You’ve been waiting for it, trivago and WIHP have done it: trivago’s net commission bidding model is now available worldwide exclusively on our metasearch manager Meta I/O! 

It is needless to say that metasearch (or price comparison sites) have become a must in the promotion of your direct room rates and your hotel website. 

trivago hotel offers travelers the possibility to compare offers from different players, for the same hotel. Thus, the internet users choose the ideal hotel room while being assured to benefit from the best prices available according to the hotel, the period and the duration of their stay.

In this article, we’ll take a look at this new bidding method available on trivago and the benefits for your hotel. Let’s get started!

Establishing a web presence is crucial for every hotel. The Internet has become a primary channel for acquiring new customers and developing your hotel business, and this trend continues to grow across all segments. 

Promoting your website and your official rates will allow you to gain visibility and popularity quickly, in order to get more direct bookings and generate more revenue. 

Check out our tips on how to promote your hotel to online travelers. 

Internet users are spending more and more time preparing for their trip in advance. In 2022, 40% of leisure travelers say they spend more time and effort planning their trips than before the pandemic (Google / Kantar, The Expectations of the Evolving Traveller, US, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, 2022).  

At the same time, legislators have strengthened international laws regarding the privacy of Internet users, particularly when they visit websites.  

Within this new framework, Google’s teams aim to improve the solutions they offer to hoteliers and accommodation professionals, to help them achieve their goals while providing an optimal user experience.

In this article, we take a look at three major innovations of 2023, at Google and in the digital sector in general, and the impact on your digital distribution.

Like Google, Trivago has also launched its Free Booking Links for hotels. These are free links that allow independent hoteliers to promote their official website rates when they do not yet have paid listings on the Trivago metasearch. 

This allows you to define the best strategy (Commission, CPC, CPA) to increase the visibility of your hotel’s official rates.

Ironically, the term “travel” comes from “travail” (“work” in French), and that kind of describes our industry entirely, as organizing a trip is a lot of work. Travel planning logistics is frustrating, and the current booking path is remarkably intricate, with hundreds of touch points down the line.

Want proof? An insightful research by Skift highlighted how some travelers look at around 150 websites before booking a hotel room. And, according to a recent Travel Agent Central study, on average, leisure travelers use 7 to 8 apps throughout their search, booking, and in-destination travel experience.

There are, in fact, hundreds of ways to book a hotel: OTAs, GDSs, Travel Agencies, phone calls, loyalty programs, members-only travel clubs, word-of-mouth, brand.com website…Anyway, we believe that some roads can get travelers to your hotel quicker. One, in particular. And that’s metasearch advertising.

Before we introduce you to Google Performance Max for Travel goals, let’s go back to 2021, when Google launched Performance Max for all advertisers.  This ad campaign format allows you to leverage Google’s powerful algorithm to get your ads across all Google channels, namely Discover, Gmail, Youtube, Display, Maps, and Search.  On March 7, 2023, Google announced the launch of Performance Max for Travel goals, throughout 2023.  Performance Max for Travel goals campaigns aim to help you increase your direct bookings across all of Google’s advertising platforms and inventory.  Let’s take a closer look at what we know so far and how it can help your hotel increase its visibility and direct bookings.  What is Google Performance Max for travel goals? Since 2022, Internet users are spending more time researching ahead of time to prepare for their trip. In fact, 40% of leisure travelers report spending more time and effort planning their trips than they did before the pandemic (Google / Kantar, The Expectations of the Evolving Traveler, US, UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, 2022).  The objective of Google’s solutions, and in particular Performance Max for travel goals, is to increase the number of touch points with customers during their discovery, consideration and purchase journey.  In the travel and tourism industry, you know how important it is to stay on top of the evolving online distribution landscape. That’s where Google’s Performance Max for travel goals comes in. Performance Max for travel goals is the equivalent of Performance Max, dedicated to the hospitality industry. It’s a powerful tool that uses Google’s machine learning to optimize your ads across all Google surfaces to get more direct bookings. Like Performance Max, Performance Max for travel goals allows you to be visible on multiple advertising channels: Google Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps. But this will also include Google Hotel Ads.  One of the main benefits of Performance Max is that it allows you to leverage Google’s machine learning and AI to increase the number of bookings on your hotel website or the number of calls to your property.  How does a Google Performance Max for travel goals campaign work? Launching a Performance Max for travel goals campaign will be possible in the course of 2023. This new type of campaign is currently only available in beta for Google Hotel Ads integration partners. Activation of Performance Max for travel goals campaigns will be available from our Meta I/O metasearch management platform. Launching a Performance Max for travel goals campaign is similar to launching a regular Performance Max campaign: You just need to fill in the information related to your website (url), define your acquisition cost targets and your budget (note that in this case the CPA is not guaranteed like on Google Hotel Ads).  Then, Google’s artificial intelligence will automatically create for you all the ads with the text, calls-to-action, images, videos in order to cover all the available surfaces. You can modify these ad recommendations manually if you wish. Note that you can only choose to run your campaign on all Google platforms or not at all, you can’t pick and choose one of the platforms. The connection with Google Hotel Ads feed will allow Google to dynamically promote your prices. As part of this process, Google will also retrieve data from your Google Business Profile. Thus, it is important that the content of your hotel website and your Google Business Profile is up to date.  Furthermore, Google recommends that you exclude certain keywords, especially those associated with your brand, so that your brand protection campaigns (outside of Performance Max) remain as effective as possible.    With these features, you can launch your Performance Max for travel goals ad campaign in 15 minutes and a few clicks.   Conclusion  Google Performance Max for travel goals is a great tool for hotels looking to reach new potential customers more efficiently. This type of campaign allows you to gain media coverage, increase your visibility across all Google platforms quickly, in addition to your other automatic or manual campaigns.  All in all, with machine learning, multiple ad formats and channels, and advanced reporting, this powerful solution helps you achieve your direct booking goals. So, consider trying Performance Max for travel goals to increase your ad performance and stay competitive.  At WIHP, as a Google Premier Partner, we work effectively with Google and will integrate Performance Max for travel goals into Meta I/O, our metasearch management platform so you can manage (or let us manage) all of your campaigns easily, from one environment.  We help you increase your direct bookings with our metasearch technology and digital hotel solutions, contact us!