Off the back of a travel booking test last summer, TikTok has formally announced in-app booking with TikTok GO.
The social media giant named Booking.com, Expedia, Trip.com, Viator, GetYourGuide and Tiqets (which was recently acquired by Expedia Group) as TikTok GO partners.
"Every day on TikTok, millions of people discover where to eat, where to stay and what to do next," said Adam Presser, CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture. "TikTok GO connects that moment of inspiration directly to the businesses behind it, and that's good for creators, good for local businesses and good for communities."
TikTok GO surfaces lodging and experiences through search, video and location pages for its 200 million users in the United States. When travelers 18 and older find something they are interested in, they can look and complete a booking.
While this version of TikTok GO is available for U.S. users only, there are other versions of the program in Indonesia and Japan with different travel partners.
The move is intended to ease the path from discovery to booking and should benefit creators, too.
All partners offering in-app booking will set their own pricing, according to a TikTok spokesperson. And creators who are highlighting hotels, attractions and services will be able to connect content to bookings and will have commission-based opportunities that can be found in the TikTok Creator Center.
TikTok last year tested accommodation booking for 10% of U.S. users through a collaboration with Booking.com.
At the time, Booking.com was also participating in TikTok GO, then billed as a program for creators to earn link-based commission from posting about hotels, restaurants and experiences.
TikTok underwent testing with each of the named partners on a rolling basis, according to a TikTok spokesperson. TikTok did not share when the testing began with each individual brand.
The spokesperson said that TikTok saw interest from users during the testing period and is continuing to invest in the space. The company did not offer concrete metrics on interest levels.
TikTok separately launched a travel advertising solution in September after testing with travel brands including Expedia Group, Accor, Etihad Airways and Melia.
Will TikTok GO drive bookings?
Two-thirds of travelers who use social media for planning later made a trip purchase or decision related to content they consumed, according to Phocuswright's report "F is for Funnel: Social Media and the Path to Travel Purchase."
TikTok's partners are optimistic about the opportunity to offer booking through the platform.
Mark van der Linden, vice president of partnerships for Booking.com, said the company is excited to work with TikTok to turn "'I wish I were there'" moments into actual travel.
"By bringing Booking.com directly into the TikTok journey, travelers can move from discovering a dream accommodation in a video to securing their stay in just a few taps," van der Linden said.
The initiative also marks a change in how travel experiences can be booked, according to GetYourGuide co-founder and CEO Johannes Reck.
"We're collapsing the time between inspiration and action," Reck said. "With over 200,000 experiences across 12,000 destinations, GetYourGuide is well-positioned to power that moment at scale, giving our operators--many of them small, local businesses--direct access to a massive, travel-hungry audience."
Madeline List, manager of research and special projects for Phocuswright, said social media and entertainment apps such as TikTok have become an important driver of travel discovery.
"Strategies for incentivizing conversion have become frequent topics of conversation for both travel suppliers and distributors," she said. "Features that support faster conversion can be an important part of that puzzle."
But she cautioned that TikTok GO might not offer the same kind of conversion boost as TikTok Shop, for example. Her reservations stem from the complexity of travel.
"Travel is a high price-point category and rarely a spontaneous purchase -- perhaps with some exceptions for in-destination experiences," List said. "Having a platform that enables seamless conversion between the scrolling experience and booking is critical to making sure that those who are ready to book don't abandon the providers they discover through the platform."
For most travelers, however, the path from inspiration to booking isn't direct -- it rarely happens "in a straight line or single session," List said.
Source: PhocusWire