The biggest breakthroughs usually come from different perspectives. Snapchat is more than just photos; it’s about messaging. Ryanair serves not only passengers; A candy cane is more than just a souvenir. This is a loyalty program. As AI reshapes search and advertising, the person who restructures strategies will now be the winners.
because power Newsletters to sponsor this version:
AI just collapsed your organic traffic party. Propellic’s AI strategy guide breaks down how travel marketers navigate how AI-Aredhaul search results, prevent future content, and restore lost click-through rates. Don’t fight robots – compete for them in your own game. Your script is waiting →
Personal Notes: Many stories in this release highlight the speed of search change, why adapting is critical now, and why I recommend checking out sponsors for this release, poweras a possible partner in navigating this transformation.
This is a link The impact of AI on online travel (Story #1) and Fifty travel tips (#10). The first, the last one 🙂
I’ve heard about Shaan Puri recently My first million Tells the story of an investor named Justin. When Snapchat has only 100k-150k users, most investors see it as a stupid college app for disappearing photos. But after meeting with Evan Spiegel, the founder of Snapchat, Justin asked a key question:What if it’s not about the photos at all? If this is actually about the message“This question changed everything. Instead of comparing Snapchat to Instagram and Facebook, Justin looked at Imagesage and WhatsApp, but the apps people use to communicate. So he did some research and found:
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Almost all iMessage and WhatsApp users send messages every day.
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Fewer Instagram users posted every day
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Snapchat’s engagement pattern matching messaging apps, not photo sharing platforms.
That was when Justin clicked. Snapchat not only needs to share photos, but also has to do with communication. Justin saw full potential, had a big bet, and won the victory.
Some founders’ gains:
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Reshape the narrative. If people see your product the wrong way, change their perception of it.
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Track the correct metrics. Sometimes, the key to unlocking growth is to study your business through different lenses.
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Problem assumptions. The biggest opportunity is not what people are looking at, but what they are missing.
Most airlines compete by offering better services, more comfort and free allowances. Ryanair flips the script. It is not sold to passengers, but to the airport. By cutting extreme costs and providing ultra-low fares, Ryanair guarantees a large number of passengers at small airports that pay Ryanair millions of dollars in traffic to get them transport.
Innovation is not always about new technologies or products. Sometimes it’s about rethinking who your real customers are. This insight comes from Andres Pereira’s post On LinkedIn. For travel entrepreneurs, this reminds you to stop playing by old rules and start rewriting them.
Sometimes the most powerful pivot is not to change your product, but by redefining your true customers and value proposition.
Ryanair makes profits by redefining its real customers. But what if the airline’s real business is related to the flying person? As Courtney Miller Showcase In visual analysis, for many American airlines, the real money is not selling tickets, but printing their own currency (also known as loyalty programs).
In 2024, there are no major network airlines in the United States that make profits based on ticket sales alone. Without common flyer revenue, every airline will lose money.
It works as follows: Airlines print miles like a central bank. Banks and credit card companies purchase these miles in bulk and assign them to customers. Airlines book this as income, sometimes when mileage is redeemed, sometimes immediately. If you forget to use miles, the airline can “expirate” and recognize revenue.
Loyalty programs have become so valuable that airlines now operate like financial institutions that operate flights. Without them, ticket prices could be higher.
If you’re building on a trip, this is another reminder that the most valuable part of the business is not always the most obvious.
My wife and I recently celebrated our 25th anniversary at The Swag, a charming mountain hotel in North Carolina. This is the first time we were there, but their repeat visitor rates are well above the industry average, partly due to simple, cheap and effective loyalty programs.
Each first time guests receive a wooden crutch, a practical souvenir for hiking Smoky Mountains. The attachment is a label engraved with the year of accommodation (e.g. Stolen goods – 2025). The returned guests receive a new tag for each visit, creating a personal record of their stay over the years.
Apart from emotional connections, crutches are something guests can use for years hiking anywhere. Whenever they walk up a trail, it brings back memories of their time on the swag, keeping the hotel overhead and enhancing the desire to return.
Einstein once said that simplicity is the highest form of intelligence because it makes things easier to understand. The loyalty program of swag is a perfect example. There are no applications, no points, and no levels of complexity. Just a meaningful physical connection to the place. Loyalty is not just a reward; it’s about creating a return.
If you come across other simple loyalty examples, please share.
AI overview in Google Search soared 558% in just two months, from 2,832 to 18,652 keywords. They now occupy 42% of the desktop and 48% of the mobile search space, reducing organic results by 980 pixels. As a result, organic CTR has dropped from 1.41% to 0.64%, making visibility a growing challenge for travel brands.
However, there is a chance; cited in the AI ​​Overview, increasing the CTR from 0.74% to 1.02%. But citations are volatile, changing every 2-3 months by 70%. Travel marketers need a new way to stay visible.
litigation AI Strategy Guide Provides a roadmap for adaptation. It covers AI-resistant content strategies, ways to rank in an AI overview if necessary, and how to reference it in AI-driven search tools such as Claude and Cloxity.
Now, as we see in the next story, Google is taking further action. AI Overview is just the beginning – now, a new experimental feature called AI mode allows users to ask multi-part questions and get deeper answers to AI-generated.
As mentioned above, AI overview is rapidly expanding and reshaping searches. Shared by Matt Lerner More data reinforces this trend: Google now shows an AI overview of 40% of all searches (and growth at 14% MOM) and 57% of information intent searches. Search volumes for AI overviews have decreased by 70%. Major changes open up big opportunities for those who can get an AI response soon. Large new transportation sources are opening up.
For those who want to gain themselves in Google SEM games and lock in Pagerank’s advantages, it’s time to quickly and safely locate in AI-powered search.
Google just launched AI modean experimental search feature that allows users to ask complex, multi-part questions and follow up for more in-depth answers, similar to confusing AI and ChatGpt searches. Unlike traditional searches, the AI ​​model compiles results from multiple sources simultaneously, providing detailed comparisons and insights without additional queries. This could mean travel brands have fewer clicks, as travelers get more answers without leaving Google. But the AI ​​model can still be pulled from external sites, meaning that content optimized for AI references may gain visibility.
Despite the rise of AI tools, Google searches have not shrunk. It grew by more than 20% in 2024, processing more than 14 billion searches per day. Meanwhile, Chatgpt gets up to 37.5 million similar search prompts a day, meaning Google’s search is still 373 times higher than Openai’s tool. Read + Sparktoro
While AI-driven searches, such as Google’s AI Overview and AI Patterns, are changing the way people find information, the data suggests that Google remains the primary player. For travel marketers, this exacerbates prioritization of SEO, AI citation strategies and organic visibility rather than shifting entirely to AI search tools.
Ken Mandel Recent Write an interesting post About what happens when AI agents start making more buying decisions than humans.
For more than a century, advertising has attracted human attention. However, traditional advertising may not matter by filtering search results through AI, processing reservations, and making automatic purchases. Brands won’t compete for clicks, but for AI-powered shelf space, which is equivalent to becoming the best advice in the AI ​​decision-making process.
Search and display ads may fade out with the filtered content of AI agents, even before humans see it. Instead of bidding for impressions, brands will need to be optimized for AI assistants, building machine-readable data through validated reviews and sustainability metrics and building trust.
For travel brands, this means ensuring that AI assistants rank them the best choice, integrate with AI-powered booking systems, and embed themselves into a personalized AI business experience. The future of advertising is not about persuasion, but about ensuring that AI agents recognize and recommend you.
The transformation has begun. The question is not whether the advertising will change, but the speed at which the brand adapts.
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