Forbes Travel Guide and Jerne launch creator economy partnership
ATLANTA – December 1, 2022 – Forbes Travel Guide (“FTG”) – the global authority on luxury hospitality – and Jerne – the world’s leading platform connecting influential travel creators and experience providers – today announced an expansive, integrated partnership empowering FTG’s nearly 2,000 Star-Rated hotels, restaurants and spas with enhanced distribution opportunities through social media, and other creator channels.
As of January 1, properties in FTG’s collection will have an exclusive level of access to Jerne’s proprietary technology that facilitates connecting and managing relationships with vetted social media influencers, bloggers, photographers, and other creators.
“Social media is more than just inspiration – it is a powerful driver of guest booking decisions,” said Hermann Elger, Forbes Travel Guide CEO. “Our partnership with Jerne allows the FTG community to take full advantage of the industry’s fastest-growing distribution channel – while cutting down on the time and guesswork of managing influencer inquiries.”
A recent study by Stelico Consulting Group found that 76% of luxury travelers selected their hotel brand, cruise line or airline based on social media, while 60% said they had purchased travel based on a social media post by a celebrity or influencer. The creator economy is a multi billion-dollar industry with hundreds of millions of people producing all types of marketing content for Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, blogs, and other platforms.
Jerne’s end-to-end creator management platform simplifies travel creator sourcing, verification, agreement administration, content management, affiliate booking attribution, commission incentive reconciliation, earned media analytics, ROI reporting, and re-marketing via MyJerne – unlocking the full power of the travel creator distribution channel.
“Jerne was built entirely by travel experts for travel experts, with simplicity in mind and no technical integrations required,” said Tim Morgan, CEO, Jerne. “We are able to seamlessly move our partners from onboarding to welcoming their first influential travel creator in a matter of a few days.”
Jerne further supports travel suppliers through its global account directors (GADs), dedicated to providing strategic guidance in using Jerne’s proprietary analytics and planning tools. GADs work side-by-side with sales, marketing, and revenue management teams to create and manage an annual program for their creator distribution channel as a complement to those that already exist (such as OTAs, travel advisors, and direct channels).
For travel creators, Jerne’s partnership with FTG opens access to the world’s top-rated hotels, restaurants, spas, and other travel and hospitality experiences that they can share with their followers and earn commission on attributable bookings.
“Forbes Travel Guide is proud to introduce Jerne to our community – providing an incredible opportunity for the finest properties in the world to leverage a platform purpose-built for their needs that will help them grow revenue,” said Elger.
For more information: www.forbestravelguide.com and www.jerne.com
About Forbes Travel Guide:
Forbes Travel Guide (“FTG”), the global authority on genuine Five-Star service, provides world-class professional services to the hospitality industry and other service-oriented businesses such as luxury retail, residential, healthcare and private clubs through bespoke training solutions, evaluation services and custom service standards. Started as Mobil Travel Guide in 1958, the company created the first Five-Star rating system in the United States. Today, in addition to providing professional services, FTG is the only independent, global rating system for luxury hotels, restaurants and spas. FTG’s prestigious annual Star Awards can only be earned through the company’s objective, in-person inspection process. www.forbestravelguide.com
About Jerne
Jerne is the world’s leading platform connecting thousands of influential travel creators and experience providers – hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, restaurants, spas, and every experiential product in between – forming a new channel for travel distribution. Jerne was co-founded in 2021 by Tim Morgan and Ryan McElroy who have a combined 35 years of travel industry experience, both having worked with or served on advisory boards of some of the world’s leading travel companies. Formerly overseeing Canada & EMEA for Virtuoso, Morgan also co-founded The 1000, a $3 billion club for the world’s most influential travel advisors. McElroy also co-founded Travel Agency Tribes, a provider of B2B2C travel marketing technologies used by thousands of travel companies and consumers every day.
www.jerne.com