How UCP Could Erase Your Customer Journey Data

by Brennen Bliss, Founder & CEO @ Propellic

Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) is our first glimpse into what it may look like to book travel from both travel tech and operators in the near future directly from the chat interface.

‍

Since introducing travel to its ecosystem (Google Flights, Google Hotels, Google Travel/Things to Do, etc.), Google has maintained a position of discovery & research for travel - leaving booking and merchant of record responsibilities with travel tech and operators. — UCP, Google’s open standard “designed for the [AI] future of commerce,” has the potential to deliver bookings (still not as merchant of record), all without requiring users to leave Google surfaces in many cases.

Universal Commerce Protocol was announced on January 11th and is somewhat similar to OpenAI & Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP), which was unveiled back in September. Google’s platform is different in that it’s more neutral and wide-reaching, is payment-agnostic, and truly is an “open standard” - at least more than OpenAI’s, which requires Stripe merchant services and is really centered around ChatGPT interfaces.

With Google first rolling out UCP to shopping feeds, it’s reasonable to expect that they’ll transition this protocol over to travel research (Google Flights, Google Hotels, Google Things to Do, etc.). In doing so, just as you see with shopping, users will be able to chat with Gemini & AI Mode (as well as any external agent that uses UCP) and increasingly complete their research, planning, and booking all from within the chat interface.

If this is an outcome that we encounter, we’ll see less and less web traffic, know less about our customers, and we’ll significantly struggle to build retargeting audiences from web traffic. Whereas we can currently track users through their specific page visits to understand the buyer journey, if UCP takes hold in Google Travel, we won’t know anything until a booking comes through - and at that point, we’ll only have the booking details, making the job of marketers even more difficult (just what we needed).

As with anything in today’s environment, time will tell whether we find UCP making its way into travel purchases - but if & when it does, you can expect the impact on marketing and customer acquisition to be significant.

Universal Commerce Protocol is highly likely to give preference to data feed quality over webpage content, structured data over content depth, and product eligibility over traditional SEO factors. It’s for this reason that I recommend brands remain ready to allocate resources toward feed, API, and inventory infrastructure as this evolves. It’s a matter of adopting agent-first distribution or losing leverage permanently as we continue our charge into agentic travel research and booking.

Regulatory pressure, especially in Europe, will likely slow rollout - but directionally, Google wants users to stay on their platforms, so it’s not too far of a leap to assume this is the outcome Google is looking for.

‍

Media Mix Modeling is Your Missing Ingredient

by Brennen Bliss, Founder & CEO @ Propellic

Good morning. Let’s talk about the questions your boss asks every single week.

You know the ones.

- “So… where should we be spending more? And less?”
- “What actually caused our growth last quarter?”
- “At what point does throwing more money at Meta stop working?”
- “Which channels build the brand vs. just spikes short-term sales?”
- “And how much of this is just… seasonality?”

These questions usually arrive 90 seconds before a board meeting.

They are followed by intense eye contact.

And they are often answered with phrases like “directionally,” “it’s complicated,” or “we’ll follow up offline.”

Media Mix Modeling (MMM)

MMM is the grown-up, data-driven answer to “vibes-based marketing attribution.” It doesn’t care about last-click (ahem… travel companies), doesn’t argue with GA4, and definitely doesn’t panic when cookies disappear. Instead, it looks at what you spent, where you spent it, what happened next, and what would’ve happened anyway.

In other words, MMM helps you confidently say:

• This channel actually drove growth.
• This one is already saturated.
• This spend builds long-term demand.
• This spike was just seasonality doing its thing.

With MMM, next time your boss asks all five of those questions in one breath, you won’t need to open a 47-tab attribution debate.

You’ll just have answers.

(Or at least… way fewer follow-up meetings.)

Don’t want to spend $500k and 1,000s of hours building your own MMM?

Propellic is doing it for you - focused exclusively on travel marketing. You can sign up for our waitlist for a front row seat.

