📌 Hospitality Highlights: 15th January 2024

Serving fresh marketing updates, trends, buyer behaviour, and strategic intelligence for hotels, restaurants, and foodservice

Dawn Gribble

Jan 15, 2024

In this week's Hospitality Highlights Newsletter

🚀 Top Marketing News

📸 Instagram Tests New 'Public Collections' Feature
🎬 YouTube Updates Shorts Editing Features
🎵 TikTok Warns: Non-Skippable Ads Could Deter User Engagement
🎯 Meta to Phase Out Certain Ad Targeting Options
🍪 Google Begins Phasing Out Tracking Cookies

🍽️ Restaurant and F&B News

🌮 Taco Bell Introduces "Craving Kits" for Personalised Experiences at Home
☕️ Costa Coffee Reveals New UK Food and Beverage Lineup
🍔 Shake Shack Unveils New 'Swicy' Flavour Fusion Menu
🍹 London Welcomes Its First Alcohol-Free Bar
✉️ HelloFresh Penalised £140,000 for Unsolicited Marketing Communications

🛎️ Hotel and Travel News

🌐 Tripadvisor Dips a Toe into the Metaverse
🍏 Apple Vision Pro Unveiled: Implications for the Travel Industry
🏖️ Tripadvisor Announces Must-Visit Destinations for 2024
💸 UAE Predicted to Experience Surge in Travel Spending from 2024-2028
🏨 Winners Revealed: Globe Travel Awards 2024

☕ Let’s Check In!

🚀 Marketing News

📸 Instagram Tests New 'Public Collections' Feature

Instagram is experimenting with a new public 'Collections' feature, allowing users to share collections of posts on their profiles. This feature provides insight into users' interests and could help visitors decide whether to follow a profile.

Development of this feature began in September, offering new ways to connect users and showcase brands' products. However, concerns have been raised about the potential clutter on profiles. A release date has yet to be set.

💡 Explore ways to create mini brochures and collections to engage different guest segments. You can also use these tactics in your Stories strategy by creating Curated Highlights for customers.

🎬 YouTube Updates Shorts Editing Features

YouTube recently introduced new editing tools for its Shorts feature, which is currently available on iOS and will soon be rolled out to Android. The tools allow users to convert long-form videos into Shorts and customise layouts with options like single or split-screen.

This update allows brands and marketers to leverage Shorts' immense popularity, reaching 2 billion monthly logged-in users.

💡 Hotels and restaurants should consider using Shorts for teaser campaigns, event countdowns, and the promotion of longer videos.

Are you using YouTubeShorts to its full potential?

🎵 TikTok Warns: Non-Skippable Ads Could Deter User Engagement

TikTok and MAGNA Media Trials report that non-skippable video ads may hurt viewer engagement. Their research indicates that allowing viewers to skip ads increases engagement and brand favourability.

They found that ad duration doesn't significantly impact performance, but ad placement next to popular, relevant content does. According to TikTok, skippable ads work better than forced views, so forced views aren't needed.

💡 Consider experimenting with skippable ads on TikTok to enhance viewer experience and campaign performance. As TikTok viewers prefer skippable ads, experimenting with this ad type on other channels like YouTube may be worth it, depending on your objectives.

Use an A/B test to see which type of Ad works best for your brand.

Focus on placing ads next to trending and relevant travel and lifestyle content for increased effectiveness and positive purchase intent.

🎯 Meta to Phase Out Ad Targeting Options

Meta will remove ad targeting options for sensitive topics such as health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion or sexual orientation. The changes will be effective from January 19, 2024, to address potential discriminatory targeting and enhance automated ad targeting tools.

Marketers are advised to use broad targeting and Advantage+ options instead. Impacted advertisers will receive notifications in Ads Manager.

💡 Hotels and restaurants should explore interest-based targeting options and take advantage of Meta’s AI-powered targeting to ensure your ads effectively reach and engage your intended audience segments.

🍪 Google Begins Phasing Out Tracking Cookies

Google has initiated the first stage of phasing out third-party tracking cookies, impacting 30 million Chrome users. This move aims to enhance privacy but will change web tracking for advertisers.

Google's replacement categorises users into topic listings for ad targeting, leading to less granular targeting and potentially reducing ad campaign effectiveness. The broader impact on digital marketing is significant, with further changes expected throughout 2024.

💡 Hotels and restaurants should focus on building direct, personalised customer relationships through their first-party data, such as loyalty programs, email marketing, and website interactions.

Without traditional ad targeting, understanding customer segments, focusing on excellent customer experiences, and engaging content will be essential for success.

🍽️ Restaurant and F&B News

🌮 Taco Bell Introduces "Craving Kits" for Personalised Experiences at Home

Taco Bell and Kraft Heinz have introduced "Cravings Kits" for Crunchwrap Supreme and Chipotle Chicken Quesadilla, allowing consumers to recreate restaurant-style tacos at home.

Taco Bell's meal kits include Taco Bell ingredients, seasonings, and sauces so that customers can create their own meals. With the rise in home cooking, this product targets the trend of experimenting with flavours at home while offering value for money. The kits will be available at Walmart stores and online across the US.

💡 Restaurants can respond by offering customisable meal kits or ingredients for popular dishes, providing customers with the opportunity for at-home recreation of their favourite restaurant meals. Add a playlist to Spotify for customers to recreate the vibe.

☕️ Costa Coffee Reveals New UK Food and Beverage Lineup

Costa Coffee has launched a new food and drink menu in the UK, featuring hot milkshakes in three flavours, customisable handcrafted drinks, and an expanded plant-based range in collaboration with BOSH!

