F E AT U R E A R T I C L E
The evolvement of metasearch trends in 2017
FASTBOOKING has been managing metasearch
campaigns for hotels for more than seven years. From
the launch of metasearch, our hotel booking platforms
were connected to the leading hotel metasearch
channels to advertise direct hotel rates.
During this period, we have seen ample growth for
this digital channel, and we have learnt the strategy
of optimising the various metasearch channels to
generate maximum revenue for hotels with the best
possible return on ad spend.
We found it important to help hotels understand
the various digital channels and how they work so
that they can make better choices and decisions on
advertising budgets.
TripAdvisor
Over the last five years, TripAdvisor has held the
dominant position in metasearch advertising,
especially in areas of quality of traffic and revenue
generated. The illustration below provides the year-
on-year progress on revenue generation and traffic
cost versus the return on ad spend.
Although TripAdvisor remains as one of the key
channels on the market and is still one of the best
performing platforms for metasearch, its numbers
have recently declined both in traffic volume and
return on investment.
Anyone searching for information on a hotel would
receive six or more offers at the same time.
In 2013: TripAdvisor system changed to display
dynamic rates, causing traffic to decrease while the
cost per click increased.
In 2014: The cost per click peaked to 400% from
2012, and the return on the ad spend declined.
However, the conversion rate was much higher with
much more qualified traffic.
2015: The prices evened out and a steady reduction
in the cost per click. Return on ad spend reverted to
the 2012 level which was consistent around 10X the
previous levels.
Our analysis
TripAdvisor produces highly qualified traffic with
good conversion rates and has a very international
audience even though it is strongest in North America.
For hotels in Europe and Asia, this translates into
a high return on investment as the average stay is
longer than domestic or regional audiences. From our
analysis, users who book through TripAdvisor has an
average stay of 4.5 days.
The bidding system has improved over the years but
remains quite opaque. The priority is given to the highest
bidder, and as an advertiser, you will not know how much
that bid is. One can opt for a “share of clicks,” which
somewhat guarantees that one will be visible and receive
clicks a certain percentage of the time. Changes in bidding
and campaigns can be managed on a daily basis.
Our tip
Do not systematically bid for the first position as the
cost can rapidly raise and returns will lower. Instead,
use TripAdvisor’s reporting to stay within the top 3.
Additionally, if one’s ADR is low, opt for the “Instant
Booking” model to keep costs low.
Google Hotel Ads
History of metasearch on TripAdvisor
In 2012: The volume of clicks was much higher
because TripAdvisor still had its infamous pop-
under system (opens a separate page on the website).
Google launched Hotel Ads as Hotel Finder in 2011.
Since then the product has changed names to Google
Hotel Price Ads and now to Google Hotel Ads. The
product and performance have grown exponentially
every year both in terms of click volume and return on
ad spend.
Following a slightly different business model than
other metasearch products, Google launched with a
pay-per-click model that was based on the total cost
of the potential reservation. They retained this model
but added a performance model which is a percentage
of the actual booking fee.
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