Expedia Group reveals new data highlighting how its advertising solutions helped increase partner visibility across Expedia Group brands and increase revenue during major cultural events.
TravelAds and Sponsored Flight Ads are Expedia Group's sponsored advertising tools that enable hotel and airline partners to appear in premium placement alongside search results across Expedia Group brands. Globally, properties that run a TravelAds campaign typically have 90% more visibility and 120% more bookings than those that don't. Company data shows that hotels and airlines that used these tools saw a significant increase in bookings and revenue during major events last year.
Let's take a closer look at some important cultural events of 2023:
Let the game begin: Hotels using TravelAds in the area near Wimbledon in London saw an average increase of almost 30% last summer.
This event attracts thousands of spectators every year. Imperial London Hotels used TravelAds to drive demand during the tournament, with almost 30% of its total booked nights coming from Expedia's sponsored ads tool.
Tay Tay Fever: Taylor Swift mania swept the world and caused a considerable boost to the economy of global markets with The Eras Tour, including a stop in her native Nashville in May 2023. To catch the attention of travelers In this competitive time, some Nashville hotels used TravelAds campaigns for concert stays and saw an average 5% increase in revenue and bookings.
Race to victory: When Formula 1 fans traveled to Las Vegas, a US-based regional airline saw the opportunity to promote its Dallas to Las Vegas route through sponsored flight ads to meet Texas demand. The advertising tool caused revenue to increase by almost 30% and contributed to a little more than 20% of flight reservations between November 15 and 19, 2023.
Help hotel partners score a touchdown: During the 2023 Super Bowl, revenue for hotels in Phoenix that used TravelAds increased just over 15% over the weekend. This year, hotels in Las Vegas enrolled in TravelAds saw a 5% increase in revenue during Super Bowl 2024 weekend.
The tools can also be used seasonally to increase visibility for airline partners and capitalize on important moments. Etihad Airways helped American tourists expand their horizons beyond their typical winter getaways to places farther from home in Abu Dhabi and the Maldives. By using sponsored flight ads, Etihad saw a nearly 5% increase in US bookings to both destinations' airports, totaling just over 30% in gross bookings.
"We've been offering our hotel partners the ability to increase their visibility on our sites with the industry-leading TravelAds tool for over 15 years, and now we're offering the same to our airline partners with Sponsored Flight Ads. "There is no doubt that this latest information confirms the effectiveness of these advertising tools in making our partners stand out at the most competitive times throughout the year," said Jennifer Andre, VP of Business Development at Expedia Group Media Solutions. “We're excited to continue working with our partners on the biggest cultural moments of 2024, like the Olympics in Paris and major global music tours, to offer them our full suite of advertising options that will elevate their ads when they need it most.”
Concert tourism is expected to continue in 2024. According to a recent Expedia survey, more than 40% said they would travel for a concert as an excuse to visit a new place . When the 2024 dates for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour in Asia and Australia were announced, travel searches increased more than 250% year-over-year for the tour cities. Similarly, when the European dates for 2024 were announced, searches for trips from May to August of this year increased almost 65% for the cities where the tour would make stops.
Advertising partners can maximize their use of these tools to ensure they capture demand when it's best for their business:
Target specific groups to achieve specific goals: TravelAds segmentation is based on travel purpose and real-time demand data, helping partners identify the most valuable guests for their hotel. Expedia Group works with partners to understand their unique needs so they can target remote workers looking for long stays or last-minute bookers. Additionally, with the shift to a cookieless world and thanks to Expedia Group's first-party data, partners can continue to communicate with the right audience at the right time in the traveler journey without needing to revamp advertising campaigns or marketing strategies. .
Take advantage of new features in TravelAds: New automatic bidding in TravelAds adds certainty to campaign preparation and keeps partners in the competition by dynamically adjusting bids based on their market objective and budget. With the opportunities feature, partners can access a customizable dashboard of opportunities and actionable, informed data to fine-tune their advertising strategy and increase bookings and revenue.
Leverage Sponsored Flight Ads: Airlines can increase ticket sales and promote strategic routes with Expedia Group's cost-per-click advertising tool. There are more than 300 million average monthly flight searches on Expedia Group sites, so airlines need to stand out from the competition if they want to increase brand recognition and overall revenue. With sponsored flight ads, airlines ensure premium positioning in search results and use personalized content that encourages travelers to book.
Source: Expedia Group.