We don’t need to remind you that it is now essential for your establishment to have a website to drive direct bookings. It is the pillar of your online marketing. Indeed, your hotel website must be both efficient and attractive for your visitors in order to convert them into customers. The question is rather how to do it. In this article we detail the concrete steps and technical elements needed to build a website. Where to start? How to understand the process of creating a website? You will have all the tools you need to follow the creation of your hotel website.   The specifications of your future hotel website The specifications consist of a document gathering the different elements you wish to integrate into your hotel website. It defines the framework of your project and expresses your expectations to the creative team that will be responsible for building it.  Specifications are an essential working resource for you, but also for the service provider who will create your hotel website. It allows you to have the guarantee to be delivered of all that is mentioned in it. But, it is also a support of exchange which allows you and your provider to bring the best of the advice and skills to carry out your project. It allows you to identify the scope of the project: The constraints, the goals and the target customers of the future website The presentation of your hotel and if it proposes a restaurant, a spa or activities The description of the existing website  The functional and technical description of the future website (integration of a blog, languages, pop-ups, ability to create landing pages, newsletter subscription push, social media, customer reviews, button widget, etc.)Although you are an active participant at this stage, your supplier will provide you with a template of specifications that you will not have to build alone. At WIHP, we guide you through the specifications to ease the exchanges between our teams and yours. The goal is to identify your needs and understand your requirements and constraints in order to best meet them.   The mock-up (first design) A design serves a goal and must be adapted to your positioning. Therefore, the design of your website must reflect your brand image and correspond to the target you wish to reach. The architecture of your site must be built so that the customer path is fluid and user-centered to facilitate reservations from your future customers directly through the booking engine of your website.  Today, a simple update of an old website is not enough. Indeed, technologies are evolving rapidly as well as browsing habits which are more and more on mobile, the expectations of Internet users on loading times and user experience are increasing and the level of security required by search engines is rising. For these reasons, the average estimated lifespan of a website is currently two to four years.  Also, we recommend that you start taking into account that the design will ultimately have to adapt to mobile browsing for your potential customers.  Finally, this first mock-up allows you to collect opinions and comments on the design of the website, its layout, its navigation, etc. The objective is to validate the design of the first pages so that we can duplicate them for the rest of the sections and move on to the next step, the beta version.    The beta version of your hotel websiteIt is the transition from static to dynamic. It is the moment when the project becomes a web version and the design of your mock-up comes to life in a website. The beta version (or preview) defines a version of the website before its official launch. Its main function is to validate that : The textual and visual content is correct  The calls-to-action (CTA) are visible and well placed The pages animation effects work The customer journey is intuitive and fluidAs mentioned above, make sure that your hotel website is adaptive in order to offer the best experience to your customers on all screens and especially on mobile. Indeed, two thirds of online traffic is now on mobile. An adaptive or responsive design allows a better performance of your website and a more comfortable navigation for your visitors.  The beta version of your website enables you to review all its features (graphics, sections, interface, etc.). It is an important step to envision the future navigation of your visitors on your website and to validate the navigation paths. We also test the current use of the website in order to be able to make potential content corrections before the final version is released online.   The pre-production Once the beta version is validated, the pre-production is used to work on your website before making it available in production. Its main purpose is to make technical settings of your hotel website and then to make the final quality checks (testing redirection links for example). During this step, we set up Google Analytics in e-commerce mode, necessary for tracking your performance. We also provide you with a Google Data Studio account to give you access to your data in real time and in a transparent way.  One of the most important settings is the SEO one so that your website always appears in the first position of the search results page on your brand name: Setting up title tags and meta description tags.  Setting up pointers from the old domain name to the new website in order not to lose traffic and to keep your ranking on search engines. Choice of languages to be inserted to cover the maximum of markets in adequacy with the customers. The goal is to offer relevant content to search engines.Finally, it is important to choose a hosting service that allows you to obtain a dedicated space to access the SQL manager (the SQL language allows you to define, manage and protect data in a simple and schematic way), used once the website is online.  