Emerging Travel Group Partners With Rippla to Give Travel Brands a New Influencer Marketing Edge

Emerging Travel Group is partnering with Rippla to give travel brands a sharper influencer marketing option. The UAE-based travel technology group is adding Rippla’s creator network to its Marketing Hub, allowing hospitality businesses to connect with audiences across Europe and the Middle East. Importantly, the partnership arrives as social media increasingly influences how travellers discover, compare and book trips. Rippla brings more than 10,000 influencers and audience data covering location, age and gender. Therefore, hotels and other hospitality businesses can identify creators who fit their target customers. The move gives travel brands another practical way to build visibility, engagement and bookings.

Emerging Travel Group (ETG) is expanding its marketing proposition for travel businesses through a strategic partnership with Rippla, a data-driven platform that connects hospitality companies with social media influencers and content creators.

The collaboration adds influencer marketing to ETG’s Marketing Hub, giving hotels and other travel businesses another channel to reach potential customers as social platforms become an increasingly important part of the travel decision-making process.

Rippla Brings More Than 10,000 Influencers

Rippla provides hospitality businesses with access to a network of more than 10,000 influencers across Europe and the Middle East.

A key feature of the platform is its audience intelligence. Businesses can review information such as followers’ age, location and gender before selecting creators for potential collaborations.

This approach is designed to make influencer marketing more targeted. Rather than choosing creators solely because they have large followings, hotels can identify profiles whose audiences align more closely with their own customer segments.

For travel brands, that can be particularly useful when marketing destinations, hotels, restaurants and hospitality experiences to specific traveller groups.

How the Influencer Partnerships Work

Rippla allows hospitality businesses to define their preferred audience using criteria including location, age and gender. They can then develop tailored offers for selected creators.

Its algorithm identifies influencers whose audiences most closely correspond with the chosen target profile. Businesses can subsequently decide which creators they want to work with.

The partnerships operate primarily through a barter model. Hotels can offer stays or other hospitality experiences in return for creator content and promotional exposure.

Rippla also provides tools to manage collaborations and measure their performance. The platform is available through a subscription model.

This gives hospitality businesses a structured way to manage influencer activity rather than relying solely on informal arrangements with individual creators.

ETG Expands Its Marketing Hub

Felix Shpilman, CEO of Emerging Travel Group, said social media and influencers are increasingly affecting the way travellers discover, assess, book and experience travel.

He linked the partnership to ETG’s recent research into trends expected to shape the travel sector over the coming decade, highlighting creator marketing as an increasingly relevant part of the booking journey.

Through Rippla, ETG aims to broaden the marketing opportunities available to its travel partners. Influencer activity will sit alongside the existing solutions offered through its Marketing Hub.

The partnership also gives Rippla access to ETG’s established travel ecosystem and wider professional network.

Maria Donskikh, CEO and founder of Rippla, said the platform was created to make influencer marketing more relevant and accessible for hospitality businesses. She described hotel rooms and restaurant tables as marketing assets that can be exchanged for creator exposure through barter-based collaborations.

A Wider Audience for Travel Businesses

Emerging Travel Group operates RateHawk, ZenHotels and Roundtrip and serves customers across more than 190 source markets.

The company says millions of guests use its platforms each month, while its professional network includes more than 120,000 travel professionals. Its Marketing Hub is designed to help travel businesses increase visibility, reach relevant audiences and support commercial growth.

ETG’s wider portfolio includes hotel inventory, flights, transfers, car rental and other travel services. The group says it has more than 3.3 million hotels from over 250,000 directly contracted properties, alongside flight inventory covering 450 airlines and transfers in 150 countries.

The Rippla partnership therefore arrives as part of a broader shift in travel marketing, where brands are looking beyond conventional advertising to reach consumers through trusted creators and social discovery.

What the Partnership Means for Travel Brands

The immediate benefit is greater choice. Hospitality businesses using ETG’s Marketing Hub can now access influencer marketing alongside other promotional opportunities.

More importantly, the data-led matching process could help brands focus their campaigns on audiences with a stronger connection to their target market. For hotels competing for attention in crowded destinations, that can provide a more direct route to potential guests.

As travellers increasingly turn to social media for inspiration and recommendations, influencer partnerships are becoming a practical component of the modern travel marketing mix.

The cause is a clear shift in traveller behaviour. Social media increasingly shapes where people discover, compare and eventually book travel. The answer is a partnership that gives hospitality businesses direct access to creators and audience data. Emerging Travel Group has therefore added Rippla’s influencer network to its Marketing Hub. The reason is practical: travel brands need targeted ways to reach potential guests, while creators can provide authentic destination and hospitality content. Rippla’s 10,000-plus influencers across Europe and the Middle East give businesses broader choice. Meanwhile, audience insights can help brands select creators whose followers better match their commercial targets and campaign objectives.

Emerging Travel Group’s partnership with Rippla marks another step in the travel industry’s move towards creator-led marketing. By bringing Rippla into its Marketing Hub, ETG is giving hotels and hospitality businesses access to more than 10,000 influencers across Europe and the Middle East. The platform’s audience data can help brands make more informed creator choices based on factors such as age, gender and location.

At the same time, its barter model provides hotels with a practical mechanism for exchanging stays and experiences for content and exposure. For ETG, the agreement expands the range of marketing services available to its travel partners. For Rippla, it creates access to a much broader travel industry network. Ultimately, the partnership reflects a wider change in how travellers discover and evaluate destinations, with social media and creator recommendations becoming increasingly influential throughout the travel booking journey.