How Companies Use Data to Target Travelers

No matter what you’re doing on the Internet these days, whether it’s researching a desired travel destination or chatting on Facebook with someone in Germany, you can be sure of one thing: You are being tracked.

Privacy, as you probably know, is a thing of the past. It’s not uncommon for you to search something, wander to a different webpage and then find an ad related to what you searched on that webpage…within a matter of seconds.

In fact, you don’t have to search anything to be tracked. There are other methods advertisers can use to learn all about you.

Unethical? Perhaps to some.

But the reality is, most of us travelers don’t mind personalized advertising, even if we know it is mainly done by tracking us. An increasing amount of us are willing to sacrifice privacy for quicker, easier access to the things and destinations we like. According to a recent survey by personalization platform MyBuys, 70 percent of Internet users want and even expect personalized ads on websites. Sixty-eight percent of email users want and expect personalized ads.

But exactly how do advertisers track you?

Here’s a look at some of the most common ways today.

Search-Based/Cookies/Web Beacons

This is the time-tested method for advertisers. When you search, “cookies” or text files are embedded within your browser. This allows advertisers to track where you’ve been through search sites such as Google or Bing. So, just because you are no longer searching a particular topic, companies still know you searched Thailand or France or New Zealand at one point (although, ideally, advertisers will target your most recent cookies or even real-time cookies).

Web beacons are bits of code that can measure how many visitors a webpage received, or the demographics of those visitors. That allows advertisers to not only find heavy traffic, but also find the right traffic for them.

So, while it's logical for travel companies to advertise on travel sites, web beacons narrow down visitor information by interests, geography, language, age, gender and more. That allows companies to identify the sites that speak to them and their customers/clients.

Keyword-Based 

Twitter introduced keyword-based targeted advertising in April 2013.

Basically, this type of advertising is able to look at keywords in a user’s Timeline or in tweets the user has sent or received. For example, if a user constantly uses the word “Hawaii,” then chances are the user will see promoted tweets from Hawaii-based companies or institutions on their Twitter account, like the Hawaii Visitors & Conventions Bureau.

It’s getting pretty spooky in terms of keyword-based advertising these days, too. For example, you can be chatting with your friend or fellow employee on Google Chat about how you want to get away from it all and go to Yosemite National Park and all of a sudden have ads popping up related to Yosemite.

By simply capturing words you are using on platforms such as Google Chat or Twitter, advertisers can get a pretty darn good idea of who you are and what you like.

Travel agents should be included in this discussion, too. While some clients may not like the idea of targeted advertising or learning more about them through the Internet, the reality is it’s not going anywhere, and the demographic of clients who denounce the idea is shrinking by the year. Quite simply, you can service your client better by learning more about them, no matter what method you use.

Shopping

If you shop on sites such as Amazon or eBay, the travel products you are interested in can also be helpful to advertisers.

If you buy a snowboard and the accompanying equipment ahead of the winter season, for example, it doesn’t take a brain scientist to figure out you’re gearing up to hit the powder. Thus, you may start seeing more ads from ski resorts or winter sports outlets.

In fact, you technically don’t even have to actually purchase an item for it to be logged by advertisers. If you simply put it in your cart online but you don’t buy it, it has still become an extension of you that can be tracked.

On digital channels, you may see digital ads pop up promoting New York City and its businesses if you ordered a movie based in the Big Apple.

A New York Times article in February 2012 revealed just how far companies will go when it comes to targeting the right consumer at the right time. Target was actually sending coupons for baby products to customers based on their “pregnancy score,” related to what they bought. If they were buying diapers, large quantities of unscented lotion, calcium, magnesium, zinc, soap, sanitizers and washcloths, there was a high probability that they were either pregnant or expecting. In fact, Target sent coupons to a teenage girl, which infuriated her father. It turns out that Target recognized the teenage girl was pregnant before her father did…

This extensive effort of categorizing consumers extends to the travel industry.

Profile Data

If you are familiar with Facebook (as in, if you are familiar with Planet Earth), you probably know by now that targeted advertising is rampant on the social media site.

You can set whether everyone or just your friends see your personal information, but that doesn’t stop advertisers from accessing it. That means advertisers know all the information you choose to unveil, from where you were born to where you live to your top five dream destinations. Oh yeah, and they probably already know all the information you didn’t choose to unveil, too.

From Facebook to Twitter to Instagram to Google Plus to OkCupid (or Tinder, whichever you prefer), advertisers and travel companies now have a steady stream of information to make sure they target the right matches for them at the right time…and make sure you know they are the right match, too. If you thought answering those questionnaires on dating sites was to just find the right partner for you, think again. Some of those questionnaires have information pertinent to companies, and that includes travel businesses.

Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to go watch some clips of “Portlandia” on YouTube.

Wait…what?! “Portlandia” is based on a real city?! And there’s all these cool companies there I can click on right now?! I’m packing my bags for Portland!

Follow me on Twitter @RyanRudnansky