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Book on Google works on a cost-perclick ( CPC ) or commission model , with the hotel only paying when a user clicks to book a room .
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALLER HOTELS About a year ago , Google also took steps to make Hotel Ads more accessible for smaller and independent hotels . In addition to the CPC model , which works well for large hotels with more marketing resources , Google launched a commission model , which streamlines and simplifies ad management for these time- and resource-constrained hoteliers since they no longer need to manage bids .
PERFORMANCE DATA At the moment Google Hotel Ads are live in over 100 markets and are available on mobile , tablet and desktop . When asked about how well Google Hotel Ads are performing , Heckmann pointed to three examples :
La Quinta now sees a third of its website traffic coming from mobile , and it uses Hotel Ads to help reach travelers right when they ’ re looking for stays . Conversion rates have been twice as high with Hotel Ads compared to regular mobile traffic , which Heckmann says is helping La Quinta capitalize on prime time moments when travelers are on their phones and ready to book .
Hilton has improved its conversion rate by 45 % and drove a 12 % increase in overall ROI with Hotel Ads , according to
Heckmann , and all Hilton properties are now opted into the program .
In the UK , Premier Inn utilized Hotels Ads and saw a 300 % stronger return on ad spend than non-branded paid search ads and a 60 % lower cost per acquisition than non-branded paid search ads .
LOOKING AHEAD When considering advice for hoteliers , Heckmann points to typically shorter sessions on mobile where it is harder to type and populate fields , which generally leads to more user frustration . “ So , certain things like allowing users to cancel with no penalties or providing best price guarantees are very effective in reducing the friction of mobile ,” he says .
WE BUILD BETTER CONSUMER EXPERIENCES . TRAVELING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF PEOPLE ’ S LIVES AND THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCES FOR TRAVELERS HAVE NOT BEEN THE BEST . WE SEE A LOT OF POTENTIAL TO IMPROVE THE CONSUMER EXPERIENCE ON OUR SIDE .
– OLIVER HECKMANN
What might end up further reducing the friction , Heckmann adds , is the emergence of the more flexible , post-mobile virtual assistant world that helps users fulfill their daily tasks . “ What makes it so exciting in the hotels or travel space is this actually takes us almost back to a time when we were doing travel planning by talking to an actual human in the form of a travel agent ,” he adds . “ That has been lost a bit with the shift to the Internet , and I think much of that is going to come back with the shift to assistant systems .”
Heckmann predicts virtual assistant technology is going to be impressive in the form of demos this year , but will become really powerful in three to five years .
May 2017 hotelsmag . com 17