How did Biscoff become cool?

I was out at breakfast with my 15-year-old daughter recently and she ordered some type of Biscoff waffle thing.

Biscoff? Aren’t they the little biscuits you get for free at Premier Inn alongside the tea bags and instant coffee? I think that is probably the extent of my interaction with Biscoff. I’m sure I probably ate them in that moment also but almost certainly wasn’t motivated to seek them out anywhere else.

So after the initial What?! I moved into Why? And then How?

This week the head of Biscoff UK Frances Booth unpacked to Marketing Week why my teen daughter is (weirdly) ordering Biscoff products for breakfast.

Turns out Biscoff have run the absolute masterclass in how to work with creators.

First, they only do “gifted” campaigns. They don’t pay anyone anything. They just ship samples of products to creators. In travel, most hotels also do “gifted” campaigns too, in the form of free room nights, but almost none do the next step…

Next, Biscoff gives no guidance or instruction on what the creator should do or post about regarding these little dark biscuits. Creators being, well, creative started making sweet things, adding the Biscoff in and posting about that.

This then became a massive trend and now you can get a Biscoff McFlurry at Mc Donalds (I bet no-one at Biscoff saw that outcome coming when this all started!)

In their synopsis of the MediaWeek article, Elephant NY put it best: “By giving creators “total control,” they tap into genuine voices that resonate with niche audiences, driving organic growth rather than the peak nothingburger impressions that agencies love to brag about. This is a masterclass in brand humility and real partnership, not the usual grift where brands throw money and keywords at influencers, hoping for algorithmic miracles.” Amen to that.

A few weeks ago, Virgin Voyages invited 1000 creators onto a ship. They gave them zero direction. They didn’t even tell them they needed to post anything at all. The result was over 20,000 authentic posts about what little piece of magic they personally discovered on board.

Is this a trend? For those who will succeed in creator marketing, it absolutely will be.

Videreo is the place to find the creators you can trust to talk about the way your travel experience made them feel. There is no better marketing than that (if your product is good).

If your product is good: Contact me to learn how we can make this happen for you.

This content is provided by the newsletter sponsor Videreo.com

Google drops what you really need to know about AEO/GEO (in their search at least)

After the longest time of only hearing from “experts” their best guesses on how to get your brand to show up in AI answers and overviews, Google has kindly dropped the final word direct from the source.

Here are the things that might surprise you (given how much they’ve been spruiked on platforms like LinkedIn:

• LLMS.txt and AI-specific markup: You don’t need special AI files or markup to appear in Google’s generative AI search results.

• Chunking content: You don’t need to split pages into tiny sections because Google can already understand complex, multi-topic content.

• Rewriting for AI systems: You don’t need to stuff in every keyword variation because AI understands meaning and synonyms naturally.

• Chasing fake “mentions”: Artificially generating mentions across the web is less valuable than creating genuinely high-quality content.

• Overusing structured data: Structured data still helps SEO generally, but there’s no special schema required for generative AI search.

The final point really caught my eye - given it has been delivered as basically 101 advice from just about everyone (I think I’ve even told people this). To make it super clear I’ll add here the exact text from the Google Blog:

“Structured data isn't required for generative AI search, and there's no special schema.org markup you need to add.”

What is coming out of Google I/O developers conference

More Google because their big I/O conference was on this week.

The video here breaks down the highlights quickly for you.

For travel specifically what caught my ear was:

• Ask YouTube - a new natural language way to ask questions directly to YouTube and have answers plus videos pre-set at the exact right moment. Why this could matter is that ChatGPT and Claude don’t generally give video answers. In fact the only videos you can see on GhatGPT are YouTube videos - but you have to specifically ask for them. For any subject where seeing is better than reading (eh.. travel), this could be impactful.

• AskMaps - not new but now locked in beyond an experiment that might just go away (as things tend to do at Google). Maps and travel are inextricably linked. Arguably Google Maps are already the biggest “travel app” there is. Who knows what people might be asking of their maps whilst travelling (well, Google will know).

• Antigravity - anyone can now vibe code any Android app they want and it will be built at the highest spec to run perfectly in Android.

• Universal Cart - a shopping cart that moves with you across the Googleverse (search, AI mode, YouTube) with agentic support. A special hotels’ integration upcoming via the Universal Commerce Protocol.

Expedia says goodbye to Roamie - the universal chat function across the platform

Expedia foreshadowed the impending downfall of their across platform chat helper, Roamie when they released their “Trust Gap” report a few weeks ago. Now Roamie is gone.

