Meta search in travel and hospitality has been around since the early 2000s. One of the earliest examples was Sidestep.com, now part of Kayak.com, which was acquired by Priceline earlier this year. In Europe, one such example is Trivago.com. WeGo.com is one such example in Asia Pacific. Meta search marketing in hospitality is online advertising that requires real-time room availability and pricing feed. This new “hybrid” digital marketing format, the result of the convergence of hotel online distribution and online advertising, requires:
- Real-time hotel inventory availability + pricing
- Marketing campaign, budget and bid management by property
Meta search marketing is already branching out beyond the typical rate comparison sites. Google Dynamic Text Retargeting Ads are one such example, available only to properties participating in the Google Hotel Finder meta search program. Today we are witnessing an explosion of meta search travel sites and features, facilitated by advancements in digital technology and advertisers’ perceptions of these sites as “unbiased” online media players compared to the OTAs.
The most popular meta search sites and features in the hospitality and travel space include:
- Google Hotel Finder (HPA pricing drop-downs): Google Hotel Finder beta, Google Maps, Google search engine results pages (SERPs), etc.
- TripAdvisor Meta Search
- Kayak.com
- Trivago.com (Europe)
- WeGo.com (Asia Pacific)
The value proposition to travel consumers is undeniable: by adding real-time availability and pricing and enabling rate shopping, travel planners are now provided with everything they need to research and book their hotel stay. The main question is: Why would any online travel consumer want to go to an OTA website when they can get all of the above on Google, TripAdvisor, etc.?
Nevertheless, hotel distribution, availability and pricing are more complex than meta search websites realize. The hotel distribution eco-system consists of disparate and, in many cases, legacy technology platforms, including property management systems (PMS), central reservation systems (CRS), global distribution systems (GDS), online booking engines, OTAs, etc. Sometimes these inventory distribution technologies do not even “speak” the same language. Hotel pricing has become very complex as a result of more sophisticated revenue management technologies, and the ability to react quickly to market conditions and changing comp set pricing behavior is key. Rate parity requirements also add complexity to pricing. All of this requires professional meta search marketing expertise and help.
Contrary to some perceptions in the industry, meta search is not a distribution channel, nor is it a “set and forget” marketing initiative. Meta search marketing is an advertising model that typically utilizes the cost-per-click (CPC) advertising format, where the advertiser pays only when someone clicks on their listing and is taken deep into their booking engine. The meta search advertising format requires daily spend and bid management, daily reaction to what other advertisers are doing, monitoring of budget spend on a daily basis and monitoring of rate parity (that is often abused by the OTAs).
For instance, since only the top three positions on TripAdvisor and the top four for Google Hotel Finder matter, just being enabled means nothing since OTAs will push the property down or out of the pricing ad menu. This is why branded hotels rarely see themselves in the Google Hotel Finder meta search pricing menus or among the top three featured advertisers on in the TripAdvisor Check Rates meta search menu.
As a marketing format, meta search marketing is quite complex due to the fact that it requires real-time room availability and pricing, in addition to daily campaign and bid management. Hotel inventory availability and pricing feeds are required components, but they constitute a small part of the complexity of this new “hybrid” advertising model. The most complex part is the technology needed to manage ad spend (budget) per property on a daily and monthly basis, real-time bid management, conversion and ROAS tracking, campaign monitoring and ongoing optimizations and reporting on the property level.
Though some meta search websites have enabled a self-service functionality where in theory a property can set up their own campaigns, meta search marketing requires sophisticated CRS access and advertising middleware technology to manage daily ad spend, campaign management, and dynamic bidding and optimization. Once again, meta search marketing is not a “set and forget” initiative that you can run on auto-pilot.
In addition to other fundamentals such as website re-designs, SEO, SEM, online media and retargeting, emails marketing and social media, meta search marketing is considered an important tool to help hoteliers lessen their dependency on the OTAs and drive more direct bookings through the property website. Independent hotels are particularly OTA-dependent. What hoteliers do?
Independents: Meta search marketing is a “must have” initiative for any independent hotel, resort and casino and any small and mid-size hotel chain; it is as important as SEO, SEM and email marketing.
Branded properties: Though most major brands have enabled their properties on the meta search sites by utilizing the “pay-for-performance” model (the property is being charged a “success fee”/commission by the brand), all branded hotels should regularly monitor whether they are present in the meta search programs on Google, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak.com, etc.
Clearly Hoteliers must add meta search marketing to their core marketing budgets, next to such fundamental initiatives such as SEO, SEM, online media and retargeting, email marketing, etc. to generates cost-effective incremental bookings at great ROAS levels. And to do so, they should partner with an experienced meta search marketing firm that provides a one-stop meta search marketing and connectivity platform and take advantage of this growing direct online channel revenue opportunity.
