Marketing

🎸 Luis Riu, CEO of the Riu hotel chain, celebrated the Sant Sebastián festivities as a DJ at Palma de Mallorca's city center on Saturday. The event featured the Colombás brothers, Jaume and Paco, also known for their roles as speakers for Real Mallorca and their restaurant 'El Bandarra'. Local dignitaries, including mayor Jaime Martínez and president Marga Prohens, also participated in DJing. The festival highlighted the upcoming luxury experience agency 'Delaisla', debuting at Fitur.

🚩 A fake video series showing Airbus A380 accidents from airlines such as Emirates, Qantas, and British Airways has gone viral, totaling nearly 300 posts and hundreds of thousands of views, some surpassing 200,000. Emirates responded last week clarifying the videos are fabricated, and has contacted platforms for removal. Requests for video takedown are slow; many still online. The videos feature a voiceover with made-up stories of A380 planes crashing.

💸 Emirates, a major aviation player, had to refute a viral video of a fake Airbus A380 crash on social media. The airline confirmed the video as false and digitally created. They have contacted platforms to remove or clarify the video's nature, emphasizing the slow response to their requests. The incident was reported on January 4, 2025.

📷 According to the 2019 Avis Travel Trends report, 58% of travelers aged 18-34 are influenced by the aesthetics of destinations seen on social media. MMGY Global notes that 34% of American travelers are swayed by TikTok. Instagram's impact has led to overcrowding at Caló des Moro in Mallorca, with queues of up to three hours and gatherings of 1,000 people on a 30 square meter beach. Bali's popularity among influencers has forced local authorities to set new visitor guidelines due to disruptive tourist behavior.

✈ Iberia offers domestic flights from €24, Europe from €29, the US from €187, Latin America from €232, and Asia from €330. Pre-sale for registered users starts today, with the general sale on January 7th, lasting until January 27th, for travel until June 14th. Air Europa's Time to Fly for 2025 includes domestic flights from €25, Europe from €29, the US from €209, and the Caribbean/Central/South America from €259, plus Baleares/Peninsula from €12 and Canarias/Peninsula from €16. Valid for travel within Spain/Europe until June 12th, long-haul until November 30th, round-trip without checked baggage.

🎄 Iberia, in a social experiment for their Christmas ad, offered four individuals the choice to change their flights home for tickets to dream destinations like Tokyo, New York, and Los Angeles. The participants, under their families' watchful eyes, chose family over the trips. The ad, celebrated for its emotional appeal, highlights the priority of family during the holiday season.

✈ Vueling custom-wrapped an Airbus A320 with Athletic Club de Bilbao's colors, featuring the emblem and images of players Iñaki Williams, Óscar de Marcos, Nico Williams, Daniel Vivian, Oihan Sancet, and Unai Simón. The branded aircraft will transport the team to Istanbul this week for their UEFA Europa League match against Fenerbahçe. The initiative aims to enhance Athletic's brand visibility across Europe.

📎 Smytravel launched Mybitos, its loyalty program designed to incentivize associated agencies and boost sales with exclusive benefits. Agents can attain different user levels: Economy, Business, or First, with accumulated sales increasing the accounting value of Bitos, which can be redeemed for products from Smytravel, Tourmundial, Club de Vacaciones, and transport consolidator Passengy. Agencies can join for free on Smytravel's website and membership is automatic after the first booking post-registration.

📈 Founded in 2017 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Coco Solution grew from a small startup to a leading digital marketing agency with a specialized focus on the tourism sector. The agency now houses five departments and a team of over 20 digital marketing experts. Success stories include a 300% organic traffic increase for Villa Gran Canaria since 2019 and a 158.8% booking increase with a 179% ROAS improvement for another hotel group. Coco Solution emphasizes personalized services, including web and app development, strategic SEO and SEM, social media management, and creative design, supported by its proprietary "Growth Up SEO" methodology and ACAI ecosystem tools.

📣 Google Hotel Ads updated to include real-time rates, images, and user ratings through enriched data from travel feeds. Advertisers can integrate their Hotel Centre with Google Ads, enriching search ad formats, which has led to a 20% increase in click-through rates (CTR) during an internal Google study from May 5-30, 2024. The update aims to provide users with detailed information in the ad, reducing additional clicks and potentially increasing hotel page conversions. Global campaigns are now available, though ad designs are illustrative and subject to Google's control. Potential obstacles for hoteliers include setting up a Hotel Centre account and correctly parameterizing links for tracking.