The hosting service must also enable you to have a fast website. At WIHP, we use the Amazon Web Services platform to reduce the loading time of your pages as much as possible and guarantee a fast website, because every second lost represents 20% less conversions on your website.   The website online launching Great news! The launch is the final step in the creation of your website and the renewal of your activity on the Internet. Congratulations, this is the result of a lot of work!Your web provider will be in charge of publishing your website to ensure its online visibility, via a domain name. Once your website is deployed, it is necessary to promote it on search engines in order to appear at the top of the travelers’ search results. We also recommend you to keep your customers informed of the release of your hotel’s website. They will then be able to book directly on this channel the next time they stay with you.  Your website is the backbone of your hotel marketing. To promote it, use the most channels possible: emailings, metasearch campaigns, posts and advertisements on social networks, SEA campaigns (search engine advertising). This will maximize traffic to your website and increase your chances of getting more direct bookings.  Then, thanks to the monitoring tools set up previously, you will be able to control the performance of your website and track the KPIs and the goals you have set for yourself. Finally, don’t forget that a website is a living thing, you have to update its content regularly so that the Internet users have access to the latest information about your establishment. This makes it easier for them to decide to book directly on your website. For example, make new photo shoots and update the photos of your property after it has been refurbished. Also share your new services, ongoing or exclusive offers on special occasions (Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, etc.).   Conclusion These steps to create a website are time consuming and can become complex. If you have neither the time nor the technical resources necessary to obtain an effective hotel website that reflects your hotel’s uniqueness, entrust the creation to a specialized agency.   Nowadays, two thirds of hotel searches by travelers are done online. Once your website is deployed, it will allow you to promote your establishment and attract future customers to increase your traffic. With a seamless booking path, you will convert your website visitors into customers and increase your direct revenue.  Our team of hotel marketing specialists will help you implement your hotel’s distribution plans. Contact us to get the right support in creating your website. 

Nowadays, Internet users are used to receiving personalized suggestions from their favorite platforms, be it for music, movies or social networks. Everything is done to take into account their lifestyle in order to offer them the content that best suits their tastes and interests.  The same goes for the travel and tourism sector. OTAs are taking advantage of these personalization algorithms in order to provide the best offer to travelers looking for a stay or a hotel.  To remain competitive with booking sites such as Expedia or Booking, we advise you to do the same and integrate personalization in your strategy to increase direct bookings. One of the key levers is to create a powerful website that is customized to what makes you unique and brings you closer to your target audience. This will allow you to reach a qualified audience and convert more customers to your hotel website. The stakes of a hotel website The website is an essential tool in the promotion and marketing of your hotel rooms. The stakes of a hotel website creation are all the more important as it is on this website that your entire digital distribution will be based.  Indeed, it is online that your customers get information about your establishment and your services before booking a room or contacting you. However, Internet users are confronted with a plethora of hotel offers where every detail counts, hence the importance of choosing a quality hotel website creation agency to better sell online. Moreover, creating your website is also an opportunity to strengthen the brand image of your establishment. It is about using your hotel website as a digital store to attract travelers and encourage them to book directly through your booking engine.  Finally, having an efficient website is an integral part of your hotel’s global marketing strategy to increase your direct revenues. Indeed, your email campaigns, your SEA campaigns (search engine advertising), your posts on social networks, your campaigns on metasearch or your display ads all converge on your website. It is the pillar of your digital distribution.  Follow our tips below to get a successful hotel website and bypass the OTAs in your distribution strategy.  The 6 essentials for creating a hotel website High quality videos and photos of your establishment For your visual content to seduce your website visitors, it must be of very high quality. Therefore, prefer photos and videos taken by a professional photographer and/or images and drawings made by an illustrator.  Having high quality images greatly improves the user experience, while making the user want to book a room directly through your booking engine. The goal here is affective: to “make people love” your establishment thanks to photos that enhance your hotel.If you need additional photos quickly, you can also select professional photos from a specialized website such as Unsplash, Pexels or Shutterstock for example. However, make sure that the images you choose are copyright-free, especially for commercial purposes. A unique and impactful storytelling You must never forget that you are talking to your reader and not to one of your friends or to the administration. Therefore, you should logically adapt your speech and the wording of your website according to the people who will read it and your field of activity.  