Ah, spring—the season of longer days, warmer temps, and a fresh sense of renewal… and relentless allergies. While flowers bloom and pollen levels soar (sending antihistamines flying off the shelves), that first glimpse of sunshine is all it takes for consumers to start dreaming, researching, and booking their summer getaways.
But in the travel sector, booking a trip is rarely a spur-of-the-moment decision. Travelers hop between multiple sites, switch devices, and compare options for weeks before finally locking in their plans. This fragmented journey makes re-engagement essential—delivering the right message, on the right channel, at the right time can be the difference between securing a booking or losing a potential traveler to the competition.
Despite economic pressures, consumers remain committed to travel, with summer vacations still a top priority. In fact, 80% of travelers prefer to book online, making it critical for travel brands to leverage first-party data to guide site visitors from browsing to booking—whether they’re ready to take off now or just mapping out their journey before returning to book. So fasten your seatbelts and listen to the safety briefing as we’re about to explore how travel brands can keep travelers on the right path and ensure their bookings don’t take an unexpected detour.
Turn Unknown Website Traffic Into Known With Identity Resolution
Before crafting the perfect message or offer to convert potential bookers, brands need a way to reach them—but with up to 95% of website traffic remaining anonymous, this is a major challenge. Additionally, only 3% of visitors complete a booking in a single session, making re-engagement crucial.
This is where identity resolution changes the game. Traditional providers match unknown devices to an email or phone number, but Wunderkind goes further. With over 9 billion consumer devices recognized and nearly 2 trillion digital engagements tracked annually, Wunderkind delivers deep insights into the browsing, clicking, and booking behaviors of over 1 billion opted-in consumers. By matching anonymous visitors to first-party databases, travel brands can trigger highly personalized messaging at scale.
Travelers often browse on one device, research on another, and book on a third—making cross-device recognition essential for a seamless experience. Wunderkind ensures that John Doe researching flights on his phone is recognized as the same John Doe booking on his laptop, enabling consistent messaging and a frictionless path to booking.
Putting the Theory Into Practice
A leading marine and watersports retailer, known for helping customers enjoy life on the water since 1976, sought to enhance its digital revenue. After seeing the success of a partner brand’s collaboration with Wunderkind, they explored how identification could unlock new opportunities within their own triggered email program—and the results exceeded expectations. Triggered email contributed 11.8% of total digital revenue (measured last click), driving significant growth for the brand.Staying
Top-of-Mind in a Lengthy Booking Journey
With every travel brand vying for attention and unlimited options, standing out in crowded inboxes and amidst limited ad inventory is no easy feat—especially with the lengthy travel booking process. The key? Start now. Wunderkind data shows a spike in travel planning activity in late March and early April, making mid-March the ideal time to launch campaigns. Establishing a strong presence early helps brands stay top of mind as travel consumers move from dreaming about their summer getaways to actively booking them.
Exclusive data from the 2025 Travel Consumer Insights Report that the most travelers (35%) book their summer vacations a month, to three months in advance, with a further 30% booking at least a month ahead. For marketers, this booking timeline demands a dynamic calendar, with tailored campaigns that appeal to both Wanderlust-driven early bookers and more spontaneous travelers.
Putting the Theory Into Practice
A leading vacation provider offering premium packages across Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Central and South America partnered with Wunderkind to grow their first-party data and scale their triggered email and text programs. This collaboration led to a 12x increase in triggered email revenue over their previous solution, with triggered email and text contributing 7.5% of total digital revenue (measured in Google Analytics).
Trigger the Right Message, at the Right Time
When it comes to driving bookings, email has always been the preeminent digital channel with its ability for personalization and delivering a verifiable ROI. To make sure your email marketing efforts are converting and driving value, trigger them based on individual browse and click data for maximum engagement.
An average email drives only $0.04 in revenue compared to $0.95 from Wunderkind. The difference is personalized messaging triggered by real-time user behavior. “Send all” no longer cuts it from a customer or brand perspective. Wunderkind empowers travel brands to send more triggered emails to travelers automatically, at moments in the bookers journey that indicate that they are open to brand interaction.
To truly deliver love at first flight, incorporate cohesive multi-channel strategies that create seamless transitions between email, text, and onsite experiences. By integrating identity signals, brands can deliver a consistent and personalized journey that resonates across generations.
Putting the Theory Into Practice
A leading RV rental platform sought a new revenue-driving channel to increase direct bookings. After selecting Wunderkind as a partner, they rapidly scaled the reach of their most personalized emails. As a result, triggered emails contributed a significant percentage of total digital revenue (measured last click) and achieved a 5x lift over their previous solution.
Beating OTA’s and Third-Party Sites
Friend or foe, behemoth third-party online travel agencies (OTAs) like Expedia or Booking.com exist. For brands, this presents both a challenge and an opportunity. These marketplaces offer widespread exposure and easy customer acquisition, but they also own the customer relationship—not you. The real question is: what can travel brands do to shift the narrative?
To compete with OTAs, travel brands should highlight the benefits of booking directly, such as exclusive discounts, loyalty perks, and added-value incentives like free upgrades or flexible cancellations. Enhancing the mobile app experience is also key—offering app-exclusive deals and a seamless booking process can drive adoption among travelers who prefer to book on the go. Additionally, targeting different traveler segments with tailored messaging can make a significant impact. Emphasizing best-price guarantees and bundled options can appeal to price-conscious travelers, while personalized loyalty programs and targeted promotions can strengthen direct booking preferences among those who already lean toward booking directly.
Putting the Theory Into Practice
A global theme park was initially skeptical about Wunderkind’s impact on selling park passes. However, after seeing its incremental value, the company expanded Wunderkind across all locations. As a result, triggered emails contributed 2.2% of total digital revenue (measured last click) and delivered a 4.3% lift over the previous solution.
How Wunderkind Can Help Travel Brands Make This Spring Booking Season a Success
Travel brands need results, not just tools, to capitalize on the surge in spring and summer trip planning. Wunderkind’s proven marketing strategies—powered by personalized triggered email and text campaigns combined with advanced identity resolution—drive more bookings and guaranteed revenue. Our identity-first approach and AI-powered platform ensure travel brands reach the right consumers at the right time, turning trip browsers into confirmed bookings.
And the strategies that work for summer vacations? They’re just as effective for Labor Day getaways, holiday travel, and beyond.
Gain exclusive insights into traveler behavior you need to optimize your marketing strategy and drive more direct bookings.