By Kyle Seeley, Co-CEO
Early February is an uncomfortable moment for travel marketers.
The Boxing Day rush has faded, the January numbers are locked in, and many brands are quietly staring at spreadsheets, working out if the “most important sales window of the year” actually delivered.
For some, the answer is a flat “no.” In an industry that often frames January as make-or-break, a slow start can feel like a ruling on the entire year. But the reality is that a soft January rarely means the demand isn’t there.
More often, it means brands were reading the market as a single audience, when in reality it was two groups behaving very differently.
January was never one moment
The problem with how January is discussed is that it is often treated as a single conversion window. In practice, it is the brief overlap of two very different types of holiday booker.
On one side are Considered Planners. Typically older, more financially secure and often without children at home, they plan further ahead and spend more. For this group, booking early is about certainty and peace of mind. They want reassurance that their holiday will deliver, and they tend to respond to trusted brands, authoritative messaging and familiar, premium environments.
On the other side are Spontaneous Bookers. Skewing younger, more budget-conscious and often juggling competing financial pressures, they prioritise flexibility. They book closer to departure, take shorter breaks and are more responsive to value and timing. For them, January is rarely about committing and instead it’s about browsing, inspiration, and keeping options open.
Both audiences are active in January. They are just doing very different things.
Why January can feel so volatile
This split helps explain why January performance often feels extreme.
Brands that leaned heavily into Considered Planners may have seen a strong early spike, followed by a tapered drop-off as that audience completed their planning. Brands that focused predominantly on Spontaneous Bookers, through deals and short-term activation, may have generated traffic and interest, but struggled to convert Considered Planners, who needed confidence and reassurance rather than urgency.
Neither approach is inherently wrong. The issue is assuming one audience represents the whole market.
Viewed from February, January looks less like a verdict on the year ahead and more like a diagnosis of who a brand was really set up to serve.
What to focus on now
For brands disappointed with January, February is not the moment to panic or abandon strategy but it may be a time to rebalance.
Spontaneous Bookers do not disappear once January ends. In many cases, their intent becomes clearer as the year progresses. Short breaks, shoulder-season travel and opportunistic trips tend to grow in importance through spring. This is where continued visibility, particularly through online video and social, helps brands stay front of mind until the right moment arrives.
At the same time, Considered Planners do not stop planning just because January has passed. They simply move on to different decisions, destinations and travel windows. Maintaining trust and consistency continues to matter, even if bookings land later than January headlines suggest.
The risk at this stage is overcorrecting, either by chasing volume aggressively or pulling back investment too sharply. Neither helps rebuild sustainable momentum.
Trust still does the heavy lifting
One of the clearest themes across both audiences is the role of trust.
Despite an increasingly fragmented media landscape, television remains the most trusted channel for travel, particularly among older, higher-spending Considered Planners. Premium AV environments such as linear TV, BVOD and cinema help people feel confident about committing significant time and money.
Spontaneous Bookers lean more heavily into social and online video, but trust there can be thinner and more conditional. Reviews, family and friend recommendations, and social proof play a critical role in nudging interest into action.
In short, inspiration can come from almost anywhere but confidence tends to come from fewer, more credible places.
Planning for a better January next year
The main lesson for next January is to plan with the split audience in mind.
Brands that perform consistently treat January as the culmination of activity that started well before Christmas. Trust-building with Considered Planners happens early, so that January becomes about final reassurance rather than persuasion from scratch.
At the same time, Spontaneous Bookers are not ignored in December, but they are also not pushed to commit before they are ready. Familiarity and inspiration matter more than urgency, so that when they’re ready to press the button, the brand connection is already established.
January works best when it sits in the middle of a longer story, not at the beginning or the end.
A ‘bad January’ does not mean the year is lost. But it does tell you something. The travel brands that grow are the ones that pay attention to that signal, adjust if necessary, and accept that travel demand is not singular, it is split.
Understanding who you were really talking to in January may be the most valuable insight you take into the rest of the year.
Explore more insights shaping the travel industry in our latest report: Travel, Trust & TV: Seizing the opportunity in an evolving market