Though we may not want to admit it, Christmas is right around the corner, and with it comes one of the busiest seasons for travel marketers. It's not a secret that during the holiday season everyone amps up their advertising for one last push before the end of the year, and it can be a challenge to stand out in all the advertising noise.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who views any complex travel planning with a mixture of stress and terror. As part of a generation that's become very accustomed to ordering a cab through one press of my Apple Watch screen, I feel that pretty much everything should be this easy.

In the 1960's, Marshall McLuhan, a philosopher and public intellectual, famously said, "The medium is the message" - meaning it is the media platform itself that is most important - not the content of what the medium is delivering.

The increasingly popular social platform Snap (formerly known as Snapchat) has allowed consumers to share their experiences around the world in real-time. It also allows a great opportunity for hotel brands to use the platform to reach consumers in a different, more meaningful way. If done right.

Last month in my Data 101 article, I discussed myriad data targeting tools available to travel marketers. This month, let's take a deeper dive into the different use cases for strategically applying that data throughout the marketing process.

The opportunities to leverage this powerful technology are more accessible than ever.