The potential for Expedia Affiliate Network's Smart Cross Sell tool is a lot greater than first meets the eye.
The technology uses customers' flight choices to suggest relevant hotel options during the booking process.
But, what if Expedia started drawing on likes and dislikes from customers' social networks such as Facebook? The company could refine what it offers according to real knowledge.
Smart Cross Sell uses an algorithm to match the highest converting hotels and best deals with a user's profile.
Expedia says that while the technology is currently aimed at airlines and only uses data from the booking path, it is exploring other options.
Kellie Glazier, product manager for Smart Cross Sell says:
"We are examining all the options to help us provide customers with the most relevant choice of hotels possible, which includes the potential to work with data from other sources, such as social networks."
BMI is already using the technology and the airline has seen a 9% uplift in hotel room nights and a 6% increase in incremental transactions.
The airline also attributes more than 50% of its growth in hotel sales year-on-year to the tool.