Love them or hate them, the OTAs are here to stay. Smart hotels know they must take control of their data and deploy smart marketing strategies to lure guests to book direct, which provides the lowest cost per acquisition and builds customer loyalty.
Maintain your (paid search) brand share
Since search engine ad space is now at the half fold, mark, consumers must scroll a half a page to see organic results. Ads take up half the page and in case you weren’t aware, the OTAs are bidding on your hotel’s brand terms. So, how do you deal? Maximize your paid search brand impression share to sit at 90 percent or higher. Bid for your own key terms, especially exact match, so your ads show up first. If you have $100 to spend, bid on your own brand terms vs. non-brand terms. Your money goes further, aided by the Google quality score, which recognizes what a consumer is searching for and the most direct route to finding it, eg your hotel web site.
Remarket to hotel researchers
For most travelers, hotel research spans about two weeks, with consumers browsing a plethora of sites in search of the best deals and travel experiences. To stay top of mind and finish strong, awareness and re-engagement campaigns are critical. The point is to influence various parts of a traveler’s research process throughout the buying journey. This is done through display advertising and ironically enough purchasing data sourced by the OTAs to build audiences with travelers searching for hotels like yours. Custom targeting can be created piecing together relevant data segments and behaviors, including income and travel intent details.
