The automotive dashboard is evolving into a media hub. By 2029, 203 million connected car drivers will give advertisers access to captive audiences through AI commerce, in-vehicle ads, charging sessions, and rideshare integrations.

The fourth quarter is shaping up to be a strong season for travel companies catering to affluent consumers—but an uncertain one for everyone else. From the perspective of the Big Four airlines—American, Southwest, Delta, and United—holiday demand looks strong. But hotel operators are warning of weakness as interest in US travel declines. And while affluent consumers are driving travel spending, much of that money is being spent on international trips. That’s small consolation for the many retailers and restaurants that are counting on domestic demand to make up for declining inbound tourism.

Q2 earnings revealed turbulence across the travel sector as American Airlines and Southwest reported lower net income and reduced their outlooks. With US airlines and hotels likely to face more headwinds amid uncertainty over tariffs and trade policy, companies need to adjust their strategies.

The news: Hotel companies are expanding their upscale offerings to capitalize on strong demand for unique and customized accommodations among affluent consumers. Our take: Luxury and lifestyle brands are weathering economic ambiguity better than economy lodging. This divergence indicates that upscale, experiential offerings will be more resilient, while economy hotels face headwinds from cost-conscious consumers.

These can fuel more frequent debit card usage, helping these cards better compete against credit card programs

Airline and hotel co-brand credit cards are contending with shifting travel spending trends and rising competition from general travel cards. Tapping into Gen Z’s love of experiences and exclusivity can help them stand out in a crowded field.

Leisure travel demand ticks up ahead of the holiday season: Airbnb, Expedia, and Booking expect reservations to accelerate in Q4.

The open-banking-powered card offering brings together the benefits of A2A payments with the ease of card payments. Innovations like this could spur A2A payments usage globally

The proliferation of loyalty programs has heightened competition, so retailers will have to dig deeper into their customer data to drive active participation.

Co-brand card issuers and brand partners have an opportunity to reimagine their offerings in the pandemic’s wake. Leaning on newfound digitization and shifting spending habits can help providers tailor their offerings in ways that widen their net, grow volume, and appeal to the maximum number of customers.

For Hilton Hotels, first-party data is key to ensuring its guests have a comfortable—and memorable—stay at its properties. Watch Industry Voices: Spotlight on Travel, with Hilton’s Amy Martin-Ziegenfuss, senior vice president of global enterprise and brand marketing, to learn how customer data informs the hospitality brand’s advertising and guest amenities.

To deliver an effective customer experience, marketers must first identify their customers and audiences. This report focuses on how marketers identify audience segments and target groups today.

In this on-demand Meet the Analyst Webinar, eMarketer principal analyst Lauren Fisher breaks down how successful companies make sense of customer engagement by mapping the customer journey and examining the metrics that matter.

Many companies now use big data to optimize marketing efforts, but what about broader company initiatives? eMarketer explores how some firms are using marketing data to power product and merchandising efforts.

Loyalty programs are a natural way to collect first-party data, but they suffer from low activity due to consumer dissatisfaction. We examine can be done to deliver rewards to customers and the marketers running the programs.

This report contains a framework for making sense of customer engagement metrics at one’s organization. It shares requirements for putting that framework to use and gives examples of companies successfully navigating customer engagement efforts.