Free vacations for all: utopian fantasy or future reality?

Much of the services we consume on a daily basis are completely free: Google or Bing, Facebook and Instagram, the use of WhatsApp and, of course, conventional television and radio. They are not public services or altruistic providers, they are companies that live off advertising. 

But could a vacation ever be completely and absolutely free, paid for by advertisers and at zero cost to the traveler? As outrageous as it may sound, there are plenty of precedents for free vacations. FAM trips are the traditional way to entice travel agents and tour operators to sell a property or experience, much like social media influencer travel. For their part, luxury brands, such as sports car manufacturers, often invite their wealthier clients to spend the weekend away. And companies often invite top clients on week-long, all-expenses-covered "retreats," under the guise of a conference that's really an excuse to party at luxury resorts in exotic places far, far away. .

But make ordinary vacations free for ordinary people? Martin Eade, of travel technology booking engine Vibe, comments that "Years ago, timeshare promoters would give away free travel products, for example hotel stays or Disney tickets, if you signed up for one of their sales presentations." . For his part, Mark Ross-Smith of StatusMatch , a provider of technology for airline loyalty programs, notes that "Airlines have been giving away travel products in the form of redeeming points for years in exchange for meeting spending thresholds, and there are companies of high-end credit cards that offer free hotel nights just for having the card. This is pretty much the same thing, but in reverse."

Ultimately, it is simply a matter of whether or not an advertiser is willing to cover the cost of someone's vacation in exchange for the advertising opportunity: to the airline, hotelier, transfer company, or owner. from the restaurant they don't care who actually pays as long as someone pays. Advertisers already pay big bucks for your data, so why not have you there in person in the form of a vacation?

As long as the traveler is their target audience, the vacation format presents an enormous number of opportunities for advertisers to sell, sell, sell. Multiple hours on a plane, hotel room, transportation, dining spaces and much more, all of which currently have a very limited amount of ads inside. Imagine the possibilities on a cruise, where no one is allowed to leave the ship and a lot of time is spent watching shows conducive to landmark moments.

Barry Klipp of InterLnkd - whose engine combines fashion and beauty brands and products with holiday bookings to provide OTAs and airlines with a new source of non-core revenue - thinks this is something that could be on the horizon: " The Selling the vacation itself is not the only way to generate income, there are other potentials, and we offer one by generating an income stream by cross-selling consumer goods prior to the travel date. just pay all the vacations? Of course not, but it is an example of how you can be on the way to cover part of that."

In the opinion of Alex Barros, from BEONx , experts in revenue management, today many hotels have to rethink their business model: "The days when we focused on RevPAR are over, hotels have to think about maximizing revenue from the entire guest experience, such as concierge services or restaurant; one way to do that could be to give away the room, as casinos already do to high earning players."

How then could this economic model work? Assuming that no tour operator or travel provider dares to do it themselves, what would basically happen is that a company would be created whose goal would be to attract enough advertisers to cover the cost of a vacation, and then find travelers that fit the desired advertising profile. . With those funds, an all-inclusive vacation on a charter plane is booked for the group and branding opportunities are maximized throughout the experience, including not only advertisements, but also trained tour representatives to sell the sponsors' products.

Given that some all-inclusive holiday packages start at just a few hundred pounds, that's not a huge advertising budget. And if you're thinking "yeah, but a person paying a few hundred pounds for a holiday isn't worth that much in advertising terms", think again: a supermarket could pay a fortune for that kind of audience if they thought they could convert them to their brand. .

The technology needed to match advertisers with travelers—using big data techniques—already exists, as long as the "freemium vacation" company has sufficient demand from a broad range of socioeconomically and demographically relevant travelers. And can you imagine a company of this type not being inundated with people willing to offer their data in exchange for a free vacation?

Spencer Hanlon, from B2B travel payment provider Nium , points out that many travel providers or tour operators give up 3% of their revenue to payment management, due to an antiquated financial infrastructure: " If there are no payments from the consumer, financial transaction costs are drastically reduced: all that remains is a global B2B payment to the provider which, with modern technology, should be almost imperceptible as a transfer cost. You are already 3% of the way."

Destination marketing organizations may also occasionally intervene to offer free or discounted vacations. Carlos Cendra, from travel intelligence provider Mabrian , comments that "a destination that wants to attract a new visitor profile might be interested in partnering with such a platform, since they would have the certainty that travelers are their target market. In fact, we constantly see destinations invest millions in what are called "co-marketing agreements" with airlines to co-finance incoming low-season seats."

There are many other industries that could also directly offer parts of the package. Katie Crowe, of battleface travel insurance provider , comments: "Financial services organizations are always willing to encourage you to switch to their services, some of which can be very high margin, such as pension products, and a way The best way to do it is through direct promotions to your target audience. What better complement to a vacation than a promotion for an insurance policy?"

For now it is possible to imagine at least some kind of discount holiday model - in fact, as we have seen above, this is already happening to some extent - in which part of the costs are subsidized by advertisers before moving to a 100% free model. Who knows, if this "freemium vacation" model turned out to be profitable, one day we might get to a situation where, to compete for travelers, someone would even pay people to go on vacation. All we need is for someone to step up and do it. Volunteers?