Booking.com is offering a fantasy come true for one winner in partnership with rapper Ludacris.
One booker will have the opportunity to bring three guests to stay at Ludacris’ Atlanta mansion, with activities that include a meet-and-greet, a private screening in his home theater, dinner at a nearby fine dining establishment and more.
The promotion, which goes live Wednesday, is the latest in Booking.com’s string of celebrity partnerships that included linkups with Mariah Carey, Martha Stewart and Sarah Jessica Parker.
As the company partners with the Grammy winner, Ben Harrell, Booking.com’s managing director for the United States, opened up about the online travel agency’s marketing efforts, efforts to grow its alternative accommodation inventory in the U.S., social media strategy and more in a wide-ranging Q&A.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
Beyond the publicity a celebrity partnership generates, what is the value of this sort of promotion for Booking.com?
The value of celebrity partnerships extends beyond just publicity. The right celebrity can connect us with specific target audiences and introduce new consumers to the Booking.com platform.
Their reputation and influence can help enhance our credibility because they are, in fact, endorsing Booking.com as a great travel site, and this can create a stronger connection with our current and potential customers. Not to mention, these partnerships are a fun way to showcase our incredible selection of places to stay on the platform. Last, but certainly not least, by listing their own amazing properties on Booking.com, they can help people learn how easy it is to become Booking.com hosts themselves.
Is it also about getting more members – in other words do entrants have to create a Booking.com account, similar to what Airbnb is requiring for anyone entering the lottery for its Icons offerings?
Our primary focus of celebrity partnerships is to help increase visibility and build awareness of our wide range of places to stay available on Booking.com. Through celebrity partnerships, we aim to excite and engage customers, encouraging them to explore our platform, browse places to stay and ultimately book their dream vacation.
While customers don’t need to have a Booking.com account to book a stay, we include elements of our Genius loyalty program in our celebrity stay programs to offer exclusive benefits to our Genius members, which is free and offers lifetime access to exclusive travel rewards.
Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel has talked about wanting to grow Booking.com’s alternative accommodation inventory in the U.S. – what are some of the ways you are doing that?
We see significant opportunities for growth in the U.S. market, particularly in growing our inventory of alternative accommodations. Today, Booking.com offers travelers more than 30 types of alternative accommodations and 7.8 million reported listings in homes, apartments and other unique places to stay across the world.
Some of the ways we are looking to grow our inventory of alternative accommodations is by continuing to innovate our traveler and partner products and enhancing our marketing efforts. We’re also focused on improving the customer experience, making it easier for everyone to find and book the perfect stay, whether it’s a hotel, vacation rental or a more unconventional option like a treehouse or boat.
We’re continuing to see new regulations and pushback on short-term rentals in communities around the world, and last fall at the VRMA conference you spoke about Booking.com becoming more involved in advocacy for STRs. Are you doing that? How concerned are you about regulation in the U.S.?
As a responsible company, Booking.com is committed to working with authorities to find real, workable solutions for regulating short-term rentals. We believe that clear, enforceable regulations are necessary to balance the benefits of short-term rentals with the needs of local communities.
Our advocacy efforts are focused on promoting reasonable and proportionate regulations that take into account the interest of all stakeholders, including homeowners, travelers and local governments. In the U.S., we are actively engaged in discussions with policymakers to ensure that the regulations are fair and effective, fostering a positive environment for both the travel community and local economies.
As you think about growth overall for Booking.com in the U.S., how does social media factor in? Expedia Group is targeting content creators with its newly launched Travel Shops. As a former marketing executive yourself, does a tie-up with content creators interest you for Booking.com in the U.S.?
Customers are spending more time on emerging platforms, particularly on social media, and more often than not on their mobile device. That’s why social media plays a vital role in our U.S. growth strategy as it gives us the opportunity to reach and engage a wide audience. Through platforms like Instagram and TikTok, we have a lot of fun showcasing the various travel experiences available to book on Booking.com, from hotels and vacation rentals to rental cars and attractions.
We also collaborate with content creators who offer authentic insights and experiences that resonate with various audience segments. These partnerships, along with our ongoing social media efforts, help us connect more deeply with travelers, increase visibility and inspire bookings. This is a space that changes quickly, and we will continue to evolve here to connect with as many travelers as we can.
Google was recently found guilty of violating antitrust laws for its search monopoly, and it is still facing a lawsuit related to its ad practices, while at the same time there are many new generative AI-powered search engines developing. What’s your take on how search may change in the next decade?
The search landscape is evolving rapidly, and we’re closely monitoring these changes. As new technologies like generative AI emerge, we anticipate shifts in how people search and discover travel options. We remain focused on adapting to these trends to ensure we continue meeting the needs of our customers in an ever-changing environment.
What’s at the top of your to-do list for the next year? The next five years?
In the next year, our focus will continue to be on expanding our presence in the U.S. through growing our alternative accommodation offerings, our suite of other travel verticals, and across it all, help to increase awareness of our free Genius loyalty program.
Over the next five years, we’ll continue our efforts to solve one of travel’s most complex problems: the need to search, book and manage each element of a trip across individual touchpoints. As part of our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, our “connected trip” vision is to remove this friction by offering every element of the booking experience in one place, providing seamless, end-to-end support throughout the entire travel journey.
