Digital Nomads and Last-Minute Deals: How Online Data Enables Offline Adventures

By Julius Černiauskas, Oxylabs

Nomadic life was a norm before the technology to cultivate land made lifelong settlement possible. Currently, technological advancements enable people to explore a new brand of nomadism known as digital. An increasing number of knowledge workers across the globe are turning away from deeply rooted and well-planned lifestyles and embracing travel and spontaneity.

The markets are slowly adapting to this remote work revolution. Businesses can utilize web data created by and about these nomads to adapt to the new realities of the work-life balance and improve the lives of the nomads.

The Rise of Digital Nomadism and the Need for a Market Shift

In the middle of the 20th century, media theorist Marshall McLuhan foresaw that new information technologies would create a "global village" where even big distances cease to matter as people travel at great speeds and use facilities on the road. This prediction has largely come true as the internet now connects most of the world, and many jobs can be done on conveniently portable devices.

At first, the new nomadism was fueled mainly by these accelerating technological advancements. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic gave another boost to remote work and, subsequently, to a nomadic lifestyle. In the first year of the pandemic, the number of Americans describing themselves as digital nomads surged by 49%. Many remote workers preferred not to rush back into the offices after the restrictions were lifted. Some decided to change their lifestyles for good.

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If the trend continues and an increasing number of people choose the nomadic lifestyle, markets must shift accordingly. Recent research finds that this trend has been steady for the last few years and that brands still need to adapt to keep up with the new market realities.

The research authors note some necessary changes in offerings that are already unfolding, such as sharing services for various housing facilities, clothing, and reusable items. Unsurprisingly, many services for the nomads are created by the nomads themselves. The years of personal experience of traveling the world while working becomes the perfect initial market research for the needs of the people who choose this lifestyle. However, first-hand experience needs to be enriched with third-party data to fully understand the diverse and growing nomad community.

How Web Data Improves Adventurous Lifestyles

Since digital technologies shape today's nomadic lifestyle, it is worth looking closer at what can be done for future nomads in the digital space. For this purpose, businesses need web intelligence. The main method of acquiring this data is web scraping, the automated collection of publicly available online data with the help of specialized software tools. This and similar methods of leveraging online data help companies improve their own business model and the lives of their nomad clients.

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Enabling Last-Minute Travel and Hospitality Deals

Along with remote work preference, the pandemic boosted another trend. Many emerged from it more spontaneous, seeing how travel can be restricted so suddenly and for so long. Even before, millennials were ready to embrace impromptu travel, with half of them having planned last-minute vacations. For digital nomads, last-minute deals for flights and hotels are even more important as they need to adapt to changing situations quickly to strike a work-life balance on the go.

This opens opportunities for websites to offer services that assist digital nomads in finding the best last-minute deals. Some companies use web scraping to aggregate online information about open vacancies in real time. Travelers sometimes have to cancel at the last minute, leaving their bookings unused. Thus, such services allow even the most spontaneous nomads to find accommodation by refreshing the webpage until they catch the desired opening.

The new digital reality also greatly improves the chance of filling all the rooms in a hotel. Before automated web data aggregation, one could only fill an opening on the last night by luck. Now, with a growing community of spontaneous travelers and software-as-a-service (SaaS) that helps effectively advertise to them in real time, managers are well-equipped to try and fill all the rooms nightly.

Informing and Fostering the Community

Many of the first successful startups by the nomads were teaching about the nomadic lifestyle or connecting the nomads with each other. For example, some websites use APIs to aggregate data about the suitability of cities for remote work. Drawing data from various online sources in real time, such platforms can constantly provide information relevant to traveling remote workers.

And the relevant information is very diverse. The aforementioned travel and hospitality prices and deals alone generate volumes of data every second. Then, there is information about security and internet stability in various locations, which requires reliable and constantly updated reviews. Finally, online information related to local and international regulations, taxes, insurance, and similar technical details of a working life provides plenty of opportunities to create data-driven tools and products for nomads.

Uncovering the Trends and Needs of the Nomads

Digital nomads create more capturable data than any other wanderers before them. Gathering this data can help understand the nomads better and leverage the insights to cater to them. Thus, insurance companies will be able to provide better deals for the constantly traveling, while real estate and infrastructure developers will be able to predict which locations will need more hostels and shared working spaces, and so on.

Following the tracks of public data left by nomads online will also help create content tailored for the nomads, whether educational or advertorial. Guides for nomadic living have more validity when data-based, as even the most experienced nomads cannot know everything just from experience. Meanwhile, companies that thoroughly research nomads and draw insights from their online behavior will be able to reach more of them with better messaging.

Summing Up

The new reality of digital nomadism has been unfolding for decades. Recently, it was accelerated by improving digital technologies and widespread adoption of remote work. Markets still need to catch up with this trend, which means opportunities to create services tailored for the new nomads abound. Capturing this market segment depends on capturing the data created by it and relevant to the improvement of nomadic lifestyle. The question about which brands will adapt best to the emerging remote work-life reality is the question of which of them will manage to gather and leverage public online data.

About the author:

Julius Černiauskas is CEO at Oxylabs.