The world of hospitality digital marketing is constantly evolving, making it critical for hoteliers to stay on top of search marketing updates. While online travel agencies (OTAs) have been a go-to for attracting new clients and boosting occupancy, metasearch sites have proven themselves as the new big player in the hotel tech industry.
What is metasearch?
First, lets distinguish the difference between metasearch sites and OTAs.
OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) are indirect booking channels that allow online travelers to compare prices, features, and services, all in one place. Some popular OTAs are Booking.com and Expedia. These channels promote hotels in destinations around the world advertising their room rates, descriptions, and photographs. Consumers can book directly through an OTA website, taking direct profit away from hotel properties.
Metasearch sites are not primarily booking channels. They are information platforms on which hotels can market their inventory, like Trivago or Kayak. For online travelers, it’s a way to research hotels available during their desired time frame and destination, read reviews and compare prices all in one view. By advertising your hotel property on metasearch sites, online travelers can book directly with you.
Why does your hotel need metasearch?
Reduce your cost per booking.
Large OTAs like Expedia and Priceline charge booking commissions as high as 30%. Metasearch channels, however, function in a different way. Businesses that utilize metasearch pay on a cost per acquisition (CPA) or cost per click (CPC) basis.
This allows for hotels to pay less overall per booking, resulting in keeping more of their profits. Metasearch ads send the booker directly to your own booking engine to complete the transaction, saving you from high booking fee percentages for the OTAs.
Increase your hotel’s visibility.
Metasearch sites are becoming a more popular, and an easier way, for consumers to book hotels. Beyond sites specific to metasearch, Google uses metasearch ads throughout search results to cater to online travelers at each phase in their booking journey.
For hotels to use this to their advantage, they can utilize their Google Business Listing to appear in metasearch results.
Target your ideal guests.
Customizing ads is easier on metasearch than any other channel. With metasearch, you can choose to show rates for specific days of the week, by ideal length of stay, or advertise specific room types.
This hyper-targeting is handy when you’re looking to accomplish specific goals. For example, if you’re looking to increase transient weekend business, make sure you’re ads are appearing for someone searching for weekend days. On the other hand, if you’re wanting target business travelers to boost weekday occupancy, choose to appear in searches for weeknight stays.
Increase direct bookings & own your guest data.
Metasearch ads are integrated directly to your booking engine. This ensures that the room availability and rates being displayed are accurate. Once your metasearch ad is clicked and a guest is directed to your property website to book directly, guest data is collected at the point of reservation. This data is now accessible for the property to nurture the guest and market to them in the future.
You may also enjoy our other blog post:
Your Hotel’s Metasearch Strategy
Ready to take control of your property’s metasearch? Contact Vizergy.
This article also featured here on Hotel News Resource.
