Forbes Travel Guide (FTG), a professional services provider for the hospitality industry and Jerne, a platform connecting travel creators and experience providers, have partnered to give properties streamlined access to vetted influencers.
The integrated partnership, which takes effect January 1, grants FTG’s 2,000 hotels, restaurants and spas “an exclusive level of access to Jerne’s proprietary technology that facilitates connecting and managing relationships” with social media influencers, bloggers, photographers and other creators.
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“Social media is more than just inspiration - it is a powerful driver of guest booking decisions,” says Hermann Elger, FTG CEO.
“Our partnership with Jerne allows the FTG community to take full advantage of the industry’s fastest-growing distribution channel - while cutting down on the time and guesswork of managing influencer inquiries.”
Elger adds that the integration will help its properties grow revenue.
Founded in 2021, Jerne says its platform simplifies the process of working with influencers by managing sourcing, verification, content, commission, analytics and more.
“Jerne was built entirely by travel experts for travel experts, with simplicity in mind and no technical integrations required,” says Tim Morgan, co-founder and CEO of Jerne.
“We are able to seamlessly move our partners from onboarding to welcoming their first influential travel creator in a matter of a few days.”
Meanwhile, Travis, an influencer-led travel commerce platform, has launched a product to enable influencers to earn money from travel brands. Influencers can create bookable links of hotels they’ve stayed at and add them to social media posts or profiles. When the booking is completed on Travis, creators earn a cut of the booking value, according to the company.
“The majority of micro-creators and influencers who have under 100,000 followers create content for free, or depend on one-off brand deals to earn income,” says Nicole Tj, co-founder of Travis.
“With our Bookable Links product, we provide a new path for revenue for these creators, while streamlining the process that aspiring travelers can take to visit their top destinations.”
The product is available to a select group of creators now and will be made widely available in the new year. With more than 10,000 hotels available globally — including properties from Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and Four Seasons — Travis says it offers a range of hotels for different travel budgets, styles and destinations.
Representatives from Snapchat and Meta discussed the topic of social media marketing at The Phocuswright Conference, saying brands can expand their reach by tapping into influencers’ vast numbers of followers.