Hotels leading the TikTok travel revolution

By John O’Ceallaigh

December 2024

Trends

The social-media platform is changing how we vacation—and these are the trending hotels taking our feeds by storm. Inspiration, incoming

December 2024

By John O’Ceallaigh

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Have you caught the TikTok travel bug yet? “TikTok is fast becoming the home of both spontaneous discovery and intentional trip planning,” says Hannah Bennet, the app’s head of travel. And with three in 10 users now proactively searching for travel content there, and 39% having made a travel-related booking or purchase from their TikTok viewing, the platform is a major force shaping how we travel and where we stay.

As Bennet describes, TikTok has long outgrown its humble lip-syncing roots, with people now as likely to be searching for the latest in “travel trends, destinations and experiences” that they can experience for themselves in real life.

The Royal River hotel in Tenerife, posted by @massh393, and the glass-walled Zero Suite at Paradiso Ibiza Art Hotel, posted by @aprettycoolhoteltour

What makes this development especially significant is that most of the innovation around travel content has come from the ground up: It’s everyday travelers and some shrewd influencers who are really making this space their own and elevating sometimes unwitting hotels to superstar status.

Recent examples include a couple’s frank review of a night spent sleeping in full public view in Paradiso Ibiza Art Hotel‘s glass-walled “Zero Suite,” which racked up more than five million views. Meanwhile, another traveler’s 32-second clip of Tenerife hotel Royal River‘s epic pool is now 27 million views deep.

Hotels to heat up your TikTok feed

The FOMO-inducing retreat
In Baja Sur, Mexico, Paradero Todos Santos may be low-key (the laid-back resort features just 35 suites and complimentary exploratory activities mean many guests are out and about all day), but its distinctive design means TikTokers’ footage from here often goes global. From the hotel’s own account, this sublime footage of the standout crescent-shaped pool area will make you want to book a stay immediately.

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The wish-you-were-here approach
With its nonstop clamor, color and energy, Las Vegas delivers just the kind of fast-paced atmosphere that has underpinned TikTok’s explosion in popularity. The city’s Wynn resort has gone all in, with a profile that’s big on A-list celebrity sightings (Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran pop up occasionally), huge parties, gleaming supercars, and a lot of decadent dining. Save the occasional more sedate golfing post, this is all about hedonism, celebration and excitement.

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The natural beauty
An independent property, the Italian Dolomites’ Alpin Panorama Hotel Hubertus has made full use of its dramatic design to massively build awareness of its offerings on social media. Featuring its showstopper, glass-bottomed infinity pool—which is cantilevered over rolling hills and enveloped by lush, forested mountains—one recent TikTok post gained in excess of five million views. All showcasing la dolce vita, other posts of romantic winter snow-ins and golden sunsets look similarly heavenly.

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The overnight eye-catcher
In Texas, Longneck Manor’s Giraffe Suite received maybe six guests a month before a chance TikTok post secured 21 million views in a week and bookings rocketed. Part of a 100-acre animal conservation park, the elevated suite offers an eye-level view of curious giraffes, who can be fed under supervision, too. Now, Longneck Manor’s own TikTok gives regular updates on giraffe Betty White and her pals, including Barney the rhino and Bruno the sloth.

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The classy performer
The Ritz London may trade on tradition, but it also embraces innovation and has one of the best TikTok accounts out there. Diverse posts creatively showcase how much effort goes into making each stay here so special, covering everything from behind-the-scenes housekeeping tricks to tours of immaculate signature suites to irresistible displays of that week’s afternoon tea delicacies. Top-tier production value and crisp footage keep it all looking suitably classy.

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The trending head-turner
Though the Bab Al Shams resort in the Dubai desert has yet to kickstart its own TikTok profile, the platform’s clever algorithm and Dubai’s popularity with social-media users means travelers’ posts about the stylish property regularly crop up on hotel fans’ “For You” feeds. It’s not just the gorgeous pool and swish standalone villas that feature—look out for footage of the resort’s desert experiences, including dawn voyages over the dunes by hot-air balloon. Read our full review here.

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The smart upstart
With just 11,000 or so followers, Moxy Hotels’ nascent TikTok account is still building its audience, but its social-media team’s tongue-in-cheek content strategy is a great example of how a small, smart account can send multiple posts viral—a series examining how different star signs like to travel has drawn seven-figure audiences. Look out too for colorful, uncontrived showcases of unique amenities at Moxy’s many affordable addresses around the world, from Lisbon City’s rooftop pool to Downtown Chicago’’s podcasting facilities.

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Smart hotels are building on these independent posts collaboratively: A brief clip of a baby enthusiastically responding to a mention of the Four Seasons Resort Orlando racked up 85 million views and counting, and duly saw the family staying in Four Seasons Orlando, London and Hampshire as VIP guests of the hotels. This was a great example of a smart brand seeing an odd moment that had resonated with an audience and could be pushed further.

With stratospheric reach like that available, expect to see more hotels clamoring for your digital attention—and prepare for plenty of TripTok inspiration.

Also trending: Travel Shops

Travel Shops are Expedia’s spaces for creators to share their travel picks and recommendations. Here are some of the experts currently filling our TikTok feeds and inspiring our next trips.

Nom Life, for urban culinary adventures

Fanatical foodies Ewa and Jeromy Ko, also known as Nom Life, feast all over the world, so when they say the quaint and refreshingly affordable 1905 Heritage Corner serves a killer breakfast, you listen. Among their many New York favorites, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge stands out for its sweeping views of the city skyline from Harriet’s rooftop restaurant. Given the duo eat out for a living, it’s unsurprising they reference the 24-hour gym as one of their favorite features at the Conrad Osaka.

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SimplyCyn, for the ultimate hotel hitlist

Having stayed at 200 hotels all around the world, Brooklyn native, attorney and mom Cynthia Andrews, aka SimplyCyn, has compiled her ultimate top 10 hotels list—the culmination of years spent traveling. Among her favorites, Four Seasons Tented Camp Triangle in Thailand stands out for its canoe trips and the chance to spot elephants while you breakfast. Royal Mansour Marrakech’s impeccable handcrafted interiors are incomparable. For endless sea views, serene spa treatments and total pampering, Kalesma Mykonos is blissful.

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Jade Lost in Beauty, for European explorations

Just a short flight from the most beautiful hideaways in Europe, U.K.-based Jade regularly explores the best of the continent. She rates Copenhagen’s Kurhotel Skodsborg for its private beach and top-class wellness facilities. In a 19th-century landmark building, the NH Collection Paseo del Prado is moments from Madrid’s Fountain of Neptune and many of the city’s key cultural attractions. In Strasbourg, Hôtel Régent Contades makes an affordable, elegant base for discovering this sometimes overlooked French city.

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John O’Ceallaigh

Writer

John O’Ceallaigh is a luxury travel editor, and journalist with The Telegraph, National Geographic Traveler and many more. He is the founder of LUTE travel consultancy.