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Hotel marketing through OTAs

September 18, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

Ask hotel marketers if they would spend marketing dollars on an OTA, and you’ll likely hear “why would I pay them more than I already do?” Yet, marketing through OTAs can be extremely effective way to secure incremental bookings, provided that certain conditions are met.

The first is to be certain you get in front of potential buyers at the right time. This may seem self-evident, but the marketing landscape abounds with tenuous claims of relevance and timing. My advice is to be directly in the booking path at exactly the moment when someone is searching in your market. That’s as relevant and timely as you can get.

Second, you want the ability to transparently manage your spend and monitor its performance, ideally via a cost-per-click (CPC) auction model. With CPC models, you can set bid ceilings, spending limits, and have clear visibility into how your campaigns are working.

Last, you want to be able to target specific needs periods. Hotel sold out in July? You should not be forced to spend on consumers wanting to check in then. With the ability to limit your marketing to dates when you have availability, it’s relatively straightforward to manage to an acceptable ROI.

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