TravelBoom, a data-driven digital marketing agency for hotels, resorts, and vacation rental companies, has released a new case study on metasearch after successful campaigns with InTown Suites and Brittain Resorts & Hotels. With a presence on platforms like Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor, and Kayak, hotels can drive more direct bookings through metasearch and challenge the position of online travel agencies (OTAs). In the case study, TravelBoom exhibits that hotels can dominate the search engine results page (SERP) through an AI-driven metasearch campaign combined with a well-run pay-per-click campaign. Furthermore, the metasearch campaign can generate more than 200% higher returns on ad spend.
Each client in the study had previously had metasearch campaigns that were limited by high management costs, poor bidding strategies, and inefficient management tools, all of which led to increased OTA bookings and poor direct booking performance. TravelBoom’s paid media specialists developed a new strategy using AI-based platforms to drive direct bookings for clients through metasearch. Over the first several months of the campaign, all clients saw record performance and reduced reliance on OTAs.
Hotel metasearch engines such as Google Hotel Ads, Microsoft Hotel Ads, Kayak, and TripAdvisor are fundamental tools for finding new guests and driving direct bookings. TravelBoom has partnered with metasearch engines to offer a rate strategy and incentives that encourage direct bookings. The agency integrated an AI-based bidding component to improve performance and allow new participation opportunities. TravelBoom then utilized a new bidding strategy to create individually optimized client campaigns. The campaigns include:
● Smarter bidding strategies targeting customers in the shopping process
● AI-based campaign management to find hidden opportunities
● Transparent and fair pricing to reduce management costs
● Improved reporting for more insight to ensure marketing decisions based on data
● Fluid budget allocation to maximize return on advertising spend with metasearch
● Reduced management costs based on automated strategies
InTown Suites generated a 246% increase in its Google Hotel Ads campaign within two months of implementing TravelBoom’s strategy. TravelBoom produced a 3,657% return on the overall metasearch advertising spend. Brittain Resorts & Hotels was able to generate a 2,024% average return on advertising spend in Google Hotel Ads and a 1,439% return in Microsoft Hotel Ads. In addition, guests who booked through Google Hotel Ads had a significantly lower cancellation rate, which helped to improve close-in occupancy and increase the revenue per available room (RevPAR).
“Hotel rates via metasearch are often the very first opportunity to convert potential guests,” said Pete DiMaio, COO of TravelBoom. “By attracting travelers throughout the booking process, an optimized metasearch campaign can boast a ROAS that competes with the best-performing PPC ads, email, and other top-performing marketing efforts.”
