January 30, 2020
How to Drive Direct Bookings with Sponsored Placements
January 30, 2020
In a recent survey nearly 1,000 hoteliers identified the top challenges they face when it comes to driving direct bookings for their businesses. The two most common challenges are increasing the exposure and visibility of their properties as well as competing with the OTAs.
We know that direct bookings are a top priority for many hoteliers. That’s why we’ve added a Sponsored Placements option to help you drive more travelers directly to your property’s booking channel.
When you select this option, your direct rate will appear exclusively in the Sponsored Placements ad unit. And when a traveler clicks your ad, your direct rate will be the only offer shown within the price comparison box on your listing for that traveler.
Visit www.tripadvisor.com/AdsManager to be guided through the initial setup process. Read on for more details on setting up your campaign.
Note — If you’d like to have your direct rate appear organically on your listing page, regardless of traffic driven by Sponsored Placements, you’ll need to have TripConnectTM Cost-Per-Click set up prior to selecting the direct bookings option of Sponsored Placements. Click here to learn more.
First, you’ll pick your business objective — select the “Drive direct bookings” option. Choosing this objective will show your direct booking channel as the only offer in the Sponsored Placements ad unit.
You need to work with a certified connectivity partner in order to display your pricing and availability information within the Sponsored Placements ad unit. First, select your connectivity partner and verify the rates and availability that they’re providing. Then, confirm that the information for the dates shown accurately reflects what you have in your inventory.
Next, you’ll need to select the languages that your booking page supports and ensure Tripadvisor is pointing to the correct page for each language. Make sure that the name, address, and all other information on each page matches your business’s details.
If you experience any issues with this step, see the helpful tips section below.
If you don’t have availability your Sponsored Placements ads won’t show. You also have the option to select additional blackout dates when you don’t want your ads to appear. For example, if there’s a holiday coming up when you know you are likely to sell out, you may want to schedule blackout dates for that selected timeframe. You have the ability to blackout all weekends, all weekdays or specific dates.
Next, set a maximum monthly budget for your campaign. We offer three monthly budget options, or the ability to set your own custom budget, based on the number of clicks you’d like to receive. Remember, with the direct bookings business objective you’ll only pay when travelers click through to your listing or direct booking website — you won’t pay for impressions.
Finally, you’ll confirm that the billing and credit card information we have on file is accurate. You can add a new credit card or edit your address in this step as well. You’ll also need to review and accept the Sponsored Placements Terms and Conditions to finalize the sign-up process.
And that’s it, you’re ready to start collecting even more direct bookings!