The menu includes plant-based savoury options like the Saucy Chicken Fajita Wrap and Smokin' BBQ Chicken Panini, the Caramelised Biscuit Rocky Road and Double Chocolate Cookie. Returning favourites like the Chocolate and Pecan Slice and Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake are also making a comeback.

💡Restaurants should consider addressing the growing demand for plant-based options and customisations and expand menu offerings accordingly.

🍔 Shake Shack Unveils New 'Swicy' Flavour Fusion Menu

Shake Shack is launching a "swicy" (sweet/spicy) menu featuring a Gochujang-glazed chicken sandwich, white kimchi slaw, and Korean BBQ Burger with Korean BBQ sauce.

The new items, including Gochujang, kimchi, and bulgogi, are inspired by Korean cuisine. Chef John Karangis says the offerings are delicious and fun, showcasing "swicy" and heavy umami flavours.

💡 Complex heat and global flavours remain trending for 2024, offering unique and diverse menu items to cater to evolving consumer tastes and preferences. Consider collaborating with local suppliers for exclusive ingredients to enhance the appeal of new menu items.

🍹 London Welcomes Its First Alcohol-Free Bar

London's first non-alcoholic cocktail bar, Maya, has opened on Brick Lane, offering a menu of classic cocktails with a non-alcoholic twist.

The founders, Miriam and Lisa, aim to provide genuine freedom of choice through plausible alternatives in response to the growing demand for non-alcoholic beverages and shifting attitudes towards drinking, particularly among younger generations.

💡 Expand your non-alcoholic beverage options to cater to the growing demand, and explore creating sophisticated non-alcoholic cocktail menus to provide genuine freedom of choice for patrons seeking alcohol-free alternatives.

✉️ HelloFresh Penalised £140,000 for Unsolicited Marketing Communications

HelloFresh was fined £140,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office for sending 79 million spam emails and 1 million texts without proper consent. Customers were not adequately informed about marketing opt-ins and data usage; some continued receiving messages even after requesting to opt-out.

The ICO described it as a breach of public trust and received nearly 9,000 complaints. The company's actions violated regulations and negatively impacted customer trust.

💡 To avoid this scenario, you must ensure clear and transparent marketing opt-ins, provide detailed information on data usage, and promptly honour opt-out requests to maintain customer trust and comply with data protection regulations.

Ensure you stay up-to-date on the latest laws and regulations in the markets you operate.

🛎️ Hotel and Travel News

🌐 Tripadvisor Dips a Toe into the Metaverse

Tripadvisor is dipping its toe into the metaverse by partnering with MeetKai to create virtual travel experiences of popular destinations like Paris, Dubai and New York.

Users can explore digital twins of real places and interact with others, allowing users to "try before they buy." This move is part of Tripadvisor's innovation initiatives under new CEO Matt Goldberg, focusing on improving planning tools and increasing user engagement.

💡 Metaverse developments are important for hotels because of the impact on the customer, schedule a time to brainstorm with your team, on how you can enhance your virtual offerings.

🍏 Apple Vision Pro Unveiled: Implications for the Travel Industry

Apple's new Vision Pro virtual reality headset is set to revolutionise virtual travel and memories.

The headset costs $3,499 and offers high-resolution visuals and immersive experiences like virtual Disney World. The headset would allow for users to relive their memories through photos and videos.

Speaking at CES, Susan Black highlighted tour operators' and senior living organisations' interest in virtual travel. The headset integrates with third-party apps, promising a wide range of virtual travel experiences, with Apple claiming to have eliminated the problem of motion sickness.

💡 This really is a very impressive piece of technology - besides the virtual tours and training applications, this tech will capture moments in time in a way that hasn't been done before.

It will mean that every step on your buyer's journey from arrival onsite and being greeted to a fond farewell can be memorialised and relived. Your execution will HAVE to be on point every time.

If you need an in-depth Customer Experience Assessment that covers the digital to the physical and back again, get in touch.

🏖️ Tripadvisor Announces Must-Visit Destinations for 2024

Tripadvisor's 2024 Travelers' Choice Awards reveal the top global destinations, with Dubai named the No. 1 spot for the third consecutive year and Hanoi, Vietnam, claiming the title of the Top Food Destination.

With travel enthusiasm at an all-time high, the awards highlight the most sought-after locations recognised by the international travel community. Asia dominates the Trending Destinations list. Sustainable Travel and Honeymoon Destinations were introduced as new categories.

💡 Embrace local sustainability initiatives and create and promote honeymoon experience packages to capitalise on these trends.

💸 UAE Predicted to Experience Surge in Travel Spending from 2024-2028

The UAE's travel industry is experiencing significant growth, with rising hotel occupancy, increased visitor numbers, and a surge in in-destination spending from 2024 to 2028.

Sectors like Food and Dining, Experiences, Shopping, and Wellness are expected to expand substantially. The UAE aims to lead the way in diversifying attractions and immersive experiences and focusing on sustainability and the circular economy.

💡 To capitalise on the projected sector growth, UAE Hospitality brands must enhance culinary offerings, focus on micro-touch points, diversify leisure activities, and embrace wellness trends.

🏨 Winners Revealed: Globe Travel Awards 2024

Key players in the travel industry were celebrated at the 2024 Globe Travel Awards in London.

Jet2.com and Jet2holidays were standout winners, securing four awards, while Emirates and Holiday Extras also claimed multiple honours.

Notable newcomers included Virgin Voyages and Constantinou Bros. The awards, based on votes from travel agents, saw special recognition for individuals and companies promoting sustainability and employee welfare.

💡 Hotels can attract recognition by elevating their guest experience, working with award-winning service providers and showcasing their commitment to sustainability and exceptional service.