead of having to visit over-crowded tourist hotspots.

Mobile users who drive more than 20,000 miles per year aren’t usually top-of-mind audiences for advertisers. In the travel and hospitality arenas, however, especially this year, the weary drivers may be looking for a bit of respite in the form of a nice hotel stay or discounted airline tickets. 

It’s very likely that the last thing commuters want to do is drive to their final destination (especially if it’s far away from home) this holiday season. Many of them would likely opt for flying and getting to their location much faster without having to add miles to their odometers.

Students had it hard in 2020. With virtual school and the weight of isolation mandates in effect all over the world, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to hear just how quickly college students eagerly returned to their campuses to try and regain a semblance of normalcy. 

Parents of college students are a great audience for travel and hospitality because it’s very likely that it will be them who buy their kids the plane tickets back home for the holidays. It will also be the parents who would want to plan a different holiday, like maybe going on a little holiday vacation to their kids’ college town instead of flying them home.

Armed with a mask and copious amounts of hand sanitizer, the weekend warriors were likely the first people to venture out of isolation and straight to their favorite bars, restaurants, and old haunts as soon as the restrictions lessened in their areas. These are the extroverts of our society, the ones who are likely to book a flight and hotel room on a whim just to get out of their town for the holidays, especially if your advertisement strikes the right chord.

The great thing about location intelligence is that you could reach people who have visited a car dealership within the past week, getting a much higher turn-over rate than if you had.

As this year progresses, finding your ideal advertising audience has become more important than ever. Never waste ad spend, and never worry about what your competitors are doing to get customers to their doors: bring them to yours instead. Curious about what location intelligence can do for your advertising campaigns? Contact us!