Turn Down: 11 November 2025

We live and breathe hospitality marketing. That’s why at Punch we compile a weekly Turn Down of all the biggest news in the worlds of hospitality, marketing, and AI to keep our team (and you) informed of the latest research and trends so you can hit your revenue goals. It’s just a part of the market research that informs our strategies and means we’re the perfect choice to help support your hospitality marketing efforts. Sit back, relax, and take in the news this week while we do the leg work.

This week we’re looking at how Google’s AI Overviews have impacted click-through-rates, new ways to compare your social media marketing performance. and how travellers are prioritising experiences and food in their travels. Interested in chatting through the latest with us? Drop us a message now or call at 0113 255 7285.

AI

• Apple is set to pay Google $1 billion per year for a custom Gemini AI model.
• OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits, claiming that ChatGPT drove people to suicide, with calls for better safeguards and the need for tech companies to take accountability. 
• Coca-Cola has faced a lot of backlash across the internet in the last two weeks because of its new AI-generated ad. Its Christmas ad is always hotly anticipated, and the title of this campaign calls back to its 1995 commercial ‘Holidays are Coming’; however, many are pointing out the flaws with the uncanny faces, the logistics of the truck, and the strange movement.. The ad took a month to make with five AI specialists and the creation of 70,000 video clips. 

• TikTok have released three new AI creation tools, including image to video, text to video, and AI transitions. 
• Google Maps is now using Gemini’s chatbot to make route planning and travel even smoother, with users being able to ask questions about their journey in a more conversational way – for example, ‘where can I stop for a budget-friendly meal along the way?’.
• Organic click-through rates for informational queries on Google that feature an AI overview fell by 61% since mid-2024. Paid CTRs on the same queries also struggled, with CTRs falling by 68%. Even on queries that didn’t feature AI overviews, organic CTRs fell by 41%, suggesting that users are clicking less overall on searches, decreasing traffic across the web.
• LLM referral traffic is shrinking, dropping 42.6% since July in B2B. This may be due to ChatGPT 5, which was released in August, showing fewer citations. 

Marketing

• A recent study has shown that 40% of B2B marketers say their biggest content marketing challenge is creating content that prompts a desired action. Additionally, 89% of B2B marketers are using AI for content creation, with 87% of these saying it has improved their productivity. 
• Pinterest shares plummeted in the past week; however, an analyst from the Bank of America is hopeful, sharing how they’re in the early stages of releasing AI-driven gains as they roll out and integrate more of the tool through the platform. 
• Previously unreported documents from Meta show that the company projected last year it would earn 10% of its overall annual revenue from ads for scams and banned goods. The company only bans advertisers if their systems show the marketers are at least 95% certain to be committing fraud, but will charge higher ad rates as a penalty if they are thought to potentially be a scammer.  
• Pinterest have released their festive shopping edit alongside an interactive gifting quiz and gift-getting archetypes, created by partnering with celebrities such as Pamela Anderson and The Jonas Brothers. 
• Instagram has added a Competitive Insights feature, allowing creators to compare their account’s performance to that of other profiles (up to 10, which you can choose and track). 
• Morning Consult has released a report on Gen Alpha’s digital life, with more than one in five Gen Alpha users using social media between 3 and 6 hours every day by age nine.
• Google is dropping search features due to a lack of use, including nutrition facts, nearby offers and events, and the ‘Today’s Doodle’ box.

Hospitality

• Recent research has shown that F&B revenue has grown across luxury and resort hotels in the US in the first half of the year. Beverage spend is down, though with the rise of mindful drinking, but hotels are adapting with the emergence of two new categories – low alcohol and mocktail alternatives. 
• Research from Visit Anaheim has shown that 21% of US travellers have taken trips specifically for the culinary offerings of the destinations. This trend is more popular with Gen Z and millennials, with 44% of Gen Z having taken a ‘foodcation’. 
• Travellers are increasingly focused on experiences, with TripAdvisor shifting its strategy to account for this, restructuring to focus on experiences. This is echoed by Airbnb sharing that nearly half of its experience bookings are unrelated to accommodations. Since its relaunch of experiences, 10% of users booking services had never booked on the platform before.
• Hospitality operators are still feeling the pinch as wholesale prices rise for the sixth consecutive month.

That’s our weekly Turn Down. If you’d like to know more about our approach to hospitality marketing and how we use these insights to turn lookers into bookers, we’re only a message away. Get in touch with Punch today.