In his blog post announcing the Trust Gap report, Xavi Amatriain to us “Travelers don’t have a technology problem with AI. They have a trust problem.”

The crux of this problem is travelers trust AI to suggest, not decide.
“Travelers are increasingly comfortable using AI in a supporting role. As the research shows:

53% are comfortable letting AI suggest options
42% would use AI to monitor prices and determine the best time to book
40% would use AI help build itineraries

But there is a firm line between discovery and buying: 66% of people said they wouldn’t trust AI to buy or book anything on their behalf.”

Instead of one AI across the platform, Expedia are instead “offering innovative AI-powered experiences at every stage of the traveler journey while being the trusted place they discover, book, manage, and complete their trips.”

Specialist, not generalist.

Ther view on agents making bookings seems polar opposite to Google above who demoed an agent ordering “that coffee I like” for its human on Doordash. Those little transactions will quickly build the confidence of users I think.

The AI layer at Airbnb is growing - now moving into personalisation

In a busy week, Airbnb had their Summer Release event also this week.

AirDNA’s Jamie Lane was quick to drop the AI highlights in a LinkedIn post.

Here is a summary:

• Personalized listing highlights: Airbnb will dynamically emphasize different parts of the same listing depending on each guest’s travel intent and preferences.

• AI-powered review surfacing: Airbnb will pull out the most relevant review snippets and themes for each individual guest instead of showing generic review summaries.

• Conversational property Q&A: Guests can ask questions about a property and get AI-generated answers backed by reviews, photos, and map context.

• AI-driven property comparisons: Instead of comparing amenities only, Airbnb will explain why each property may suit that specific guest and highlight the most meaningful differences.

Airbnb are not doing nothing when it comes to AI. They seem to be doing the impactful things that can move the needle on conversion.

Brian doesn’t like the Chat interface.

Expedia just shut down their chat interface….

Did Airbnb then just save themselves a whole heap of needless work? Probably.

If you think someone (or everyone) you know or work with could grow from being more informed on the topic of ai + travel (or could use the training above) then please forward this email to them and they can click the button below:

Marketplace Spotlight: Magpie

Magpie chief and AI chief pundit, Christian Watts has got an article coming out that will likely sythesise a lot of these news items above.

In his preview snippet on LinkedIn he says:

“The Universal Cart (announced) is interesting though. Get the flight, hotel and the experience into one cart (across merchants) before you hit the "Buy Now"

Google quote from yesterday:

"We’re also introducing a new, intelligent AI-powered Search box, marking its biggest upgrade in over 25 years"

Hats off to Google - the overall search experience really is great these days. The blend of AI-mode and some remnants of the old Google seem to be working with customers. No need for some dramatic shift to 100% AI-mode. Google becomes your AI operating system. (just like OpenAI want to be, and Claude already is for many).”

He also called people Slop-mongers.

If you have an AI business in Travel and looking for people to notice you, you can sign up to the marketplace for peanuts (top right corner, 5 mins, bring your logo).

I’ve priced for bootstrapped startups but also accepting larger companies too.

The high stakes AI game DMO’s are finding themselves in

Great article this week from Emma Weismann at Travel Weekly on the uncomfortable place that DMO’s have found themselves.

“I think not having immediate control over exactly how their destination is represented is something that gives a lot of DMOs pause,” said Morgan Bell, director of product management for destinations at Granicus.

It’s not only control. It’s traffic, the former lifeblood of the DMO.

Bell said that almost every DMO has seen its organic web traffic take a hit since the debut of AI search engines.

He would know. SimpleView (a Granicus company) run the websites for a ton of DMO’s across the US and around the world.

Slack Group!

Podcasts and Sponsors

Podcasts now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts:

All podcasts are now showing up on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for your easy listening pleasure! Now is a great time to binge those you may have missed.

There is a special episode coming out next week with Bethany Reitsma from the Travel Technology Association around startups, funding and new angel matchmaking program they have launched. Keep an eye out for when it drops as it comes with a discount on membership for new members also.

We start recording for the 2nd half of the year in June. If you have an AI story happening at your company you think the travel world should know about - let me know and lets get you on.

Partner with Us

Most clicked last week was the link to the post about Disney’s AI plans and the problems that might cause for Disney specialist agents.

That’s it - you’ve made it to the end of this edition. If you’re thankful for this newsletter - you can always buy me a coffee.

I’ll be putting the result of the most clicked post in next week’s edition so you can see where others are focusing. If I’ve missed something, you’ve got a tip or any feedback at all - you can simply reply to this email and it will come straight to me. I’m doing this for You so please don’t be shy to tell me what you think