Travel and hospitality is an experience-driven, planning-intensive vertical. Trip purpose, destination, season, group size, and budget shape choices, and travelers often combine stays, flights, and local experiences in one itinerary.
This article shows how to use Smart Recommender in Insider One to upsell better options, cross-sell local experiences, and encourage repeat bookings. It includes an A/B test walkthrough for experience cross-sells and strategies for each page type.
Before you start: Make sure your product catalog includes the attributes this article filters on, such as Category, Destination, Room Type, and Experience Category. Create missing custom attributes on the Product Attributes page and mark them as filterable.
What you can achieve with Smart Recommender
Room upgrades
Encourage travelers to book suites or rooms with perks such as lounge access, which raises average booking value.
Local experiences
Recommend tours, activities, or dining next to the stay.
Nearby alternatives
Suggest nearby properties when the preferred one is fully booked, so travelers stay on your site.
Win back past guests
Show destinations returning travelers visited or explored before.
Checkout add-ons
Suggest spa treatments, airport transfers, or breakfast before payment.
Packages by trip type
Use Attribute Affinity to match family, romantic, or adventure packages.
Budget-friendly options
Highlight discounted stays for price-sensitive travelers.
A/B testing
Test upsell placement, package design, and price framing across the booking flow.
Walkthrough: Boost booking value with experience cross-sells
Travelers often add experiences spontaneously when they are relevant and easy to book. This walkthrough tests which experience type adds more value after a stay is booked.
It tests two strategies on the booking confirmation page:
Variant A: Recommend local tours.
Variant B: Recommend dining reservations.
Note: In this article, average order value (AOV) in Smart Recommender Analytics represents the average booking value per order.
Step 1: Create the recommendation strategies
Navigate to Recommendation Strategies and click Create. Configure the first strategy as follows:
Select Cart Page as the page type.
Select Purchased Together as the algorithm.
Enter the number of products to recommend.
Exclude add-ons the guest already booked.
Add a filter for the category attribute: Category + is + Local Tours.
Create the second strategy with the same settings and change only the category filter:
Category + is + Dining Reservations.
Note: Keep every other setting identical between the two strategies. If more than one setting changes, you cannot tell which change caused the difference in results.
Step 2: Launch the campaign
Navigate to Web Smart Recommender and click Create.
Select the integration method for the widget.
On the Segments step, select customers with a low AOV under Purchasing Behavior and set your threshold.
On the Rules step, use Page Rules to target the booking confirmation page.
On the Design step, assign one strategy to each variant and set the traffic allocation for each variant.
Click Edit Design to open the Advanced Product Card Designer and customize your product cards.
Select the locales and stores where the campaign appears.
Review the campaign details, confirm that every setting matches your goal, and click Launch.
Note: Every attribute you show on a product card must exist in your product catalog. To show more information, create custom attributes on the Product Attributes page.
Step 3: Track campaign metrics
Navigate to Smart Recommender Analytics.
Find your campaign in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table. When the test period ends, click the campaign name.
Compare Direct Revenue, Average Order Value (AOV), and Conversion Rate for the two variants. This shows whether tours or dining add more value per booking.
If one variant clearly wins, set its traffic allocation to 100% so every visitor sees the better strategy.
After you find a winner, test other experiences, such as spa treatments or wellness packages.
Step 4: Optimize your campaigns
After the campaign has run long enough to collect data, use Smart Recommender Analytics to improve it:
Engagement funnel: Review product impressions, click-through rate, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate to see where shoppers drop off.
Campaign and variant performance: Compare AOV, Conversion Rate, and Direct Revenue in the Campaign and Variant Metrics table, then refine or scale the winning variant.
Product-level impact: Open Top 100 Product Analytics to see which recommended products perform best. Give extra visibility to strategic products that perform below expectations.
Category trends: Use Category Analytics to find the categories that drive the most conversions, and decide whether to prioritize them or promote weaker ones.
Use cases by page type
Home page
Recommended stays
Show the most viewed stays for the traveler's preferred destination.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Destination + is + your target destination.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle. This prioritizes preferences such as family-friendly or beachfront.
Upgrade offers
Show limited-time offers on suites or premium packages.
Create a strategy with the Trending Products algorithm.
Add the filter Room Type + is + Premium.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Upgrade Your Getaway."
Product detail page
Better alternatives
Show higher-tier rooms or better-rated properties for a similar stay.
Create a strategy with the Similar Products algorithm.
Add the filter Room Type + is + Premium.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Stay in More Style."
Things to do nearby
Recommend local experiences near the selected property.
Create a strategy with the Complementary Products algorithm.
Add the filter Experience Category + is one of + Local Tours, Activities.
Tip: Try headlines such as "Explore Around Your Stay."
Category page
Best value stays
Show the most discounted stays in the category the traveler is browsing, such as family resorts.
Create a strategy with the Highest Discounted algorithm.
Add the filter Category + matches + the category they're currently viewing.
Leave Attribute Affinity off.
Top booked in this area
Show the most booked stays for the same destination.
Create a strategy with the Top Sellers algorithm.
Add the filter Destination + matches the item they're currently viewing.
Turn on the Enhance recommendations based on Attribute Affinity toggle.
Cart page
Popular add-ons
Suggest high-demand extras such as breakfast, airport transfers, or spa access.
Create a strategy with the Most Popular algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is one of + Breakfast, Airport Transfer, Spa.
Room upgrades
Suggest the upgrades other guests added to the same stay.
Create a strategy with the Purchased Together algorithm.
Add the filter Category + is + Room Upgrades.
Tip: Pair the widget with copy such as "Upgrade to an ocean-view suite."