Take advantage of textual content to tell your story and what makes your hotel unique. Text supports images in conveying emotions. Make sure your storytelling is well written and showcases your establishment. Don’t hesitate to describe why one should book a room with you, detailing what distinguishes you from the competition.  It is important to use a clear, precise, positive and punchy narrative to provoke emotions that will make your future customers want to book directly with you. Just as with images, the goal is emotional: your text must arouse the traveler’s interest by focusing on its advantages, values and qualities. A hotel website sleek and adaptive design A design is a response to a problem or a goal and must be adapted to your positioning. Thus, the design of your website must be based on the typology of your hotel (business, leisure), your type of clientele (young, senior, upper class, etc.) and the experiences you offer (restaurant, spa, seminar, wine tourism, etc.). Therefore, the design of your website should reflect your brand image and match the target audience you want to reach.  It is recommended to favor a sleek design to minimize visual noise, so as not to hinder the booking process. This will make it easier for the user to understand the positioning of the hotel, the services available and the advantages of booking in your property. You can be inspired by the websites of the Domaine de Verchant or Les Hortensias du Lac that we have created in their image. A responsive design adds fluidity to a website so that it adapts to different devices. An adaptive design will go as far as modifying some fixed elements of the website to ensure a complete comfort on mobile devices. It allows you to optimize the performance and speed of the website on all mediums for your potential customers.Make sure you have an adaptive design in order to reach Internet users on all screens and sell better on mobiles in particular. Mobile reading represents 60% of online traffic today and requires a website fully adapted for an optimal user experience.  In short, associated with quality content, a polished, sleek and adaptive design contributes to the retention of visitors on your pages. Thus, they will be more likely to book directly on your hotel website.  A fast hotel website with a fluid customer journey Every second lost represents 20% less conversions on your website! The speed of your website is essential to keep visitors on your pages and convert more customers.  Web hosting and media file optimization are two sources on which you can act to increase the speed of your website. WIHP uses Amazon Web Services solutions, which allow a better loading speed of your website and pages, worldwide.  Furthermore, a fast website goes hand in hand with a smooth, user-centric customer journey. The booking process must be easy, intuitive and designed from the perspective of a traveler who wants to book a room. Otherwise, you will lose conversions on your website and ultimately direct revenue.  Visible calls-to-action (CTAs) The call-to-action is an essential element on a booking website. The CTA allows the visitor to take an action. It is an essential component that must respect several rules, such as a differentiating color, the use of an action verb, a limited number of words or a hover effect.  On a hotel website, this is the “BOOK NOW” button that your customers will click on. The CTA can also highlight your online offers and stores or the reservation in your restaurant and spa for example.  “OFFERS”, “GIFT BOX” and “BOOK NOW” CTAs on the Le Cinq Codet hotel’s websiteCTAs as pictograms on the Lancaster hotel’s websiteWhether it’s via a pictogram or a short textual incentive, call-to-actions must be clear, accessible, and make the action they lead to understood at a glance. The objective here is conative, i.e. “to make the visitor act”, to entice them to carry out the desired action, such as a reservation in your hotel. The booking engine Your hotel website must be linked to a booking engine for your rooms to be bookable online. Thus, once your customer has clicked on the “Book Now” CTA, he will be able to place a reservation directly through your website booking engine. Today, there are more and more integrations between websites and booking engines that allow to communicate price and availability information earlier in the booking process.  Several booking engines provide connection functionalities between the booking engine and the website. They add value for the users, with an increased price transparency: Display of your today’s rates: visitors to your website get the information they need right away.  Overview of your prices per room for the selected dates: an information input to help your customers make the best decision, that of booking! Dynamic price calendar: travelers with flexible dates can see all your rates at a glance.Overview of rates per room on selected datesDynamic price calendarSo, a booking engine is essential to generate direct bookings. There are several of them on the market, it’s up to you to choose the one that best suits the needs of your establishment and your business. Conclusion The implementation of these key elements will ensure that your hotel website is efficient, attractive and functional.  The stakes linked to your website are therefore very important for your hotel’s turnover. To enhance your establishment, improve traffic and conversion of visitors into customers and increase your direct revenues, entrust your hotel website creation to a specialized agency that will advise you in the process of creating your website. Our team of hotel marketing specialists is at your disposal to assist you with your hotel distribution projects. Contact us to obtain the guidance you need to create your website.

