All aboard! As many folks in the U.S. are back from celebrating their spring breaks, we’ve got travel marketing on our monstie minds.
Emails in the travel and hospitality industry may be dominated by booking confirmations and check-in reminders, but it’s just as important to make sure your marketing promotions are attracting as much attention.
To help you deliver the vacation inspo your customers are looking for, we’ve created a lookbook of our favorite email design trends from leading travel brands.
As a sneak peek, we’ll share three in this post:
- Best Way to Celebrate
- Best Educational Content
- Best Newsletter
You can access even more trends—including birthday promotions, abandonment alerts, and upcoming trip reminders—in the full Travel Lookbook. Download a copy to share with your team.
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Want to know where we found these epic emails? Stay tuned because we’ll be debuting one of our biggest tools very soon.
Top Email Creative Trends in Travel
Best Way to Celebrate
Swimply Makes Milestones More Fun
Not everyone has access to a pool, but with Swimply, you can book one by the hour from one of their 15,000 hosts. With their motto “Escape locally,” Swimply turns staycations into celebrations.
We love how inviting this email is while encouraging families to book early for graduation parties. The hero image pops with confetti, the transition into the blue background mirrors the water, and the content is personalized to the recipient’s city. Below the CTA button, Swimply suggests nearby listings, enticing guests to make reservations.
This email proves you don’t have to be in the business of international destinations to organize a weekend to remember.
Airbnb Elevates Date Night Into an Epic Experience
With over 9 million active listings and 5 million hosts worldwide, Airbnb is already known for unique stays and getaways. In 2025, the company introduced Airbnb Services to enhance bookings with local expertise.
Upsell and cross-sell opportunities make marketing promotions more motivating. In the email above, personalized by date and time, guests receive recommendations for private chefs “to host a feast without lifting a finger” and for local photographers “to capture it all.”
For the travelers who want to make their trips extra-special—without hours of researching—this Airbnb Services promotion makes booking an easy decision.
Best Educational Content
Tripadvisor Dives Deep on Travel Topics
With its mission of being “the world’s most trusted source for travel and experiences,” Tripadvisor focuses on sharing rich content across its portfolio of brands. Tripadvisor’s emails aim to deliver a wealth of knowledge, from the best remote beaches to the trips that are better without a car.
This deep dive on superblooms starts off cheekily with its opening line, “Cherry blossoms and tulips are nice—but they show up every year like clockwork.” The list of desert destinations with “flowers that really wow” appeals to travelers who want to roam off the beaten path.
And as the user tags prove, Tripadvisor isn’t phoning it in with stock photos. Each image is credited to the traveler who took the shot. We’re inspired to book our next vacay ASAP.
Going Answers FAQs With an AMA
If you like long-form content, Going’s emails cover a ton of ground. From “in the know” guides on travel rights to how best to apply your travel points, you always walk away smarter than you started.
Most founders of travel brands aren’t hosting Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions on Reddit, which is another way Going stands out. The email above promotes Going’s latest AMA with founder Scott Keyes, with a headshot that complements the message’s background and a layout that pulls the reader in. Check out the adorable Reddit logo dotting the “i” in the header!
Educational email content usually focuses on anticipating audience questions, but AMAs are a fantastic way to crowdsource feedback directly. This email deserves an upvote.
Best Newsletter
Lonely Planet Sends With an Editorial Edge
Okay, yes, it’s no surprise that Lonely Planet sends great newsletters. The company has been publishing travel guides for over fifty years. What is surprising is just how few brands in the industry are actually delivering this much value in the inbox.
Each email comes from a dedicated editor, like this one above from digital editor Chamidae Ford on 25 of their favorite beaches. In between recommendations across Europe, Mexico and the U.S., the newsletter naturally weaves in sponsored content that doesn’t overpower the editorial side.
The minimalist design with black and yellow accents feels like you’re reading a newspaper, with images slightly off-center as if they’re Polaroid pictures. Subtle touches make it worth subscribing.
Virgin Voyages Turn Cruising Into an Exclusive Club
Cruise line Virgin Voyages excels at making its customers feel like VIPs, and their Sailing Club newsletter is no exception. The email includes first-name personalization for both the recipient and their “first mate” and shares exciting updates like new routes and entertainment lineups.
With CTAs to “sea your exclusive perks” and “text loyalty” for SMS savings, sailors feel like they’re getting special treatment. And with incentives like 80% off a companion and $100 bar tabs, they are.
The neon accent colors over a black background feed into the glitz and glamour. As a child-free cruise line, Virgin Voyages’ luxurious branding makes it clear that the fun is adults-only.
Email Creative to Inspire Your Next Travel Campaign
Email testing and QA is like planning the perfect vacation: It’s easier when you have an itinerary. And who says you can’t build creative with a piña colada in your hand?
For more email examples from leading airlines, hotel chains and booking sites, download our Travel Lookbook.
Inbox Monster is here to inform your next big idea, with industry insights you can’t get anywhere else. Stay tuned because the most epic email search engine is coming your way soon.
Until then, if you’re looking for a new creative rendering platform, check out Inbox Monster’s Creative Suite. It has everything you need to send with confidence:
- Render emails across 110+ modern clients and devices
- Test GIFs and interactive content with live previews
- See AI summaries from popular tools, like Gemini, Copilot and Apple Intelligence
- Translate into 75+ different languages
- Invite your whole team to play with unlimited seats
Schedule a demo to see the Creative Suite in action today.
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