The holiday season of 2025 is shaping up to be unlike any other, with both shoppers and travelers adjusting their habits in response to a rapidly changing landscape. According to Google, the traditional two-week holiday shopping frenzy has stretched into a three-month marathon, running from October through the New Year. At the same time, travelers are plotting their seasonal getaways earlier than ever, searching for the best deals and most popular destinations. In both arenas, artificial intelligence is playing a pivotal role, transforming how people search, shop, and travel—and how brands and service providers respond.
On September 10, 2025, Google revealed how leading retailers are leveraging its AI-powered advertising tools to connect with customers throughout this extended holiday period. Brands like Rare Beauty, L'Oréal, Louis Vuitton, Hatch, ba&sh, and Sephora are not only adapting to shifting consumer behaviors, but also reaping significant rewards by embracing the latest technology. Meanwhile, on September 9, 2025, Google shared insights into the most sought-after travel destinations of the year and offered guidance on how to snag the best prices for flights, all informed by search data and AI-driven analysis.
So, what does this mean for consumers and businesses alike? Let’s take a closer look at how AI is reshaping the holiday experience from shopping carts to boarding gates.
AI-Powered Shopping: Meeting Customers Where They Are
With consumers taking a more deliberate approach to holiday shopping—spreading out purchases over several months—retailers are under pressure to stand out at every possible moment of discovery. According to Google, Rare Beauty, a brand popular among Gen Z, leaned heavily into AI-powered ad solutions, incorporating YouTube into its Search strategy. The result? A staggering 7X return on ad spend. It’s a clear sign that showing up in the right place, at the right time, can make all the difference.
L'Oréal, a global beauty powerhouse, took things a step further by employing AI Max to uncover new search opportunities and enhance ad relevance. By activating search term matching in AI Max, L'Oréal was able to tap into fresh queries like “what is the best cream for facial dark spots?”—a move that doubled its conversion rate and reduced cost-per-conversion by 31%. According to Google, “L'Oréal saw incremental performance by using AI Max to find new search opportunities and boost ad relevance in their Search Ads campaigns.”
It’s not just about digital, either. Louis Vuitton, in launching its Damier Fine Jewelry collection, implemented an omnichannel bidding strategy that spanned both online and offline sales. This approach delivered a 41% higher omnichannel return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to traditional e-commerce bidding, with a 7% boost in e-commerce ROAS specifically in the United States and France. Clearly, blending digital and physical retail can pay off—if you have the right data and tools.
Other brands are finding creative ways to use AI for campaign efficiency. Sleep wellness company Hatch, for example, employed Google’s Gemini to instantly create three target personas for its "Everything Machine" campaign, while ImageFX generated 27 visuals from minimal inputs. This AI-driven strategy led to an 80% increase in click-through rate, a 31% improvement in cost per purchase, and cut design and production hours by half.
Meanwhile, ba&sh, a high-end women’s fashion retailer, adopted an omnichannel strategy that valued store visits as a primary campaign goal. By assigning value to both online and offline interactions, ba&sh increased overall revenue and improved ROAS by 8.5%. The lesson? In today’s retail world, every customer touchpoint matters.
Once a customer is acquired, the next challenge is turning them into a loyalist. Sephora US tackled this by using personalized annotations to display loyalty-tier discounts to signed-in shoppers. This simple tweak resulted in a 20% jump in click-through rates for personalized ads shown to loyal customers. As Google notes, “Our new loyalty offerings are one way we’re helping retailers engage with customers throughout their shopping journey.”
For retailers, these examples underscore the importance of embracing AI not just as a buzzword, but as a practical tool for engaging customers in real time, across all channels. The holiday season may be longer, but the window to capture attention is still fleeting.
Travel Trends: Where (and When) People Are Going
On the travel front, Google’s data reveals that people are planning their holiday trips earlier and more strategically, hoping to score the best deals on flights and accommodations. The company released two sets of top destinations for 2025—one for U.S. domestic travel and another for international getaways over Christmas and New Year’s—based on Google Search volumes so far. While perennial favorites like beach resorts continue to dominate, the specifics offer valuable insights for travel marketers and retailers alike.
But knowing where people want to go is only half the battle. The real challenge is figuring out when to book. Google’s AI-powered Flight Deals tool is designed to help users find the lowest prices based on their travel plans. The guidance, built on current market trends, is surprisingly precise:
- For domestic flights, the lowest prices have typically appeared 39 days before departure, with a low price window ranging from 23 to 51 days out.
- International travelers see the best deals 49 days or more before departure.
- Thanksgiving flights are cheapest 35 days ahead (24–59 days as the low range), while Christmas travelers should aim for 51 days before takeoff (with a 32–73 day low price window).
- Planning a spring break trip in March or April? The sweet spot is 43 days before departure (28–61 days as the low range).
- For summer vacations in July or August, 21 days before departure is the magic number (14–43 days as the low range).
- Those heading to Europe should look for deals 48 days or more in advance.
Google is quick to point out that these are general guidelines and don’t account for last-minute deals that might pop up for certain destinations. Still, for planners—and the marketers targeting them—this information could be the difference between a good deal and a missed opportunity.
AI: The Common Thread
If there’s a unifying theme to the 2025 holiday season, it’s this: Artificial intelligence is quietly, yet profoundly, changing the game in both retail and travel. For shoppers, AI means more relevant ads, smarter recommendations, and personalized experiences that make every interaction count. For travelers, it’s about finding the right destination at the right price, with a little help from algorithms that sift through mountains of data in seconds.
The upshot? Whether you’re hunting for the perfect gift or the perfect getaway, AI is working behind the scenes to make your holiday season smoother, smarter, and maybe even a little more magical. And for brands and marketers, the message is clear: Adapt, or risk being left behind.
As the holiday marathon continues, those who harness the power of AI will be best positioned to capture hearts, minds, and wallets—one click, one booking, and one loyal customer at a time.
