Cookieless is toast: What can travel marketers do to stay ahead?

Just a few weeks ago, Google walked back its plans to deprecate third-party cookies in Chrome. After four years of moving deadlines (and lots of articles about next steps!), it became clear that the proposed approach wasn’t working for advertisers or consumers. Monetization was down in cookieless tests with Google, so advertisers were getting less fidelity; and the shift in control from third parties to Google wasn’t seen as all that great for consumer privacy. So while Google’s move was frustrating, it was, in fact, the right thing to do. What’s more, the cookieless cliff threat forced industry leaders to expand their thinking and technology capabilities to be better marketers in a privacy-first world. This ongoing conversation put a spotlight on personalized marketing, and just because the deadline pressure is off doesn’t mean travel marketers should take their foot off the “less cookies” gas. 

Do consumers really care about cookies?

Google’s deprecation of third-party cookies was done under the banner of privacy, which makes sense given that 68% of consumers are concerned about the amount of data companies collect. However, the reality is that privacy is not their top priority. A whopping 71% of consumers expect personalization, and that personalization can only happen using collected data. While consumers certainly care about privacy, what they really want is value for their information and transparency about how companies are using it.

Most consumers are savvy enough to know that marketers are collecting information about them with every click of the mouse, and many are fine being marketed to — even with cookies. That’s why some consumers are consciously choosing to opt-in to cookies on brand websites. They know full well that this will allow the company to deliver a better, more relevant experience. In the end, collecting information can be a win-win: Customers are happy when their information is used responsibly, and fast-growing companies are driving 40% more of their revenue with personalization.

To give consumers the personalization they want, marketers can create an integrated data strategy that includes — but doesn’t rely on — cookies. Just because Google has shelved third-party cookie deprecation doesn’t mean marketers should get too comfortable relying on them. So what can travel industry marketers rely on?

Navigating a “less cookies” world

First, regardless of what Google has decided, it’s important that travel marketers stay the course to rely less on cookies. Over the past four years, the industry has made a lot of progress with how it uses data, targeting and more — and it’s been clear for a while that it’s not going back to a cookie-centric AdTech world. Currently, 67% of adults in the United States turn off cookies or website tracking, which means marketers have to continue finding other ways to reach potential travelers.

Now more than ever it’s important to keep investing in new solutions that evolve with changing customer expectations — which includes focusing on first-party data and opt-in relationships with customers. By expanding multi-ID strategies that include first-party opt-in channels, marketers can develop and target relevant audiences with relevant ads. From there, they can continue to expand beyond traditional AdTech channels and approaches to be looking at content, context and one-to-one marketing channels like metasearch, text and email. 

To accurately target consumers on those channels, marketers must continue to focus on creating first-party profiles of all guests with as much opt-in information as possible, including phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses. Technology partners need this information to connect online IDs, whether that’s hashed emails to build audiences on Meta or connecting to mobile ad IDs to target with video. Third-party cookies can play a supporting role here, but they’re only valuable when tied to the other online IDs that have more fidelity.

In addition to pushing forward with existing cookieless strategies, marketers must also expand investments in cloud-based travel tech and marketing technology. Hotels and attractions are migrating from on-premises property management systems (PMS) and point-of-sale systems (POS) to cloud-based PMS/POS, allowing marketers to easily connect the dots between data sources versus legacy tech with data in silos. By integrating customer relationship management (CRM), mobile and other guest experience tools in the cloud, marketers can enable real-time integration with their travel tech systems rather than doing batch uploads. 

Here’s an example: A hotelier can learn a lot about a guest during a three-day stay, and data collected on-site is most valuable when the guest is still on the property. But if that data isn’t uploaded to other critical systems for days, it’s too late to make things right. With cloud-based technology, if a guest is dissatisfied with the air conditioning unit in the room, real-time integrations ensure the client’s feedback connects directly into a housekeeping app to alert staff so they can make the repair — and save the hotel from a negative review.

A cookieless world may not be as close as it was, and many people will kick back and relax. However Google, or any other browser, can choose to deprecate third-party cookies at any time. More importantly, a personalized, multi-tech approach is more effective and allows marketers to tailor campaigns to meet ever-changing traveler expectations. Smart marketers who keep driving to improve their data, processes and tech platforms to engage travelers with less cookies will gain more in a “less cookies” world.