What you need to know about metasearch In the hotel industry, distribution methods have changed a lot and professionals in the sector have seen their distribution channels multiply. Hotel marketing has taken a turn that hotel owners must follow in order to increase the turnover of their establishment. Thanks to metasearch, travelers can plan their stays, check availability in real time, and decide whether or not to book on a hotel website or an OTA. What is metasearch ? When a user performs a hotel search on a search engine, they will come across results from different websites. These are the results from meta search.  A metasearch (also called price comparison site) is a platform that compares the prices of a hotel posted on several websites. In other words, it makes a synthesis of the rates available online, in order to propose to the Internet user the best offer according to the chosen hotel, the selected dates and the duration of his stay. Today, the main price comparison services are : Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor, Trivago, Kayak and Skyscanner.  These metasearch allow travelers to compare the offers of different actors, put online for the same hotel. Thus, web users can choose a hotel room while being sure to benefit from the best prices available.Please note that metasearch engines are not to be confused with OTAs (Online Travel Agency) which offer travel or stay deals. The main OTAs competing with hotels are Booking.com and Expedia.  Why appear on metasearch? Appearing on metasearch increases your traffic acquisition and gives you an additional distribution channel to compete with OTAs. Thus, promoting your hotel on price comparison sites is an excellent way to increase your direct sales. In France, hotel websites are the third most important booking channel for hoteliers, so why neglect them?Thanks to metasearch campaigns, you offer your future customers the possibility to book a hotel room directly on the booking engine of your website. You display the rates you have defined as well as your availability, all in real time for the user.  Appearing on metasearch will also allow you to get direct bookings and therefore increase the conversion rate of your hotel website along with your turnover. How to appear on metasearch? You have the possibility to promote your rooms thanks to meta search management tools. To create your campaigns and appear on metasearch, contact an agency that will help you set up your strategy. Metasearch agencies establish a connection between your CRS, your channel manager, and the software that will allow you to manage your metasearch. Once the connection is established, you will appear on hotel price comparison sites. WIHP manages your metasearch campaigns with the Meta I/O solution, a meta engine management software. On the Meta I/O platform, you choose how to : Manage your budget Manage your hotels Manage your marketsYou benefit from a central dashboard that allows you to manage your presence on metasearch. You can also take advantage of customized reports to analyze your ROI (return on investment). What are the advantages of metasearch ? The main advantage lies in showing your hotel’s website directly to travelers. Increase your visibility Increase your direct revenue. Optimize your distribution costs. Reduce the share of commissions paid to OTA’sHow do you manage your first metasearch campaign? First of all, we recommend that you appear on all metasearch. Indeed, the more you multiply the promotion channels, the more visible you are and the more chances you have to increase your direct bookings.  Especially since metasearch allow you to reach qualified customers who already have an interest in your hotel and are ready to book. Campaigns on metasearch generate a high return on advertising investment (ROAS), so don’t hesitate to invest to increase your direct revenue. Next, you need to build an advertising strategy and choose the bidding method based on your business and online marketing goals. You can launch campaigns based on: CPC (Cost per click): to manage your campaigns in a granular way. CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): to manage your campaigns in a simple and automated way while guaranteeing the cost of your campaign. Commission: to manage your campaigns in the same way as CPA, except that the commission is due after your customer’s stay, which further guarantees your distribution cost.However, you don’t always have to choose between these different bidding methods, each of which has its strong and weak points. On some metasearch, you have the possibility to combine bidding methods according to your campaigns and markets. Finally, to follow the performance of your campaigns on meta search, always come back to the goals you have set for your property. It is often the increase of direct bookings with a high return on investment.  The main indicators to follow in order to better adjust your campaigns in pursuit of your goals are: The impression rate: linked to the visibility of your official website rates on price comparison sites.  The conversion rate: the ratio between the number of reservations and the number of visitors. The click rate: gives you a vision on the relevance of your campaign in the acquisition of customers and on the appeal for your rates.Takeaway on meta search Metasearch are price comparison sites that offer the best price to the Internet user. Offering a hotel room on this reservation channel will allow you to compete directly with OTAs.  So, these are booking channels to exploit in order to increase direct bookings and therefore the turnover of your hotel.  You want to distribute your rooms on metasearch? Contact our team to reach your direct distribution goals thanks to our Meta I/O platform and our hotel digital marketing specialists.  

