Where are you headed this summer?
Chances are you didn’t get your inspiration from a travel agency or Google, but rather from watching a TikTok video. A hidden beach that suddenly shows up on your For You Page. A hotel room with an incredible view. Or a local claiming that the little restaurant around the corner serves the best pasta in Rome.
We all know it by now: TikTok is a place where people find inspiration. But the platform wants to take things a step further. With TikTok GO, it is looking to connect inspiration directly with action: from “I want to go there” to “booked.”
Your vacation doesn’t start with the booking anymore
The customer journey (literally 😉) doesn’t necessarily start with a search bar anymore. Sometimes it starts with a casual scroll during a coffee break at work. Because inspiration no longer comes only from travel websites or tourism organizations. It comes from creators, locals, and other travelers sharing their experiences directly in our feeds.
And TikTok has clearly caught on to that. This year, it launched TikTok GO in the United States: a way to discover and book hotels, attractions, tours, and other experiences directly through TikTok. Partners including Booking.com, Expedia, Viator, and GetYourGuide help make the jump from content to booking a whole lot easier.
Because people aren’t just booking a destination. They’re booking the feeling that comes with it.
And video is particularly good at capturing that feeling.
But wait: TikTok GO isn’t in Belgium yet
True. And that’s exactly why it’s worth paying attention now.
By the time TikTok GO becomes available here, you’ll want to be prepared as a brand. You don’t want to have to start thinking about what to post at that point, but rather be able to build on the content, brand recognition and search behaviour that have already been established around your brand.
Because TikTok GO doesn’t change a basic rule of social media: a booking button doesn’t suddenly make bad content interesting.
Quite the opposite. If TikTok is increasingly becoming a place where people discover their next destination, you need to be there while they’re still dreaming about it.
And brands can start doing that today.
1. Get discoverable before people know they’re looking for you
Think beyond your own brand name.
If you’re a hotel, don’t just create content about your hotel; also address the questions people ask before choosing a hotel.
- Where to eat in Ghent?
- Things to do in Brussels for a weekend?
- Hidden gems in Antwerp?
- Where to stay for Tomorrowland?
That way, you become part of the discovery process before someone has even made a shortlist.
2. Sell the experience, not just the product
A room is a room.
A room with a city view, breakfast on the rooftop, and a walk to that one charming square? That’s a story.
The same goes for restaurants, attractions, tourism organizations, and experiences.
Don’t just show people what they can book.
Show them why they want to go there.
3. Create content people want to save
“Save this for your next trip …”
“3 things you need to know before visiting …”
“The perfect 48 hours in …”
Videos like these can stay valuable for weeks or even months. And that’s where an interesting opportunity lies for travel brands: content is not only viewed, but also saved to be watched again later when travel plans become more concrete.
4. Think in moments, not just destinations
Another notable trend: many Gen Zers and millennials are planning trips around events such as concerts, festivals, or sporting events.
That means the destination isn’t always the reason for the trip.
The moment is.
That opens up plenty of opportunities for brands. A hotel doesn’t have to position itself simply as “a hotel in Antwerp.” It can become relevant to someone coming to the city for a concert, festival, or soccer game.
Brands that know which moments their audience doesn’t want to miss can use this knowledge to their advantage.
So what does this mean for brands?
Perhaps the biggest lesson from TikTok GO isn’t even TikTok GO itself. It’s the fact that the line between inspiration, discovery, and conversion is getting thinner and thinner.
People don’t necessarily want to see an ad first, then visit a website, read reviews, and only then make a decision. They can already be inspired by a creator, continue searching on the platform, and potentially book right there.
For brands, that means shifting from “How do we get people to our website?” to a broader question:
“How do we get people to discover us at the moment they don’t even know they’re looking for us yet?”
And that’s a much more interesting social media challenge to jump on now.