Foursquare knows travel better than most. Of course we do! Nearly a decade ago, Foursquare ushered in a new era of mobile exploration: first with our own consumer apps, Foursquare City Guide and Swarm, and in the years since, as the gold-standard location partner for travel apps outside of our own four walls.
To put it simply, Foursquare tech is what allows your phone to know where you are and what’s around you. It gives brands and marketers the ability to connect with you at the right time in the right place. Our platform makes your apps smarter and more contextually aware — and that’s precisely what travelers need as they explore the world.
Today, Foursquare is proud to announce that TripAdvisor is joining our valued list of travel partners, including recent additions Hilton and Condé Nast Traveler. We’re thrilled that these industry leaders have chosen to leverage our enterprise capabilities in unique and differentiated ways, exemplifying what’s possible with the Foursquare location platform. These brands and so many others are using Foursquare to personalize and augment every step of the traveler’s journey, from Dreaming through Planning, to Booking and Experiencing.
Dreaming
Thanks to the powerful analytics that come from Foursquare’s consumer panel — a measured audience of more than 70 million in the U.S., with more than 10 million opting in to persistent location sharing — airline, hotel and cruise partners have insight into brand-specific travel trends to create relevant experiences and content for consumers. This is why some of the largest travel companies turned to Foursquare’s media and measurement solutions, Pinpoint and Attribution, exceeding engagement benchmarks by up to 3X.
Imagine knowing that the majority of hotel guests for a particular chain have an appetite for Omakase and live music — how might that influence a travel brand’s creative strategy? Understanding these trends is akin to a superpower: a recent Salesforce research report suggests that consumers are 2x more likely to view personalized content as critically important in the customer journey. But there’s even more we do…
Planning + Booking
Travelers are hungry for centralized info that makes trip planning and booking easier. (Without it, you could lose up to 88% of customers, according to a study by Google and Ipsos Connect.) Plus, according to the same study, customers are spending more than 40% of the booking process in a map view, meaning that it’s more important than ever to bring personalized and local context to the decision-making process.
That’s why we are thrilled to power the new Explore feature in the Hilton Honors app, where Foursquare’s Places API is fundamental to the user experience. Hilton Explore allows its guests to tap into personalized suggestions from locals who know the area best — Hilton Team Members. Now, Hilton guests can read up on top spots and tips in advance of arrival, based on locally curated content by Hilton’s own team. Using Foursquare, Hilton has found a way to build personal connections between its Team Members and guests, giving access to a world of personalized, local recommendations for activities, restaurants and attractions.
When Condé Nast Traveler came to Foursquare in the early stages of a website redesign, the team was in search of a partner who could bring accuracy, freshness, and context to venue detail pages so that readers got a better sense of a place in advance of their journey. Today, Condé Nast Traveler relies on Foursquare’s database of over 105MM places as a source for up-to-date address info, hours, and phone numbers, in addition to displaying subcategory data and amenities. Now anyone can easily tell if a destination has outdoor seating, Wi-fi, live music, and more as they plan their trip.
Experiencing
As articulated by Skift earlier this year, personalization of the traveler’s customer experience is the name of the game to staying competitive. It should come as no surprise that the overwhelming majority of consumers use smartphones when traveling, with 60% of them expecting that the travel experience be enriched through the application of artificial intelligence based on past behaviors and personal preferences. In fact, partners leveraging Foursquare’s SDK have seen above-average opt-in rates: up to 60% of consumers choose to share location in exchange for more personalized experiences.
That’s why there’s never been a better time to leverage the powerful benefits of the Foursquare Pilgrim SDK, which uses our industry-leading stop-detection technology and multi-sensor map of the world to allow for real-time notifications, segmentation, and analytics.
These industry-leading benefits are just some of the reasons why Foursquare is helping to improve contextual awareness for TripAdvisor and their new socially assistive app experience. The Foursquare Pilgrim SDK, when paired with TripAdvisor’s robust data and community content, is driving in-destination and social travel recommendations.
The Points Guy will also be re-releasing its app in January 2019, powered by location awareness and the Foursquare Pilgrim SDK. Here’s how it works: app users are notified when they should use a certain credit card, so they can start racking up rewards and redeem them to book their next trip. And then the dreaming, planning and booking starts all over again.
Oh, The Places We’ll Go!
With the travel industry on the cusp of a profound digital transformation, competition for brand allegiance grows more and more fierce. And these are still the early days! Travel brands that rise to the top will do so by continuously creating new, engaging customer experiences that complement and enrich core offerings. We’re here to partner with hotel brands, airlines, OTAs, cruise lines, and other companies as they make our future travels more personalized, and full of those intangible feelings you get when you’re out in the world — inspiration and awe.
