Online Travel Trends Report 2021

Online Travel Trend Report
July 2021
Mario Gavira | Mauricio Prieto | Victor Tofiño (illustrations)
Travel Tech Essentialist

1. Thinking Outside the Travel Box
2. Mobility Enables NextGen SuperApps
3. Connecting the Dots
4. Unbundling and Rebundling
5. Rewriting the Marketing Playbook
6. Subscriptions Everywhere
7. Apps Converging into a Travel Ecosystem
8. Consolidation Turbocharged
9. Suppliers Strike Back
10.Complexity Favors Retailers
11.Travel Wins Back Investors
Online Travel Trend Report
Mario Gavira - Mauricio Prieto Travel Tech Essentialist

1. Thinking Outside the Travel Box
Victor Torﬁño

The API economy provides the backbone for a
sprawling array of complementary services such
as fintech, micro mobility and experiential
services in Travel.
Siloed thinking is out, cross-sector expansion is in

Sample of incumbents and startups
Incumbents
70% - 75% revenue generated by
financial products
More than 50% of transactions
use an installment payment
method.
Raised 120M to expand its
insurance product for RV
owners and travellers
Creates an independent FinTech
business unit to facilitate
seamless access to its global
travel marketplace
Startups
Integrates local mobility
in the traveller app
Flexible and convenient
way to pay over time
Flexible payments
Simple and personalized
insurance products
Buy now, pay later
Digital first insurance
Cloud Service

AirAsia leads the horizontal expansion outside travel
Source:Econsultancy

2. Mobility Enables NextGen SuperApps
Victor Torﬁño

Asian Super Apps stickiness built on offering from
noodle delivery to hotel bookings will take off
once Western Apps start connecting micro mobility
with long distance travel. Google Map will lead the
path by gradually weaving the Search Giant’s travel
ecosystem into a seamless mobile experience.
The Superapps in the West start with maps and mobility

Map & Mobility Apps recent features show the path
Google Maps enabled in-app payment of public transports
in 80 different city transit systems
Launched Live View showing details about shops and
restaurants within the App
Uber built more than 550 transport partnerships
worldwide
Acquired Routematch, offering technology solutions
around payment and trip planning services
Waze offer Shopify merchants a plug-in allowing
in-store pickup
Built in-app payment option at Exxon Mobil and Shell
Gas stations

Maps & Mobility Maps lead in Downloads and Time Spent
Top Travel &
Navigation Apps
Worldwide in Q1 2021
Source: App Annie

3. Connecting the Dots
Victor Torﬁño

Ground increasingly replaces Air transport for
short distance travel, driven by door to door
convenience and growing environmental impact
concern. Players combining air and different
ground transport types into a seamless travel
experience will flourish.
Intermodal travel becomes an imperative

Sample of incumbents and startups in this trend
Leading virtual
interlining player of
Air and Ground Transport
Startups
Providing and combining
routes transportations
Intermodal booking of
trains, buses and
carpooling
Integrating bus in air
travel in one seamless
door to door experience
Incumbents
Valued at $3B following
$650M funding round
Raised $115 million to
fuel expansion outside
of Europe and acquires
bus ticketing platform
Busfor
Acquired Rome2rio in
2019
Bus and train travel
engine
Reservation & Ticketing
platform for Bus travel

4. Unbundling and Rebundling
Victor Torﬁño

Optimizing ancillaries across the customer journey
An increasing complex purchase funnel crammed
with ancillary services is resulting into a
wave of rebundling of services into
consumer-friendly packages

Sample of bundled ancillary packages
Kiwi.com
Pegasus Airlines
Ryanair
Volotea
Hopper.com

Ancillary Revenue has accelerated further during Covid
Source: cartrawler

Sample of startups streamlining ancillary revenues
Helps hotels generate
more revenue by selling
rooms in packs of 3, 6
and 12 hours
Makes it simple to sell
airline ancillaries
Helps generate new revenue
streams by process
automation
Helps airlines and
travel brands sell
more and grow non-core
revenues
Access to luxurious
hotel pools, spas,
amenities
Upgrade solutions for
Hotels
Makes it easy for hotels
and resorts to rent
beach chairs, pool
cabanas, jet skis...
Upselling Hotel
facilities in a
seamless digital
experience

5. Rewriting the Marketing Playbook
Victor Torﬁño

The siren song of brand marketing
Airbnb showed the virtue of a strong brand
winning traveller wallets and hearts. Shifting
marketing dollars from performance to brand
becomes the new marketing adage, further
fuelled by the gradual sunset of 3rd party
tracking capabilities.

