TECHNOLOGY
Kassie Kemp , Hilton ’ s senior director of online marketing .
Metasearch gives consumers a look at prices and allows comparison shopping . But it doesn ’ t show benefits such as free WiFi , use of the digital room key through the Hilton Honors app and the option to earn points , Kemp says , which is why Hilton looks for partners that will help it develop direct relationships with guests .
Dan Wacksman , senior vice president of global distribution at Outrigger Hotels & Resorts and a member of the HSMAI Digital Marketing Council , echoes the need for better results based on what travelers want . “ While ( price ) is certainly important , there are other aspects that may be even more important to travelers ,” he says , citing such amenities as free Wi-Fi , guaranteed connecting rooms and loyalty program participation . “ There is definitely space in the marketplace for someone to do this better .”
Wacksman also says metasearch companies are focused more on monetizing their sites , which might not help consumers looking for hotels and hotels looking for a presence on those sites .
“ The current iterations of metasearch are confusing ,” he says . “ Just go to the TripAdvisor page and see if you can figure out where you should click . CPM ? CPA ? Display ads ? Text links ? Business listing ?”
Regarding these complex ways a hotel can participate on a metasearch site — cost per click ( CPC ), cost per thousand impressions ( CPM ), cost per acquisition ( CPA ), advertising and even subscription advertising — Wacksman advises hotels to keep desired results in mind and to study how efficiently each marketing tool can help achieve those results .
“ On CPC and CPM models , it is all about the return on investment you receive , and in my experience , this may be an area hotels want to cede to the OTAs , as the ROIs may not be worth it ,” he
“ THERE IS DEFINITELY SPACE IN THE MARKETPLACE FOR SOMEONE TO DO THIS [ METASEARCH ] BETTER .”
DAN WACKSMAN , SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION , OUTRIGGER HOTELS & RESORTS says . “ These marketing dollars may be better spent acquiring new customers than shifting them away from OTAs , as opposed to CPA dollars , which are usually attributed to a hotel ’ s commission line .”
ALWAYS TESTING Carolyn Hosna , senior corporate director of marketing for White Lodging Services , Merriville , Indiana , and also a member of HSMAI ’ s Digital Marketing Council , says her company ’ s heavily branded franchise portfolio has been “ continuously testing ” strategies in the metasearch space .
“ Because all channels perform differently , we measure the upfront cost ( bid strategy ) and back-end cost ( actualized commission to the brands ,)” she explains . “ So if we are paying more in total for that metasearch customer , we have to ask ourselves is the strategy working if we could have just made that booking via an OTA and it would have cost less .”
Hosna admits that while metasearch is important to her company ’ s franchise portfolio , which includes five of the largest brands , it ’ s not the largest percentage of their digital budgets . “ We focus more on search engine marketing , programmatic advertising , search engine optimization and social marketing ,” she says .
Kemp says the costs of metasearch marketing will keep evolving as the channel evolves . “ Budget allocation should be determined by the mission and the strategy of the company . There isn ’ t a blanket number that works for all companies , especially given the ebbs and flows of market demands and business needs ,” she says .
However , Kemp notes that metasearch sites offer speed and convenience to travelers in the booking process , and the sites themselves will keep improving .
“ In the future , I see metasearch better differentiating the benefits of each booking channel , as well as improving their bidding and user-targeting capabilities around the data the user entered , as an example ,” she says .
For now , metasearch appears to be another digital tool , one that , given the real-time pace of metasearch , needs to be constantly monitored . For any hotelier wondering just how much time or money to allocate , Outrigger ’ s Wacksman offers this advice : “ The answer to any digital marketing question is always test , analyze , optimize and adjust .”
54 hotelsmag . com March 2017