I don’t know if you can judge the state of the travel industry by the ads that were aired during that year’s Superbowl broadcast, but it’s certainly a barometer of the commercial zeitgeist.
While this year’s lineup featured perennial standards like beer and fast-food ads, the 59 commercials that aired during 2025’s game highlighted numerous AI-adjacent advertisements from the likes of OpenAI, Google and Meta. As for travel ads, there was just one single example. It was from Booking.com, the online travel agency that has aired commercials during the big game the past four years.
Previous Booking.com commercials starred celebrities like Idris Elba in 2022, Melissa McCarthy in 2023 and Tina Fey in 2024, but this year they went instead with an ensemble cast of Muppets, including Kermit the Frog, Animal and Miss Piggy along with Statler and Waldorf.
The message in the 30-second spot was that Booking.com’s app has “something for everyone” and highlighted how the app can help travellers find the lodging that is right for them.
