There’s a common perception among hoteliers that metasearch campaigns are highly complicated and tough to do on a budget. In the following post, we’ll bust open that myth by revealing some of the strategies that can make metasearch work and deliver your hotel a strong return on investment.
Sure, metasearch management can be tricky to understand, and OTAs do tend to dominate the major channels. But no matter what your budget, if you pick the right platform, spend wisely, and team up with an expert partner, metasearch can deliver impressive results and deliver your hotel an all-important boost in direct bookings.
Choosing the right channel
First and foremost, you’ve got to put your money wherever is most sensible. That means looking at channels that give you the maximum chance of conversion from the limited budget at your disposal.
So, where to start?
If there was one universal channel we’d recommend, it would be Google Hotel Ads. It’s the biggest metasearch site out there, and its current click volume now equals or surpasses TripAdvisor, while also offering a strong ROI.
Of course, there are hundreds of other options to pick from including major players such as Kayak, Trivago, and TripAdvisor. In the end, choosing the right metasearch platform involves understanding what’s best for your property, taking into consideration factors such as average cost-per-click, average ad position, rate parity, and the amount of direct bookings each platform generates.
In terms of an overall strategy, it’s generally best to spread your presence beyond just one platform. Through a process of cross-channel optimization, you can carefully refine the parameters of your advertising spend on different channels to gain the best overall ROI.
Widening your digital footprint in this way increases your overall exposure and offers a safer bet by sensibly spreading a limited budget. However, managing numerous online campaigns across multiple metasearch engines can be complicated. For that reason, it’s important to choose a top metasearch partner to remove the hassle from an otherwise daunting process.