Metasearch, otherwise known as price comparison sites, have become essential to promote a hotel’s direct rate in real time, as well as drive traffic to the hotel’s official website.  Metasearch are evolving and now offer two types of promotion to hoteliers wishing to increase their direct revenues with their booking engine:The promotion of your “website” rate on your page (Tripadvisor, Kayak, Google Business Profile, Trivago, etc), where you will reach customers who are looking for the best channel to book in your establishment. The promotion of your hotel on your destination (Google Property Promotion Ads, Tripadvisor Sponsored Placements, Trivago Sponsored Listing), placed at the beginning of the customer journey. You will reach customers when they are looking for a hotel in your city. In this article, we will focus on the management of metasearch campaigns to promote your official website on your property pages (Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor, Trivago).  Examples: Hotel prices on Google Hotel Ads (Business Profile), Tripadvisor and Trivago respectively.Where does the information that feeds the metasearch campaigns come from? Information such as your availability, rates, offers, etc. are displayed through what is called an API. This is a web service that links your inventory information (your prices, availability, currencies and check-in/check-out dates) to metasearch engines such as Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor, Trivago or Kayak. This information is then sent to our metasearch manager Meta I/O via a tracking system. This is how you can monitor your campaigns and see if they are performing well or not. What are the metrics to monitor in a metasearch campaign? Evaluating your metasearch campaigns depends on the objective you have set for your hotel, there is no universal king indicator. Overall, the goal of metasearch campaigns is to protect your hotel’s brand.  People will only see your campaigns when they search for your hotel rooms. Metasearch campaigns allow you to increase your share of direct bookings rather than get bookings through OTAs. You should therefore seek maximum visibility. Depending on the metasearch, you will analyze different metrics, here are three examples of KPIs to monitor: The impression rate: It allows you to know the level of visibility of your prices. You should aim to get closer to 100%.  At WIHP, in general, for classic metasearch campaigns, we recommend reaching or exceeding an impression rate of 90%. However, these are our average goals and can fluctuate depending on: The market: depending on the importance of this market for your establishment, you must adapt your strategy. If Americans represent a large part of your clientele, your impression rate must be higher than 90% in this market. Minimum length of stay: by default, metasearch display your hotel’s rates for one night. If you have a minimum number of nights per stay, this will impact your impression rate downwards, as you do not have availability for one night. The room’s price: the higher the price of the room, the higher the CPC. Indeed, the competition with OTAs will be on higher CPCs if you sell a room at 200€ rather than 80€. Make sure you always have a CPC linked to the price of your rooms. Click-through rate (CTR): It is the number of clicks on your ad divided by the number of times it was displayed (clicks ÷ impressions = CTR). For example, if you get 10 clicks and 100 impressions, your CTR is 10%. It allows you to follow how many users clicked on your ad and therefore the interest that your campaigns generate.  The conversion rate: It allows you to track the percentage of users who have performed a desired action, here, a reservation on your official website through your metasearch campaign.  Finally, goals do not materialize in the same way on all metasearch. For example, Bing and Google display the same KPIs, but they are different on Trivago and Tripadvisor. In short, the KPIs are to be defined according to the objectives you want to reach. If it is visibility then you will focus on the impression rate, if it is profitability of your campaigns, it will be the conversion rate. According to its activity and the parameters mentioned above, each hotelier will assign a minimum value to respect per KPI in order to achieve the best return on investment.  Don’t miss out on appearing on price comparison sites because these metasearch campaigns generate a high return on advertising investment. On which metasearch is it important to appear?There’s no secret, the more channels you’re visible on, the better your chances of increasing your live revenue. This is even truer for metasearch because you are reaching qualified customers who are ready to book at your hotel. We advise you to appear on all metasearch, each one having its own characteristics and advantages.  Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor and Trivago are the most used metasearch globally by travelers looking for a hotel online. Bing Hotel Ads is a rising player that generates a good ROAS (Return on ad spend). As for Kayak, it is very successful in certain geographical areas, notably North America, its historical market, and in Asia since the acquisition of HotelsCombined.  