Increased TV investment reflects renewed focus on brand building
Airbnb and
Expedia
launched in Q2
2021 their
largest
advertising
campaign in at
least 5 years

6. Subscriptions Everywhere
Victor Torﬁño

The quest for the Amazon in Travel
Loyalty in travel has historically been
linked to miles programs. Travel players
are defying the common wisdom attracting
travellers into a new breed of paid
subscription programs promising recurrent
discounts and perks.

Sample of incumbents and startups with subscriber programs
Incumbents Startups

7. Apps Converging into a Travel Ecosystem
Victor Torﬁño

Apps as a travel companion becomes a reality
Mobile native SDK’s standards turbocharge App
capabilities to connect with other platforms.
Travel Apps moving forward will self- generate
Visas based on travel destination, offer
voice-based translation at arrival and deliver
check-in and room key function in the hotel,
among other services.

Incumbents
Offers check-in and
Room key within
Apple Wallet
Novotel partners with
meditation App Calm
Automates SMS
interactions between
hosts and guests with
Twilio
In-App Check-in and
Upsell platform
AI travel assistant
Threat intelligence
data
Hotel operations
software
Digital concierge and
guest interactions
Guest experience and
upsell revenue
Bag check-in &
delivery from
anywhere
Customized travel
companion app
Virtual reception and
user interaction
software
Secure
infrastructure to
manage identity data
Startups

8. Consolidation Turbocharged
Victor Torﬁño

Going bigger in a post-pandemic world
Mid-size and regional players coming out of
the pandemic with a weak balance sheet might
face being acquired or extinction. Global
players with a highly scalable tech stack
will apply the classic economies of scale
playbook triggering a wave of consolidation.

Sample of post-Covid M&A activity
acquires
acquires
acquires
acquires
acquires
acquires
acquires
acquires
+ +

Suppliers are catching up
In the past, OTAs provided a significantly
better online booking experience than
suppliers, but the quality gap is closing fast.
A thriving ecosystem of marketing tech
providers combined with a larger first party
data pool levels the playing field in the
online marketing front

Better conversion → increasing booking share

Sample of technology players boosting supplier Ecommerce activity
Cloud platform for
accommodations
Hotel AI chatbot
and communication
platform
Open hotel
commerce platform
Revenue operating
system
Growth for hotels
direct channel
Airline digital passenger
engagement
Powering decisions with data
and insights
Airline revenue performance
AI empowered travel content
Incremental airline customers
through the power of price
Incremental airline profits
in the post-COVID climate

10. Complexity Favors Retailers
Victor Torﬁño

Retailers thrive under chaos and complexity
Everywhere we turn, the travel product is growing
in complexity: air content, non-air transportation
alternatives and non-hotel accommodation options,
price unbundling, border travel restrictions. OTA’s
flexible tech stack and a business model laser
focused on aggregating and merchandising travel
content gives them an edge in bringing order into
the chaos for the end customer

OTA’s thrive in highly fragmented travel verticals

Incumbents
acquires
acquires
acquires
Airline
distribution
acquires
Virtual
interlining
Flight
aggregator
Extended stay
apartments
Meeting space
marketplace
acquires
Startups
Up-to-date travel
health requirements
Data intelligence
for the short-term
rental
NDC for airline
distribution
Enabling connection
to GDS, NDC, LCC
Tour Operator
marketplace

11. Travel Wins Back Investors
Mario Gavira - Mauricio Prieto
Victor Torﬁño

Investors bullish on travel recovery
Pent-up demand is materializing and both
private and publicly traded travel companies
are seeing renewed investor interest.

Investors betting on public and private travel companies
Share prices of publicly traded OTAs
Funding to venture-backed travel
startups (in $ billion)

Sample of travel companies & SPACS going public
Some of expected IPOs this year
The result of Gojek’s
merger with Tokopedia to
IPO at $35-$40b
To go public in a $40
billion merger with
Altimeter SPAC
To go public in a $1.1
billion merger with
Thayer Ventures SPAC
Joby IPO in a $6 billion
merger with Reinvent SPAC
To go public in a $2.2
billion SPAC merger
Rumours to go public in a
SPAC merger at around
$2.75 billion
$500 million SPAC
$500 million SPAC
$300 million SPAC
$170 million SPAC

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Online Travel Trends Report 2021

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