Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Says Competitors Have the Travel Marketing Funnel All Wrong
Photo Credit: Should marketing efforts lean toward flights or accommodations at the beginning of trip-planning. There is an travel industry debate underway. Wikimedia / redlegsfan21
Skift Take
The so-called travel marketing funnel for Booking Holdings and Expedia has indeed been a sieve. Domestic trips and remote work have propelled accommodations to a higher position in trip plans.
The common wisdom in the travel industry for many years has been that the marketing "funnel, starting with inspiration, research and discovery, booking, and then retention, should be centered around flights because that's where travelers start their trip planning.
Enter Airbnb chairman and CEO Brian Chesky who thinks online travel competitors — his exact words were "a lot of people" — have that flight focus at the top of the funnel all wrong, and that instead marketing should revolve around the destination, and presumably accommodations. Alas, it should be pointed out, Airbnb doesn't offer flights.
"A lot of people think that the way to be top of the funnel in travel is to sell flights because flights is the [ first ] purchase you make," Chesky said during an interview at a Goldman Sachs technology conference earlier this week. "I actually think the top of funnel isn't flights, it's inspiring people where to travel to. That's the first decision you make. Where should I travel?"
Consumer travel writers often advise people to book flights first because of the volatility in airfares, and in some cases they booki
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