Jeremy Kressmann

Travel brands need to check that their digital effort is in sync with their offline service.

The key question for travel marketers is no longer "Does location-based marketing work?" but "When does this start to get creepy?"

Airbnb tends to get most of the credit when consumers talk about "alternative accommodation." But ultimately it may be efforts undertaken by online travel agencies like Expedia and Priceline that truly bring short-term and whole-home rentals into the travel mainstream.

Every travel company wants to be known as innovative. But creating the right culture for innovation can be challenging. That's why travel incubators seem like such a great strategy: access to outside partners, ideas and talent with minimal risk.

Does National Geographic's push into original scripted TV signal that the industry is shifting away from bland travel reality shows and snooze-worthy programming about cruises and Las Vegas? We sure hope so.

Overtourism is a growing problem, so it's heartening to see Booking.com taking on the problem of sustainability in an innovative way. That said, it's still too early to tell if this is a genuine commitment to sustainability, or just a "feel-good" move to create PR headlines.

Even the digital marketing world couldn't escape the Trump factor this week. Travel brands would love an opportunity to move on to business as usual.

Chinese New Year is big business for the travel industry. The country's travelers are expected to take more than three billion trips during this year's festivities.

One of the dirty "secrets" of digital advertising is that companies like Google, Facebook and Microsoft purchase ads on their own platforms, essentially competing with other buyers for the top placements. The news should give any marketer spending top dollar to try and earn high-ranking search results cause for concern.

Between their digital advertising tools and deep knowledge of consumers, there's virtually no tech company on earth (other than Google) that can match Facebook and Instagram. The launch of Instagram's new "Stories" feature should make advertising competitor Snapchat very afraid.