What is the preferred bidding strategy for managing metasearch campaigns (CPC, CPA or Commission)? The choice of bidding method must be made according to the digital goals you have set for your hotel. You can launch campaigns in CPC (Cost per Click) or CPA (Cost per Acquisition). There are both advantages and disadvantages to each of these bidding models:  CPC allows you to make more granular changes to your campaigns with manual fixed CPC or CPC relative to room rate options. CPA campaigns allow you to manage your campaigns in a more simple and automated way, while accessing a certain level of detail. The metasearch system will optimize the bids in an automated way and guarantee the cost of distribution of your campaigns. Commission-based campaigns work in the same way as CPA campaigns, with the difference that the commission is due after your customer’s stay. It is net of cancellations and no shows. This guarantees you a cost of distribution and gives you additional security in distributing your live hotel.The options listed above vary with each metasearch. Not all of them offer all of these models. Some metasearch also allow you to combine bidding methods for the same hotel. For example, you can run CPC campaigns in France, the United States and Canada and use CPA or commission for the rest of the world.  Finally, bidding strategies can vary depending on the seasonality of your establishment, so you can also switch from one model to another depending on the marketing seasonality of your establishment.   How do I know if my metasearch campaign is performing well? When you launch metasearch campaigns, two goals generally stand out: to increase the visibility of your official website rates and to get a high return on investment. As mentioned above, the metric associated with visibility is the impression rate of your campaigns. You can also refer to the conversion rate and click-through rate, which will allow you to compare your hotels’ online campaigns. This will help you understand why one hotel is performing better than another. Moreover, you can compare different campaigns between different metasearch. For example, it is possible to compare a Google campaign to a Tripadvisor or Trivago campaign. The same main metrics are present on all metasearch. In order to increase your direct bookings and decrease your share of distribution through OTAs, you need to define the cost paid via an OTA, represented in Cost of Sales (Cost / Sales x 100). For example, if for each Booking reservation the hotelier pays 25% commission, his ROAS (Revenue / Cost) must not be less than 4.  So you need to know the commission rate that you attribute to the OTAs in order to calculate whether your campaigns are profitable in relation to the commission that you pay. How can I be sure to increase my direct bookings? An impression is a term used when a user sees one of your advertising campaigns. When managing metasearch campaigns, it is natural to want to get more impressions!  For example, via Meta I/O you can see different impression metrics:The classic impression rate, The lost impressions rate due to ranking, The lost impressions rate due to budget.If your impression rate is decreasing because of your budget, it means that your budget is not covering all the demand on your hotel page. Once your campaigns are no longer live, your rates are no longer showing, so you are losing impressions. If you lose impressions because of your ranking, Google calculates an accuracy score on the relevance of your ad thanks to different criteria you have mentioned in your ad:The price displayed on your ad and the price that will be displayed on your hotel website. The dates entered by the traveler and the date that will be displayed on your website. The CPC you have chosen for the campaign.Your impression rate is calculated from several pieces of information. With Meta I/O, we have noticed that the drop in impressions is often due to the campaign’s cost per click (CPC). You should therefore increase the CPC of your campaigns, to reduce the rate of lost impressions due to your ranking.    Conclusion Depending on your goals and approach to direct marketing for your hotel, you can choose to run CPC, CPA or commission-based campaigns.  If your objective is to guarantee a constant return on investment, we suggest you run CPA or commission-based campaigns. These will allow you to get a fixed and guaranteed return on investment. When you want to challenge your campaigns and go for more performance and revenue, you can use the CPC model. This allows you to manage the bidding method of your campaigns in an extremely precise way to reach your KPIs and obtain better results. In short, the CPC model allows you to go for better performance with more fine-tuned management, to reach your KPI goals and the best possible ROI (Return on Investment). This method requires more time and expertise in managing digital acquisition campaigns.   CPA and commission models allow you to manage your campaigns with more certainty. The algorithms of the different comparison sites optimize your campaigns and your visibility automatically. You don’t need any expertise and it doesn’t require any management time. However, you have less control over the visibility of your campaigns, it does not guarantee you to get the maximum number of bookings via metasearch.  If you have a project for your hotel, do not hesitate to contact our team of hotel marketing specialists.

Faced with the various dematerialized travel agencies that deploy phenomenal means to attract customers, independent hoteliers sometimes feel overwhelmed and vulnerable. However, Google ADS is a powerful tool to get ahead of this competition and increase the share of a hotel. We explain how.Some figures on Google Some hoteliers might think that it is useless to work on the visibility of their hotel on Google. If it requires a certain investment (in time or money), referencing your hotel on the most used search engine in the world is nevertheless the best way to acquire customers. A few figures speak for themselves:92.99% of Internet users use Google as a search engine, and 97% of them use their mobile to do a search (the second is Bing, with only 3% of the market) ; 40,000 queries are launched every second on Google; The “hotel” keyword costs € 110,000 per day, but it is sought after almost 1.3 million times on a daily basis; In 2018, 53 % of hotels reservations came from paid SEO (SEA), and