eMarketer was pleased to moderate a Tech-Talk Webinar featuring Criteo's Rory Mitchell, executive managing director, Americas. He discussed how travel and retail advertisers can prepare for the increase in travelers, and flight, hotel, and car rental bookings.

On today's episode, we discuss how airlines, hotels, and vacation rental homes are recovering, and the ways in which travel might be changed forever. We then talk about the shift of ad dollars and viewers from connected TV to linear, TV makers that are staking their future growth on streaming ads, and how the vMVPD (skinny bundle) market is shaking out. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer associate forecasting analyst Zach Goldner, director of forecasting Oscar Orozco, and senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

The travel industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic unlike any other. Everyone from airlines to hotels to travel retailers have had to halt much of their operations and marketing as a majority of consumers around the world shelter in place.

No industry has been as devastated by the coronavirus pandemic and its effects as travel. Airlines, car rental agencies, hotels and resorts, online booking services, cruises and destination marketing organizations, and business travel support services found their operations ground to a near-halt for much of Q2 2020, and the situation has barely improved in H2.

WatchOS will extend digital car key support to include home, office, and hotel smart keys: Apple will also let users securely store driver’s licenses and state IDs on the Wallet app on their devices.

Apple also bolstered Wallet’s technology to improve the experience of storing and using digital keys to unlock cars, homes, offices, and hotel rooms. Adding digital IDs may be part of a broader effort to attract users—and spend—by expanding Wallet’s and Apple Pay’s functionalities. Apple is giving people more reasons to use Apple Pay and its wallet.

For example, more than half (56%) of US adults said they were likely to book a vacation if they got a discount at a hotel, per an April survey by Adweek and Morning Consult. Focus on local. Car travel fared better than air travel during the peak of the pandemic, as price- and safety-conscious consumers sought to avoid crowds. And while safety concerns may be waning, price concerns aren’t.

Dave has also helped to create award-winning customer loyalty programs with Procter & Gamble, DSW, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, GNC, La Quinta Hotels, and Nordstrom. Moderator. Nancy Taffera-Santos is senior vice president of media solutions and strategy at eMarketer. Nancy has been at eMarketer for over 13 years and oversees the media business, developing programs for leading advertisers.

Industries that center on in-person activities, such as entertainment, restaurants, travel, and hospitality, pulled back their OOH expenditures. Not all OOH locations suffered, however.

Cardholders earn 3 miles for every $1 spent on United purchases and 2 miles for every $1 spent on all other travel—including airfare, trains, local transit, cruise lines, hotels, car rentals, taxicabs, resorts, ride-sharing services, and tolls—as well as dining and streaming services. Customers also earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on all other purchases.

This plunge in demand put a dent in airline and hotel credit cards, which hurt issuers like JPMorgan Chase and American Express—28% of Amex’s proprietary billed business volume stemmed from travel and entertainment in Q4 2019.

Global hospitality company STR reported a year-over-year loss of 19.3% in revenues per available room (RevPAR) at US hotels to $64.14 in Q1 2020, a key industry metric. Major US airlines, including American, Delta, Southwest and United, all posted double-digit Q1 2020 losses.

How about touring a hotel room before booking? Alibaba already provides some of these experiences through its Buy+ VR shopping experience, and other tech companies are working to expand the virtual possibilities for brands, too. But consumer adoption of VR devices is flagging.

Hotel chains, airlines, and other travel-related services have regularly targeted travelers to the host country. While much fewer people are still traveling this year, this announcement likely throws a wrench into any plans to target would-be attendees of the Olympics. If the event is to be especially local this year, what is the state of media habits in Japan?