The booking funnel is fractured by generation, with younger travelers leaning more on technology and social media.

In July, travel technology company iSeatz commissioned that included responses from 1,000 Americans travelers over the age of 18. The survey, conducted by Talker Research and titled “The Modern Traveler 2025,” revealed that the booking path no longer follows traditional patterns.

“Today’s travelers are not just choosing destinations. They are navigating a digital journey from discovery to booking, and they expect it to feel effortless, intuitive and personalized at every step,” said Kenneth Purcell, founder and CEO of iSeatz. “These rising expectations do not come out of nowhere. Consumers have been conditioned by the digital ease of e-commerce, social media and streaming platforms.”

ISeatz found that travelers are discovering travel opportunities in a more fluid process, which also requires more steps. 

“Instead of following a straight path from idea to booking, most travelers now move back and forth between inspiration, research, comparison and planning across a variety of platforms,”  iSeatz said in its report.

This shift is tied to social media for younger generations, while older generations are still relying on friends and family for recommendations.

Generally speaking, 43% of respondents said they are inspired by loved ones. But younger generations are more often inspired by social media: 52% of Gen Z and 46% of millennials said it is their “primary source” for travel inspiration.

The report found that during the research phase, 45% of Gen Z members prefer using social media over traditional search engines. Overall, 43% of travelers still use traditional search engines like Google and Bing, but 27% go to social media first.

Nearly 40% of travelers also said social media influencers had a “significant impact” on how they book and where they travel, with that figure ticking up among younger generations. Sixty-two percent of Gen Z respondents said influencers impact their decisions.

Social media’s influence is further illustrated by Phocuswright research that found almost two thirds of travelers made a trip purchase or visitation based on content they viewed while trip planning.

Considering the survey results, iSeatz said some travel brands are missing the mark.

“There isn’t currently enough technical infrastructure to support discovery-to-booking experiences within social platforms,” iSeatz said. “That’s a missed opportunity: 53% of millennials and 52% of Gen Z say they’d book travel directly from social media if it were secure and seamless.”

That is a gap that some travel brands and social media platforms—including Expedia and Instagram, Booking.com and TikTok and TourRadar—are trying to solve.

But regardless of age or generation, the funnel is still fragmented, according to iSeatz. 

“Travelers often jump between social feeds, search engines, review sites and booking engines, which creates both friction and opportunity. Travel brands that can bridge these gaps will be better positioned to capture interest and convert it into action.”

Additional AI findings

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is having an impact on traveler behavior too, as other reports have also found.

Around one in five travelers reported regularly using AI, and that percentage ticks up among younger travelers, with 35% of Gen Z and 34% of millennials using AI regularly. 

And with AI tools maturing, travelers are anticipating more personalization, iSeatz found.

“Fifty-seven percent of travelers already expect brands to anticipate their preferences and needs based on past behavior,” iSeatz said in its report. “Millennials, in particular, are driving this shift. Seventy-four percent say personalization is a baseline expectation, not a bonus.”

And the majority of travelers are not strongly opposed to sharing their data to make that happen.

“The travel companies that succeed in this new landscape will be the ones that understand their customers deeply and design every touchpoint around what today’s travelers value most,” iSeatz said.