4. But first...research
1. Mobile competitors
2. Mobile audience behaviors
3. Mobile landscape
4. Mobile innovations
5. Product recommendations
6. Advertising recommendations
6. Mobile Competitors
● VRBO
○ App does not offer any recommendations of other travel plans-only booking accommodations
● HomeAway
○ HA and VRBO, exact website; owned by Expedia
○ Has similar “Live There” concept with “it’s your vacation, why share it?”
● Travelocity
○ Focuses on all aspects of planning a trip from flights to hotels/home rentals
○ Includes a built-in camera that recognizes a credit card to speed up transactions
● Booking.com
○ Includes travel guides such as: practical tips, transportation, restaurant,
and neighborhoods.
● Kayak
○ App includes baggage fees, weather, and destination images.
Additional features includes packing list integrations for trip planning
7. Mobile Competitors
VRBO + HomeAway
● VRBO uses an interactive map of the US and world
● 1 million listings globally
● Annual subscriptions start at $349
● Different payment requests by owner (online, paypal, etc)
9. Mobile Audience Behaviors
● Planning a trip
○ 47.4% of people research travel via mobile
○ Search engines (61%) and YouTube (42%) are top online sources
of inspiration
○ Internet is top sources for travel planning (74%), followed by
friends and family offline (48%) and friends and family online
(26%)
○ 48% of leisure travelers utilize hotel sites/apps for travel
planning
10. Mobile Audience Behavior cont..
● In trip
○ 83% of people use mobile to get information during their trip.
○ Navigate using GPS, share info and pictures, currency converter, check in via social media,
receive travel notifications, search for stores and restaurants.
● After trip
○ 57% of people use mobile to share about trip on return.
■ Social media, messaging, blog posts, email, etc
Take away: Mobile is best used for brand awareness and consideration, not booking.
14. Mobile Landscape
● Data and buying mobile advertising space programmatically: It optimizes on
the opportunity to connect the right message to the right consumer at the
right time and place through data mining and targeting.
● Through programmatic advertising, advertisers can now connect with their
precise audience at any point in the consumer journey across channels, screens
and devices.
● Relevant data sources for Airbnb aside from DMPs:
○ Google maps and iPhone maps user data
○ Frequent locations on data
○ Credit card data
○ Airlines
○ Frequent travellers: hotels, cruises, RV owners, boat owners, etc.
16. Mobile Innovations
● What brands have the best mobile experience and why?
According to 2016 Webby Awards:
○ Tinder Swiping Gesture
○ Boomerang for Instagram Short Videos
○ Yummly Vibrant Colors
17. Mobile Innovation
● What does good mobile advertising look like?
Coca-Cola Zero “Drinkable Advertising”
○ 360° Video
■ Interactive video that puts consumers
right in the scene from all angles.
○ Augmented Reality
■ Using augmented reality to attract
consumers visually.
○ Location-Based
■ GPS, beacons allow brands to personalize
their ads based on consumer’s location.
○ Audio Tagging
■ Shazaam a commercial to earn incentives.
21. Personalized Travel Planner
● Upload calendar and mark desired “travel weeks/weekends”
● Choose favorite locations & vacation activities
● Option to connect to Facebook to sync interests or “likes”
● Airbnb will recommend places based on ideal travel times and
available weekends
● Ex: Interest in white water rafting, open weekend in July -> Airbnb
suggests trip to Colorado
22. Business Traveler Section
● Separate tab for business travelers
● Create filters to keep listings consistent (wifi, whole home,
automatic booking, etc.)
● Upload calendar or manually insert upcoming trips
● Recommend locations and listings suited for business travelers (city
center, nearby airport)
23. Swipe Feature
● Browse listings with the user’s pre-existing filters
● Swipe right for interested, swipe left for not interested
● Once all listings have been reviewed, the user will be left with every
“right” listing displayed in a favorites page
● Used as a source of inspiration for new trips
24. Fare Split
● Users connect through venmo or paypal
● Each guest is charged an equal amount to “split the bill”
● 4 people staying in Airbnb -> 4 accounts charged equal amounts
● Appeal to group travelers
26. The future of mobile advertising is
interactive, personalized &
multi-device.
27. Window Beacon
● 500 OOH displays (transit shelters) with beacons
● Displays will feature an empty window that you can see through
● The beacon will prompt the user to scan the window with shazam
and it will bring them to a new destination featuring a scene from a
real host’s window
● Users can swipe to view from other windows and can turn to get a
360 degree display of the hosts’ home
● Window can be featured on magazines, TV, etc.
● Ex: Stockholm Art Week
29. ShopTV
● Viewers who see an Airbnb commercial
on TV can browse listings with their
remote
● Mobile users can enter their cell phone
number and receive a text with a link to
view more listings
● Partner with GoMo or Pure Michigan,
option to shazam commercial to view
listings in those areas
30. 360° Video via Social Media
● An ad for Airbnb within the snapchat
discover feature, Facebook news feed,
etc.
● Shows 4 locations and allows the user
to chose the listing they would like to
go to.
● Brought to a 360 degree video of the
location
● Feature trending locations
31. Interactive Display Ads
● Mobile display ad urges user to scan their
thumb to “analyze their mood”
● Scan ‘completes’ and tell the user their
current mood and how to improve it
● Mood “stressed” -> relaxing getaway
(Hawaii, Cancun, etc.)
● Mood “bored” -> cultural exploration
(Thailand, Germany, etc.)
● Weather-based advertisement
● Uses recent info from weather app to
recommend a location
● Ex: Chicago winter, past week has been
under 30 degrees -> Airbnb recommends
listings in Cabo, Florida and California
32. Pay with a Facebook post
● Allow guests to post about their new booking to facebook
● In return they will receive a credit to their Airbnb account to use toward future
trips
Pokemon “Go There”
● Sponsorship with Pokemon to allow players to “go there” and catch pokemon in
distant locations around the world.