JOIN PROPELLIC'S WAITLIST

‍

Gemini vs. ChatGPT: Why Google Will Win the Ad War in 2026

by Dasha Gastol, Senior Director of Paid Media @ Propellic

As we enter 2026, the competitive landscape for LLMs has shifted dramatically, with Gemini gaining significant ground. Following the rollout of Gemini 3 on November 18th, weekly visits surged toward the 400 million mark, while ChatGPT experienced a notable decline from its 1.4 billion peak to approximately 1.1 billion by early January.

This trend suggests that Gemini is successfully leveraging its deep integration into the Google ecosystem to convert casual searchers into power users.

For paid media advertisers, this shift signals a pivot point: Gemini is the more likely candidate to lead in sophisticated paid capabilities this year. By utilizing Google’s existing, world-class ad infrastructure, Gemini can offer seamless, intent-driven ad placements that ChatGPT—despite its strong brand recognition—may struggle to match as it navigates the transition from a standalone tool to a sustainable ad-supported platform.

Our hypothesis for 2026 is that Gemini will become the primary engine for "Generative Search" advertising, siphoning off high-intent traffic that previously belonged to traditional search.

While ChatGPT remains a household name, its recent dip in traffic suggests a "novelty plateau." Conversely, Gemini’s steady climb indicates it is becoming a utility of habit.

We expect Google to capitalize on this momentum by introducing high-conversion paid units within Gemini conversations by mid-year.

Advertisers should prepare for a landscape where Gemini isn't just a chatbot, but a critical performance channel, potentially leaving ChatGPT to focus on premium, subscription-based enterprise tools rather than a mass-market ad model.

‍

TikTok: Why the New US Deal is a "Platform Reset" for Travel

by Millenia Watkins, Social Advertising Manager @ Propellic

TikTok signed a deal in December to spin off 45% of its U.S. operations to Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX—marking what could be the end of a five-year regulatory saga.

The newly formed "TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC" is set to close on January 22, 2026, with Oracle managing data governance and retraining a U.S.-specific algorithm.

ByteDance retains just 20% ownership and loses access to American user data entirely. For travel brands banking on TikTok's discovery engine to reach younger travelers, this isn't just corporate news—it's a potential platform reset that demands strategic attention.

Here's what matters for travel marketers: Oracle's algorithmic oversight could fundamentally change how content gets surfaced. The engagement tactics that worked for your destination videos, hotel tours, or experience showcases may perform differently under a retrained U.S. algorithm.

We're also seeing reports that TikTok could be rebranded or relaunched entirely, creating both risk and opportunity. Early movers on a "TikTok 2.0" could capture organic reach before the platform saturates again—but that assumes your audience makes the transition with you.

The bigger issue is channel dependence. If TikTok drives 35%+ of your social bookings or brand awareness, you're exposed. One algorithm change, one rebrand, or one regulatory hiccup could crater your performance overnight.

This deal adds stability, but it doesn't eliminate platform risk. Travel companies should be diversifying their short-form video strategy across YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and emerging platforms now—not scrambling when the next disruption hits.

Bottom line: TikTok isn't going away, but it's entering a fundamentally different phase. Stay informed, keep testing creative across multiple platforms, and build flexibility into your 2026 social strategy. The brands that treat this as a diversification signal—rather than just another news cycle—will be the ones still capturing bookings when the dust settles.

‍

Beyond the Algorithm: Building a Brand with Community, Not Clicks

‍

Katalina Mayorga is the CEO of El Camino Travel, an IRL and digital community for bold women travelers with a passion for culture, hidden gems, and going off the beaten path.

Tune in to hear why, in an age of information overload, Katalina proves that the ultimate luxury is trust and human connection.

🎧 Spotify   ▶️ YouTube

Why you should listen:

▪️ Mastering the Niche: Learn why being a "lighthouse" for a specific audience is more effective than trying to serve everyone.
▪️ Organic Growth: See how "scroll-stopping" photography and emotive storytelling can replace a paid media budget.
▪️ Community ROI: Discover the strategy behind a digital membership that drives a 40% repeat booking rate.

‍