Foursquare is a location-based social network that allows users to check-in at different venues using a mobile app. It has over 2.5 billion check-ins, 45 million places, and 25 million users worldwide. The travel industry can benefit from foursquare by creating more touchpoints with customers, allowing brand advocacy, offering incentives through deals, tying content to customer locations, and gaining customer insights. Several travel brands like Starwood, Lufthansa, Ritz-Carlton, and United Airlines have partnered with foursquare through API integrations, tips, lists and rewards to extend their brands and drive customer engagement.

1. foursquare
Overview & success stories from the Travel
industry
Omid Ashtari
European Business Development Director
twitter: @thecoolgeek

2. What is foursquare about?

3. How it works
The user experience stems from three panels:
Friends Explore Your Account
A social feed to help you keep A data-rich map to help you A control panel to keep track of
up with your friends discover what to do nearby your favorite brands and venues

4. Value proposition
Recommendations Content Rewards

5. foursquare by the numbers

6. Growth
2,500,000,000+ check-ins
45,000,000+ places
25,000,000+ people
1,000,000+ local businesses
50%+ international

7. foursquare: mobile first
Users Accessing via Mobile
• Born mobile, foursquare 100%
naturally generates high
levels of mobile traffic
60%
50%
• Promoting foursquare
drives mobile data usage
• Cutting edge app that will
keep growing and driving * *
mobile activity
* Includes feature phone and 3G usage

8. How the Travel industry
can benefit

9. The 6 benefits for the travel industry
Foursquare
Word of mouth
Travel content
Gamification
Inspiration
Specials
Data
Create more Let users Let your Incentivize first Tie content and Get customer
touchpoints interact with customers be time visits and photos of the insights and
(in the real your brand in a brand advocates retention with customers on teal-world data
world) for your fun and as they travel local offers the own brand (how many
existing content innovative way socially and show it on check-ins at
and offers the own platform specific venues
like
hotels, travel
agencies)

10. Success stories from
the Travel industry

11. Starwood (API integration)
Making loyalty more social
• Users were encouraged at
SPG.com to sync their SPG
loyalty and foursquare accounts
• Users were rewarded additional
points and other rewards for
checking into hotels.
• Encourages users to broadcast
their check-ins to SPG
properties, a fantastic
advertisement to all their
foursquare friends

12. Lufthansa (tips and lists)
Extend your brand into the real
world through foursquare tips
• Provide interesting and
relevant content to foursquare
followers
• Connect with loyal followers by
adding relevance to your
interactions with them through
the world’s premiere location
based service

13. Lufthansa (Connected Apps)
Bring loyalty programs to life
• Notifies users instantly when
they earn bonuses for
checking into
airports, Lufthansa gates and
lounges
• In app discovery of benefits for
loyal Lufthansa customers
• Encourage user behavior
through rewards & offers within
foursquare

14. Ritz-Carlton
Extending the concierge into
the real world
• Ritz-Carlton leaves great tips
and lists in many of the
locations where they have
properties for guests to enjoy
• Serves as an extension of the
concierge service when
customers are out and about

15. United Airlines (API integration)
Leverage the foursquare
platform and API
• Users were encouraged at
united.com to sync their
MileagePlus and foursquare
accounts
• Users were rewarded 50
additional miles for checking into
airports and flights
• United Airlines was able to
collect valuable data about
customer behavior even when
users were flying other airlines

16. Hilton Hotels (promoted products)
Pilot Partner for foursquare
Promoted Products launch
• Hilton and other hotel chains
are working with foursquare to
experiment with paid products
within foursquare Explore
• These are cutting edge
extensions of the foursquare
Merchant Platform that will
allow travel businesses to
reach customers in a highly
targeted fashion

17. Foursquare as a platform

18. foursquare as a platform
• About the API
• Ways to use the API
- Check-in functionality
- Data visualization
- Loyalty card integration
- Local marketing call-to-action
- Tech platform customization

19. Integrate check-in functionality
Add a “check-in” feature, tie back to the foursquare social graph and/or
utilize our constantly updated database of 40M+ venues

20. Foursquare Connected Apps
• Connect with foursquare users
in the post check-in view with
your brand’s content
• Interact with foursquare users
in the moment when that
content is most relevant
• Foursquare users will tap
through to your brand’s mobile
web view or directly to your
mobile app
• Drive traffic to your content

21. Case Study: Lufthansa (Blue Legends)
Bring loyalty programs to life
• Notifies users instantly when
they earn bonuses for
checking into
airports, Lufthansa gates and
lounges
• In app discovery of benefits for
loyal Lufthansa customers
• Encourage user behavior
through rewards & offers within
foursquare

22. American Express // Integrated redemption solutions
Delivery of frictionless Specials exclusive to Amex
cardmembers, providing merchant partners with measurable ROI and
spend data.

23. Recommended first/next steps
• Claim your locations at
foursquare.com/business
• Leave tips (& photos)
• Create Specials to attract
customers and drive traffic to
your content
• Leverage our API including our
Connected Apps functionality at
developer.foursquare.com

24. Thank You
Omid Ashtari
twitter: @thecoolgeek
foursquare.com/business

25. Appendix

26. Benefit from real-world data

27. Extend your brand into the real world

28. Location adds relevance

29. Monetization initiatives
Promoted local update Promoted load-to-card Special

30. Innovative merchant tools
Local update in friend stream Local update in post check-in screen

31. Specials at hotels
Hotels are the “early adopters” in Europe in offering specials already
• Free Tannenzäpfle (local beer) for first check-in
Hotel Wartburg (Stuttgart)
• 5% discount of your room rate for check-in
Hotel Domspitzen (Köln)
• Free glass of champagne on 10th check-in
Hotel Fürstenhof (Leipzig)
• Free Pool/Sauna day ticket on 5th check-in, backrub for Major
Atlantic Hotel (Hamburg)
• Free cup of coffee for every check-in
Best Western (Rheinsberg)