Amazon Ads wants to help travel outfits by sharing the shopping habits of its customers

Skift take

It’s not just about Amazon Web Services when Amazon reaches out to travel industry customers. It’s still early days, but Amazon Ads may one day restrict travel brands’ spending on Google and Facebook.

Dennis schaal

Travel online this week

Very quietly over the past year and a half, Amazon has stepped up its Amazon Ads activity to target the travel and hospitality industry.

Brands including Opinion and Disney, as well as destination management organizations, including VoyageTexas.com, are among the travel and hospitality organizations that Amazon Ads touts in case studies or other marketing materials for its nascent travel advertising business.

Amazon Ads had an exhibitor booth at Phocuswright travel technology conference in Hollywood, Florida this week, although Amazon account representatives declined to talk about the program.

The idea behind the new ad program is to use Amazon’s first-party data on its customers’ buying habits to enable travel and hospitality businesses to better target travelers through display and video ads. , for example, mainly on Amazon platforms and devices.

Amazon Ads travel and hospitality promotional materials show that 78% of the U.S. population affected by Amazon spent more than $ 500 on travel in the past six months. And travelers visit Amazon outlets 85 times on average in the month before a trip, according to the company.

“By leveraging Amazon Ads’ audience-based marketing solutions, advertisers can focus on reaching the right travel audiences, with the right message, at the right time on and off Amazon,” continues the speech.

While Amazon could in theory help advertisers reach travelers on other platforms, the focus appears to be on reaching target audiences in the United States, Canada and Europe on their own platforms and devices. ‘Amazon, whether on Amazon.com for shopping, Alexa voice assistant at home or live streaming of Twitch video games.

Avis ran sponsored ads on Amazon aimed at helping customers find the essentials for road trips, and offered car rental discounts and Amazon gift cards. “For a camping trip, we suggest a Ford Edge or similar standard SUV,” one Avis ad read.

In September, Amazon and Disney announced a collaboration on a Hey Disney voice assistant feature on Echo devices in hotel rooms at Walt Disney World Resort that allows guests to interact with Disney characters.

Destinations seem like a great place for Amazon ads these early days. For example, TravelTexas.com produced a guide to barbecue in Texas to target the Amazon audience.

After all, Amazon Ads can help travel and hospitality companies target travel audiences because it has a lot of data on whether people are buying luggage tags or buying certain books about restaurants or things to do. do maybe a month before a planned trip, for example.

Amazon Ads are not a carbon copy of from google search engine marketing, like the former, can help target travelers earlier in their trip planning activities. The pitch is intended for travel and hospitality companies to use Amazon Ads in addition to their Google or Facebook campaigns – for now, at least.

Asked about Amazon’s entry into the travel advertising industry, cruise line co-CEO Jeff Tolkin World Travel Holdings, who attended the Florida conference said, “We will go where there is a profitable opportunity to seek business. In any market, having more sellers is preferable.

Amazon has tried and failed several times over the years to launch its own travel transaction business in the United States. India.

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