Visit Florida Keys and Key West One AI Strategy. Three Connected Pieces.
Travelers are no longer just searching for vacations. They’re asking AI where to go, what to do and how to build the right trip. Starmark saw an opportunity to put The Florida Keys & Key West into those conversations earlier, with a connected AI ecosystem built around:
- Generative AI inside paid media
- A personalized website planning assistant
- Destination content optimized for AI visibility and more accurate answers
Starmark has a long track record of piloting emerging ad technology and partnering with platforms like Meta before new tools become standard. For Visit Florida Keys, that means turning AI into something travelers can actually use.
Personalized trip planning powered by conversational AI.
Better answers. Better trips.
Starmark brought together:
- Intentful Generative Response Ads that let travelers plan inside paid media
- The Conch-cierge, an AI-powered assistant built into VisitFloridaKeys.com
- Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, to help AI platforms understand and use destination content more accurately
Together, they deliver more relevant recommendations, easier planning and more reasons for travelers to engage and convert.
AI-powered trip planning, built directly into paid media.
Turning Ads Into Planning Tools
Starmark helped Visit Florida Keys become one of the early travel marketers to use generative AI inside paid media. We get engagement in an instant: Intentful ads invite travelers to start planning immediately. They can:
- Ask questions inside the ad
- Explore personalized trip ideas
- Get destination inspiration without leaving the experience
The ads became more than messages. They became the beginning of the trip-planning process.
Meet The Conch-cierge
Starmark named, branded and shaped the Conch-cierge as a more personal way to plan
a Florida Keys vacation. More than a standard chatbot, it works like a destination concierge with the personality, voice and point of view of the brand built into every interaction. Travelers can use it to:
- Get practical travel information
- Explore ideas across all five destinations in The Keys
- Receive personalized recommendations
- Find relevant website content faster
The Conch-cierge draws from thousands of legacy and archive pages to provide destination-specific answers. It supports more than 45 languages, with sitewide translation available in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. With five distinct destinations and hundreds of experiences, The Florida Keys has a faster, more personalized way to help travelers find what matters to them.
The Results
Intentful Generative Response Ads
Through May 11, 2026:
- 817,438 impressions
- 4,739 clicks
- 198 AI engagements
- 0.58% CTR, 16% above the standard display benchmark
- 0.69% CTR for PadSquad placements, 38% above benchmark
Beyond campaign-level metrics, the initiative was part of a broader marketing strategy that coincided with continued positive destination performance. March 2026 RevPAR increased 9.8% across the Florida Keys and 9.2% in Key West, while April–May RevPAR remained 3%–6% ahead of the prior year.
The Conch-cierge
During its first five-plus months:
- 196,000 total interactions
- 1,068 users
- 258 returning users
- 3 minutes and 25 seconds average session time
Travelers are not simply testing the technology. They’re spending meaningful time using it to plan.
Starmark helps clients create more useful AI experiences, improve marketing performance and stay ahead of changing consumer behavior.
Ready to Put AI to Work for Your Brand?
Let’s build an AI experience that gives your customers more useful answers and your marketing a measurable advantage.