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Read Time: 4 minutes
What you missed: beating booking burnout in travel
Demand is strong. But traveller patience? Not so much.
This statement sat at the heart of our recent webinar, Beating Booking Burnout and Achieving Double-Digit Digital Revenue Growth, and the conversation that followed was one of the most honest we've had in travel for a while.
If you missed it, good news, the replay is now available on demand. Here's a taste of what came up.
The friction problem no one's really solving
Chris Bowling, Head of Digital & Consumer Marketing at BWH Hotels GB, opened with a challenge that will sound familiar to anyone working in travel right now: even when a customer has found the hotel they want, there can still be a hundred ways to book it. Complexity quietly erodes confidence… and confidence is what drives direct bookings.
His team's response? Ruthlessly simplify, and the results speak for themselves: a 32% year-on-year revenue increase and a 20% conversion uplift, not from adding more features, but from taking things away.
Not all friction is the enemy
Marcello Pasqualucci, Head of Digital Product at Travelopia, pushed back on the idea that speed is always the goal, and it's the counterintuitive insight that sparked the most discussion.
Drawing on his background in behavioural science, Marcello made a clear distinction between accidental friction (which costs revenue) and intentional friction (which can build trust). At Travelopia's luxury brands, half the booking journey is deliberately offline. Talking to a specialist isn't a barrier; it's the product.
His point landed clearly:
"Friction, if left to chance, is bad. If used correctly, it's very, very good."
How research behaviour has shifted
The panel also got into how and where travellers now discover trips. They discussed how it’s no longer a straight line from Google to booking. YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are shaping intent before a single search is made. Authenticity carries more weight than polish. And AI tools are increasingly part of how people explore, even if trust still matters most at the point of payment.
Watch the full session
The replay runs to just under an hour and covers loyalty shifts, AI in practice, and how to distinguish genuine booking burnout from normal consideration behaviour in your own data.
Looking for the bigger picture behind these conversations? We've pulled the patterns from our wider research into a new industry report: Emerging Challenges in Travel 2026.
Take it further with 383
If the session resonated, there are a couple of ways to go deeper.
For those who attended, we are inviting a small group of travel brands to a focused 60-minute working session. It is designed to help you prepare for a Friction Mapping® sprint, looking at your commercial pressures, your organisational blockers and where your booking journey may be losing value.
From there, we work through your customers' real challenges at the moments that cause hesitation and drop-off, and help you build a clear picture of what to research, what to fix first and how to prioritise without rebuilding everything from scratch.
The outcome is not a presentation; it is clarity on where to focus and a practical starting point for action.
If you attended the webinar and want to take part, keep an eye on your inbox for details or get in touch directly.
Friction Mapping® is the structured methodology behind this work. It connects qualitative insight, behavioural data and business impact across the full journey, giving teams a shared view that moves conversations from debate to decision.
FAQs
Q: Is the full webinar available to watch?
A: Yes. The replay is available on demand and runs to just under an hour. Watch it here.
Q: What was the main takeaway from the session?
A: That friction in travel booking is rarely one obvious problem. It accumulates across small moments of effort, unclear choices and reassurance that arrives too late. Addressing it about understanding where confidence weakens and acting on that first.
Q: What is the difference between accidental and intentional friction?
A: Accidental friction is a complexity that crept in without purpose; it costs revenue and erodes trust. Intentional friction is designed with customer behaviour in mind. In premium travel, especially, a considered pause or a guided conversation can signal care and effort rather than inefficiency.
Q: How does booking burnout affect direct channel performance?
A: When effort rises and confidence falls, customers take the easiest route available, which is usually a third-party platform. Here, the booking still gets made and the margin doesn’t come back to you. Reducing friction in direct journeys goes beyond being a UX decision and becomes a commercial one, too.
Q: How can I tell if my customers are experiencing booking burnout?
A: Look for longer paths to conversion, higher session frequency before purchase and abandonment at moments where decisions multiply. Tools like Microsoft Clarity can help you understand whether users are overwhelmed or simply returning as part of a natural research process. The panel covered this in the Q&A section of the session.
Q: What is the working session mentioned at the end of the webinar?
A: It is a focused 60-minute session for brands that attended the webinar, designed to help you prepare for a Friction Mapping® sprint. See the section above for more details.
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