Once the “Front page of the internet,” social media platform Reddit switched its tagline a few years ago to “Dive into anything” — and that increasingly includes travel planning.
Reddit is a United States-based social news aggregation, content rating and forum social network, although half of its users are based outside the U.S. Its dedicated r/travel community has 12 million members, and while
it’s long been used as a community-driven research tool, numbers have soared over the past year.
For example, from January through November of 2024, the r/travel "subreddit" — where users may share trip reports and reviews or ask for recommendations
— grew 32% in screen views compared to the same period the prior year. Reddit uses screen-view growth as an indicator of people’s interest in a community, because people can visit a community to read the posts and not be a member of it.
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Within Reddit’s travel communities, there has been an increase in mentions of specific conversation points. For example, there was a 53% year-on-year growth in mentions of “luxury” in travel communities on Reddit, according to Brandwatch.
Overall traffic is up too. In the second quarter it reported 51% growth in daily active users compared with the same period last year — outpacing other social platforms. X, formerly Twitter, continues to lose tens of millions of visitors every month.
New ways to search
Reddit’s travel boom comes as more people turn to social networks and influencers for travel advice. Influencer commerce is key to Gen Z, for example, and almost 50% of the cohort make purchases based on influencer recommendations. Gen Z are also using sites like TikTok as a means to search.
“People are constantly looking for authentic reviews or authentic feedback on where they should be traveling and what they should be doing,” said Jamie Goldstein, director of public relations and communications at furnished apartment provider Blueground, which is among many travel industry brand seeking new ways to reach audiences. “I've been seeing more Reddit threads about digital nomads and how to live a digital nomad lifestyle.”
Goldstein has been exploring Reddit to promote Blueground’s new Partner Network.
“There are so many threads of property managers in there talking about mid-term rentals. There are thousands of people in these groups. And it would be a great way for us to reach out, softly,” she said.
“Softly” is the key word here.
“Reddit users are pretty wise and unforgiving of people dropping in affiliate links… and not declaring an affiliation,” said Tony Carne, former digital specialist at Intrepid Travel and the co-founder of Videreo, which helps content creators make their travel videos bookable and earn commission. “This is also what makes it great as an authentic review site. There is no filter in there.”
Travel brands continue to turn to influencers too, with video formats favored as they can explain the more complex products, such as tours and activities, and bring a local feel.
Blueground, which focuses on stays of 30+ days, works with influencers by issuing voucher codes with unique booking links to track conversions.
“In the last year we have transformed the way that we work with influencers and influencer marketing,” Goldstein said. “For people to really get it, it’s going to be through video, through ‘day in the life’ experiences. There's just something that a content
creator can do better than an advertisement will ever do, because the nature of the product is quite difficult.”
Reddit users are pretty wise and unforgiving of people dropping in affiliate links… and not declaring an affiliation.
Tony Carne - Videreo
YouTube also drives bookings for Blueground, while “Instagram Reels and TikTok are a sweet spot for us, where creators
can be creative and tell a unique story about Blueground, but also about the local area in which they're staying in,” she said.
Earlier this year, Travis Katz, former founder/CEO of Gogobot, which later became Trip.com, joined YouTube as general manager for shopping, and his recruitment is perhaps a nod to future travel commerce plans.
The role of AI
The next search shake-up inevitably involves artificial intelligence, and travelers are largely onboard when it comes to the involvement of AI in their accommodation booking journey, according to a SiteMinder survey, with 78% of
respondents saying they are open to AI use during planning, booking and during their hotel stays in 2025.
In December 2024, Reddit launched Reddit Answers, where “redditors” can ask questions and receive answers using a
new, AI-powered conversational interface.
“Once a question is asked, curated summaries of relevant conversations and details across Reddit will appear, including links to related communities and posts,” the company said in a blog post.
Reddit also recently struck up a partnership with Google, “ushering in new ways for Reddit content to be displayed
across Google products by providing programmatic access to new, constantly evolving and dynamic public posts and
comments.”
When so many brands are looking to social commerce for efficient direct-to-consumer relationships, is booking capability next for Reddit?
“I really can't see this happening,” Carne said. “How do you know what answer you are going to get from the Reddit community to know what product to put in front of the community? AI certainly helps with this understanding and could potentially spin up
ads to sit alongside content that might be a match. That seems far more likely an outcome.”
As the travel industry gears up for autonomous agents, which emerged as one of the standout innovations in generative artificial intelligence over the past year, there may be a future where these agents trawl through Reddit in search of authentic advice. From tips for a two-week Portugal itinerary with a toddler, to the best tools to plan a solo adventure, Reddit remains an untapped source of travel inspiration.
“These are really engaged people,” added Goldstein. “For companies like us, it's a long game. It's a long-term play that we know that we need to be involved in social media.”