therefore from the Google ecosystem.To help you position your hotel correctly on Google, the Google Ads tool improves your visibility quickly and easily.What is Google Ads? Google ADS is a platform for broadcasting a paid advertisement on the Google (SERP) search results. This paid referencing (SEA) then makes it possible to display a link to the official website of a hotel at the very top of the results page, when an Internet user types in the keywords for which the hotelier has Positioned in its Google Ads campaign. Thus, for an establishment in Nantes, the professional can create an ADS campaign on the keywords “Hotel + Nantes”. As soon as this request is made on Google, the Internet user will see the hotel link appear in the first results. Google ADS makes it possible to considerably increase the visibility of a hotel, and therefore increase the share of direct.Google ADS: How does it work?It is not enough to pay an internal advertising campaign to see the site of a hotel propelling at the forefront of the SERP. To do this, you have to choose the most relevant keywords, and bid with Google Ads.The auction price will depend on several things; La concurrence sur le même mot-clé ; The value of the keyword, in other words, the amount that the Internet user will be ready to invest with you after clicking on your ad; Research volume; The quality of the ad, or Quality Score (QS).Then, Google will charge the hotelier each time a visitor clicks on their ad. This is called cost per click (CPC). For advertising campaigns with Google Ads to work, it is therefore necessary to have a budget adapted to the auctions, and a quality ad.Why use Google Ads to increase my direct bookings? Between 2014 and 2018, online reservation of hotels increased by almost 47 %, and this figure continues to grow. This growth is particularly beneficial to OTAs (Online Tourism Agencies), such as Booking.com or Expedia.fr, which record almost 80% of online hotel reservations. If they manage to recover so many customers, it is simply thanks to Google Ads advertising campaigns , which allow them to have almost unbeatable visibility (millions of dollars are invested each year for Google Ads ads OTA). So, if it is not possible to dethrone these giants of online booking, it is however essential to position yourself in front of them, in order to increase the visibility of the hotel’s official website. Indeed, a site absent from search engines necessarily considerably reduces the live reservation rate.Getting started with Google Ads account: brand defense Many hoteliers have already had the experience of typing the name of their hotel in the Google search bar, only to realize that the first results lead to an intermediary platform (OTA). This phenomenon is called brandjacking, or brand hijacking. To avoid this, it is then essential to buy the brand name on Google Ads, so that it can no longer be used without your consent. It is also advisable to deposit the brand with the INPI (National Institute of Industrial Property).   Buying the brand name on Google Ads Brandjacking is never inevitable, and Google Ads can help hospitality professionals develop an effective brand defense strategy. The purchase of the brand name thus presents several advantages.Be at the top of the search engines: travelers who search for a hotel on the Internet generally do not know the difference between a paid link or a link resulting from natural referencing (SEO), and 55% of clicks are concentrated on the first 3 results of the SERP; Recover the traffic that comes back to you: if an Internet user types the name of your hotel in the search bar, it is logical that he comes across your site, and not that of an OTA. However, if you do not buy the brand of your establishment on Google Ads, it is the OTA that will recover the reservation which should nevertheless come back to you directly.Buying the brand name on Google Ads thus makes it possible to get ahead of the OTAs on Google, and thus increase the hotel’s direct share, the conversion rate, and therefore the turnover.Hoteliers: Do you know Google Hotel Ads? Google Hotel Ads is a meta search engine that provides information on all online offers of a hotel, either the official website or OTAs. It thus allows the Internet user to compare the prices of the same hotel on the various sites, and to click on the link which seems to him the most interesting. For an independent hotelier, it is therefore very interesting to use Google Hotel Ads, displaying the official website’s reservation prices, which are often cheaper than the rates applied by the OTAs (which recover a commission). Google Hotel Ads then allows:attract potential customers who are looking for a hotel in a particular area; To increase the number of direct bookings; Keep control over the customer journey; Access a lot of customer information and enter it into your database.Attract potential customers with Google Hotel Ads The interest of the Google Hotel Ads metasearch is to be able to display the price of the hotel’s official website, and thus compete with OTAs. It is therefore essential to create a Hotel Ads campaign to attract potential customers to the official website of the hotel. To do this, the hotelier must imperatively create a business file for the hotel (Google My Business file), where the direct rates will be displayed and updated regularly. Then, by connecting to the Google Hotel Ads service, the establishment will be visible:In the Google SERP; On Google Maps; With Google Assistant (voice control); On the Google Hotel Search or Google Travel platform.  Conclusion Google Ads is a powerful tool that allows hoteliers to take back control of online bookings. At WIHP, hotel marketing agency, we are here to support you in the set up of an effective digital communication strategy. We help you increase your hotel’s direct share, contact us!

