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Hilton Worldwide has partnered with the University of Cambridge to launch the first ever Holiday Matchmaker Facebook App.
The new tool analyses a user’s Facebook ‘Likes’ to reveal their traveller personality profile.
Results reveal what kind of traveller they are, handpick destinations best suited to their travel style, and even recommend friends that would make the most compatible travel companions.
The Holiday Matchmaker Facebook App is powered by Apply Magic Sauce API, a series of predictive algorithms developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre.
The API is based on social media records and actual psychological data from more than six million participants globally to deliver trait predictions and build an individual’s travel persona without retaining or sharing any personal user data.
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By translating a Facebook user’s ‘Likes’ into their personality type, the app creates a traveller profile based on computer predictions which have been shown to have greater statistical accuracy than those of a user’s colleagues, friends and family.
“Consumers are almost spoilt for choice in today’s travel market,” said Aligi Gardenghi, vice president of marketing, EMEA, Hilton Worldwide.
“The Holiday Matchmaker Facebook App avoids that one-holiday-fits-all approach to suggest a bespoke location based on some pretty heavyweight technology behind the scenes.
“Thanks to the researchers at the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, we can recommend destinations and other experiences based on a deeper, psychological understanding of our audience for the very first time.”
By adding a travel-focussed content layer to the feedback provided on the BIG5 personality traits – Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism – the matchmaker app can reveal the user’s holidaymaker profile, recommend their perfect travel destination, suggest activities to do when they get there as well as suggest their most and least compatible co-traveller types.
Examples of the resulting traveller profiles include the Deliberator, signifying high conscientiousness and a desire to plan ahead, or the Thrill-seeker, defined by high extraversion and an enthusiasm for meeting new people on their travels.
Vesselin Popov, development strategist, University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, said: “Hilton is ahead of the game in providing customers with cutting-edge tools to tailor their brand experiences.
“This app is a great example of empowering the consumer rather than broadcasting to them.”
Once their travel persona has been revealed, users can share and compare it with their Facebook friends, Twitter followers and email contacts from within the app, harnessing social media to help them create shared holiday experiences even before they book their trip.
