What do you do when customer acquisition costs drop 19% in one breath… and digital media prices explode 20–40% in the next?

In this episode of Travel Market Life, I bring together three incredible experts: Christina Leme (Senior Director, Global Media at Cendyn), Caryl Helsel (Founder & CEO, Dragonfly Strategists), and Li Hawkins (Founder, InsideOut Solutions) to dissect the just-released 2025 Hotel Digital Marketing Performance Index and separate signal from noise.

What You’ll Learn

- The AI Paradox: Why Google’s Performance Max for Travel Goals slashed CAC 19% and delivered 4× booking growth - while the rest of the market got hammered by soaring costs.

- The Desktop Surprise: 63% of actual bookings (and 71% of revenue) still come from desktop, even in a mobile-obsessed world.

- Consent Mode Chaos: How Google Consent Mode v2 is hiding conversions, inflating CPA by up to 38%, and quietly wrecking hotel ad performance.

From OTA bidding wars and shrinking ad inventory to the looming impact of ChatGPT-powered search, we cut through the headlines to deliver the practical moves independent hotels and groups need to make right now.

Get your copy of the report here.

Travel Market Life is one of FeedSpot's top Hospitality Podcasts and is produced by Urban Podcasts.