Booking.com Goes Nostalgia, Airbnb Goes Lifestyle: What Their Latest Ads Reveal About the Future of Travel Platforms

Two platforms. Two bold bets. 

Booking.com and Airbnb have just launched new ad campaigns, and their creative choices reveal sharply contrasting strategies.
For property managers, they reveal how both OTAs are evolving, how they’re trying to influence guest behavior, and what this means for positioning your listings going forward.

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Booking.com Channels Family Travel and Nostalgia with Morticia Addams

Morticia books it right | Booking.com

The latest Booking.com commercial, “Morticia Books It Right,” stars Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, reprising her role from Netflix’s hit series Wednesday. It blends dark humor with a lighthearted family vacation narrative: Morticia books the perfect family getaway and raves about everything from “rest in beach” resorts to “little death traps” for her kids.

Why Morticia Addams? What Booking.com Gains by Leaning on Nostalgia + Mass Appeal

• Timely Relevance → Netflix’s Wednesday Season 2 just launched, making Morticia and the Addams family highly visible again.
  
• Nostalgia drives memorability:  Morticia Addams has been an icon for 60+ years. The Addams Family taps into decades of cultural familiarity, making the ad resonate across generations, perfect for a platform serving global, multi-age audiences.
  
• Family travel narrative: By centering a mother planning a trip, the ad reinforces Booking.com’s appeal to families and groups,  key segments for its vacation rental and resort inventory.
  
• Mass appeal = platform for everyone: Booking.com isn’t chasing trends, it’s reinforcing its role as the go-to site for all types of travelers, from families to solo adventurers.
  

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Airbnb Leans into Lifestyle with Experiences and Services

In contrast, Airbnb’s recent ad series highlights its shift from a booking platform to a lifestyle concierge.

Airbnb Experiences in the spotlight

K-Pop Style | Airbnb Experiences Ad

This ad highlights curated, city-specific activities like:

• Surf lessons with professional instructors.
• Taco tastings with renowned food critics in Mexico City.
• K-pop dance classes in Seoul.

The storytelling is fast-paced, fun, and social-media-friendly, positioning Airbnb as a platform for authentic, local, and memorable activities.

This focus on K-pop culture aligns with Airbnb’s recent collaboration with SEVENTEEN, one of the world’s biggest K-pop groups. 

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Airbnb Services in the spotlight

Stay Grounded | Introducing Airbnb Services Ad

Another ad promotes Airbnb Services, a newly launched feature that lets guests book extras alongside their stay, all from local, verified experts. Think private chefs, personal trainers, spa treatments, and more.

The ad follows a family on vacation and walks viewers through different scenarios:

• Got a home with a chef’s kitchen? → Book a private chef on Airbnb to cook in it.
• Booking a ski house? → Add an après-ski massage for ultimate relaxation.
• Staying somewhere “in the clouds”? → Hire a yoga teacher via Airbnb to “stay grounded.”

By showing a family enjoying these add-ons together, the ad also taps into togetherness and convenience, aiming to appeal to travelers who want personalized, memorable vacations without juggling multiple platforms.

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Booking.com vs. Airbnb: What the Contrast Means for Property Managers

This isn’t just a tale of two campaigns; it’s a window into two diverging visions for the future of short-term rentals.

Booking.com is sticking to its mass-market strengths: broad lodging types, familiar celebrities, family travel, and vacation planning at scale.

• If you manage multi-bedroom homes, group stays, or family-friendly properties, Booking.com’s playbook may be in your favor.
• Its creative bets are safe, relatable, and built for scale.

Airbnb, meanwhile, is creating a lifestyle ecosystem:

• Services+ may make your listings more attractive, but could raise risks around third-party access.
• Experiences open cross-selling potential but raise the bar on what guests expect from a stay.
• The platform is leaning heavily on cultural cachet and collaborations to set itself apart.

For property managers, the takeaway is clear: Choose your platform(s) based not just on bookings but on the kind of guest you want to attract, and what role you want to play in their trip.

The travel wars are back in full swing. But this time, it’s not just about price or availability. It’s about identity, experience, and the evolution of the stay itself.