In 2019, almost 81% of hotel room reservations were made on the Internet, and this continues to increase. In view of this figure, having an online presence is essential in the hotel industry today.  You still have to manage to stand out from the very strong competition in the hotel sector, and manage to attract Internet users to your hotel and not another. Several Internet advertising campaign solutions for hotels exist. Let’s do a check in.Hotel Internet advertising campaign: the prerequisites For an Internet advertising campaign for a hotel to work, it is imperative to fulfill a few conditions beforehand.Create a website and optimize it The website is essential to promote a hotel establishment. It allows to inform the customer, but also to take reservations. The creation of a website is therefore at the top of the priorities. Furthermore, the optimization of the site is essential. You have to be able to stand out from the many competing sites, so that when a user types a targeted query into the Google search bar, your website appears in the first results. Natural referencing, or SEO, is a powerful tool here, to which you can add other assets to improve the user experience and promote the hotel’s brand image:A responsive site (23% of hotel reservations is now done from a smartphone or tablet); Smooth navigation; Relevant information about your establishment; Quality visual content.Have a simple and fast online booking engine Today, the process of booking a hotel room is done almost all the time online. Thus, a site with an effective SEO strategy will not be very useful if the customer cannot book online. It is therefore essential to have an online booking solution for the rooms of your establishment. But it can also be interesting to appear on booking platforms, or OTA (Online Tourism Agency), such as Hotels.com or Booking.com. Indeed, nearly 80% of online reservations are made from an OTA, so this can attract new potential customers. However, it is necessary to be aware of the disadvantages of such an acquisition channel (high costs, difficult loyalty, high competition, etc.). Nothing prevents a hotelier from combining the optimized site and the presence on the OTAs, to increase the visibility of the establishment. It is also not recommended to bet everything on a booking platform, because the hotel is then dependent on the conditions of the OTA (algorithm, fees, etc.), which can change at any time and cause loss of visibility, and therefore of the clientele. Knowing your target customer to be able to personalize communication In terms of advertising strategies, reaching out to as many people as possible is not necessarily a profitable initiative. The more the hotel manages to target its customers, the more it will be able to personalize its communication campaigns, and impact the right audience. Knowing your ideal client perfectly is also essential to optimize the website. Indeed, if tourist accommodation is aimed at a large part of the population, each establishment is generally more specifically addressed to a specific public: family stay, business trip, city trip, romantic getaway the clientele must then understand different information, which will guide the advertising campaign : age, gender, marital status, socio-professional category, interests, geographical location, etc. This data thus makes it possible to target communication, but also to avoid missteps, like sending a promotion for a one-night stay to people who live on the other side of the planet, for example.What are the preferred channels for your hotel internet advertising campaign?  There are a multitude of ways to communicate on the web. It is therefore wise to select the most effective channels. Paid referencing (SEA)As we have seen, natural referencing (SEO) is an effective way to attract Internet users to a site. But it takes time and a lot of patience. For more timely, yet highly effective, targeted hotel advertising, hoteliers can opt for paid search engine optimization (SEA). Paid digital advertising then consists of buying advertising space on the Google search results page (SERP). Thus, Internet users will see the hotel appear in the first results according to the keywords they have typed in Google (or in other search engines). The mention “announcement” is then displayed before the link of the page. The SEA makes it possible to target the public very precisely, and to address people who are already looking for a hotel (no need to create the need). An ad campaign then drives high-quality, qualified traffic to the site, dramatically increasing the number of conversions. Meta searches A meta search is a price comparison tool entirely dedicated to hotels. Travelers can then compare prices between different establishments before making their choice. A hotelier can thus display the prices of his establishment on different meta engines, such as TripAdvisor, Google Hotel Ads, Kayak, Trivago… Google hotel Ads Developed by Google, the Google Hotel Ads aims to increase visibility and popularity for hotels on the search engine, and therefore increase direct bookings. This metasearch engine also offers to compare the prices of the same establishment on the different OTAs. In practice, the creation of a campaign with Google Hotel Ads, the hotel’s official website appears on the page, and allows the interested traveler to go there directly to book.Google Property Promotion Ads A few years ago, the Google Promote Hotels tool was set up, in conjunction with Google Maps, to promote establishments in a region. For a long time, it was not possible to control the hotels displayed. Today, with the new version, Google Property Promotion Ads, it is now possible to use the tool as an online advertising space. The hotel then appears in Google search results, directly linked to Google Maps and Google Travel, and increases visibility and the direct booking rate. All you have to do is search for “hotel Paris”, to see an insert with a list of hotels, and a map referencing all the establishments. By clicking on it, the Internet user discovers the hotel’s Google Business Profile, which allows direct booking and access to all the information he is looking for. Social networks The last indispensable communication channel online is none other than social networks. Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or even LinkedIn, networks are a powerful channel for hotel ads because almost all travelers find their way there. The ideal is then to offer diversified marketing content, combining text ads, video content, web content, and the various promotional materials available. On the other hand, it is essential to be familiar with the operation of the different platforms, and to target the clientele. Indeed, each network has its own codes, and users have different expectations. It is therefore important to adapt paid advertising on social networks by targeting key demographics. The advertisement published on the social network can then lead directly to the hotel’s website, or to its account on the network in question.   Do you want to promote your hotel to stand out, but don’t know how to go about it? WIHP supports you to ensure an online presence that will increase your visibility and conversion rate.