Turn Down: 30 September 2025

With so many updates constantly hitting the world of hospitality marketing, our marketing and strategy team at Punch Hospitality have pulled together the key information to help keep you informed of what could impact your hotel, restaurant, or hospitality business. This week on Punch Hospitality’s Turn Down we’re covering Instagram’s latest changes, Gen Z B2B spending behaviour, and hands-free, proactive AI for consumers.

Marketing

• Pinterest launches Top of Search ads, with a 29% higher average click-through rate than standard campaigns. The ads appear directly within the top ten search results and related pins, meaning your brand can be visible to users where visual shopping journeys begin. 
• 1 in 5 Americans now regularly get news on TikTok, up sharply from 2020. More than half of TikTok users say they regularly get news from the platform.  
• Instagram now has more than 3 billion active users – a feat only rivalled by Facebook and WhatsApp, which hit 3 billion users early this year.  Instagram hit 2 billion in October 2022. 
  • They’re also looking into letting users tune their algorithms, giving them options to remove and add topics based on watch history and interests. 
  • Facebook does still seem to be declining in popularity. In 2014, 71% of US teens used Facebook, while in 2022, only 33% of the demographic did. 
• Facebook and Instagram are introducing a subscription in the UK for users to not see ads. This will be priced at £2.99 a month on the web and £3.99 a month on iOS and Android. This is being done in response to regulatory guidance from the ICO to give people in the UK the choice as to whether their data is used for personalised advertising. 

• YouTube is pushing age verification to restrict the activities of children on the platform, including setting video uploads to private by default. 
• Content creators on YouTube contributed £2.2 billion to the UK economy last year. An all-party parliamentary group has been launched to represent UK creators and influencers. They claim creators need more rights.
• Google Ads can now surface a recommendation to link unlinked Google Analytics accounts to your Google Ads account with just one click. Marketers who have these accounts linked see a 23% increase in conversions.  
• 71% of B2B buyers are now Millennials or Gen Z. These younger buyers expect a seamless experience pre and post sale, think about value beyond economic, such as experiential value and want to co-create with you, shaping your products and services. 
• LinkedIn are integrating more data from Microsoft to expand LinkedIn’s ad targeting capacity. 
• By 2030, Gen Z will make up 25% of luxury spending. 

Hospitality

• Amid worries of a US governmental shutdown, a survey from Ipsos has shown that 60% of Americans said they would cancel or avoid trips by air in the event of a shutdown.
• The AA Hospitality Awards celebrated the best of UK hospitality last week, with new rosette winners announced. 

AI

• ChatGPT have released a version of ChatGPT Pulse to their Pro users on mobile, allowing ChatGPT to proactively deliver updates based on connected apps and information. It utilises information during the night and delivers personalised updates the next day, such as follow-ups on topics you often discuss or a reminder to buy a birthday gift.
• Search Live has launched in the UK, letting users share their camera feed and communicate with AI hands-free. 
• Gemini is now being added to Google TV, letting you have ‘free-flowing’ conversations with an AI-powered assistant to find the perfect show quicker and get recaps.
• Microsoft have developed a new method for AI chip cooling, using microfluidics. However, they haven’t claimed this will impact the energy usage that’s problematic in AI or contribute towards further sustainability measures.