65% of bookings through Metasearch Engines come from GHA

• Customers who use this channel obtain 900% return on investment (9 euros for every euro invested)
  
• Last summer, hotels increased sales made through Google Hotel Ads (GHA) by 77% compared to the same period of the previous year
  
• 40% of GHA bookings are made through mobile devices

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12% of hotel bookings are made through metasearch engines and assist in 25% to other channels (SEO, direct, Adwords "Ads", Display, among others).

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Of the total weight that metasearch engines represent in hotel sales, Google Hotel Ads (GHA), Google's platform that distributes hotel prices in real time, already represents 65%. In this way, it becomes the most profitable metasearch engine - above Trivago and Tripadvisor - with a growth of 150% compared to the same period of the previous year, when it only represented 26%.

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In a context in which 75% of travelers book their vacations online, it highlights the importance of maximizing the digital presence of hotels, both independent and chains, and taking advantage of the advantages offered by metasearch engines. "Google Ads continues to be the most important marketing channel, accounting for 20% of the total, but Google Hotel Ads is gaining ground. Our advice is to combine both channels, since Ads is more useful during the consideration phase of the purchase cycle, and Google Hotel Ads acts more as a tool for the booking phase. With a combined channel strategy, the hotelier has it easier to compete with OTAs and attract customers with a much lower distribution cost," says Felipe Bravo, Head of Digital Marketing at Roiback.

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The return on investment (ROI) of our clients who use Google Hotel Ads is around 900% (a return of €9 for every euro invested). We have also compared the bookings generated through GHA for the same hotels, during last summer and the same period of the previous year, and there is an increase of 77% with practically the same levels of profitability or even lower in some cases thanks to optimization". Regarding this aspect, Felipe assures: "It is demonstrated that during this year GHA has significantly increased its visibility on Google.com, Google Maps and Google Destinations, in addition to improving visibility on desktop but especially on mobile devices, and that it is becoming the most relevant metasearch engine for the hotel sector."

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According to Roiback's figures, the cancellation ratio through GHA is also lower, since it is around 13% (below the cancellation ratio of OTAs, which is between 20 and 40%). In this regard, Felipe highlights the multiple advantages of using GHA: "It is an excellent channel to connect directly with Google users who are actively looking for accommodation. In addition, it allows the hotelier to attract new customers and build loyalty by offering extras, upsellings or pre- and post-stay communications. Without a doubt, it is a tool that allows reducing part of the dependence on distributors, wholesalers, bed banks and OTAs."

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By markets, Roiback's research highlights that approximately 50% of the bookings generated through GHA come from nine countries: Spain, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal, but in total there are 80 countries of origin that make the bookings. In this way, GHA becomes the most suitable channel if the objective is to diversify the source markets of the hotels and attract customers of specific nationalities.

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On average, hotels adjust their GHA offers by around 10%-12% and, although GHA can be used through four different modalities, the most demanded is the "commissionable" model (GHACP). "It must be taken into account that the GHACP model only commissions for consumed bookings and does not consider cancellations because it is a pure commission system; while the CPA model does commission the canceled ones, because it takes into account the bookings generated during the month. Therefore, it is key to review the cancellation figures before deciding the commission percentage to offer. It is also important to remember that Google no longer allows the use of this model to more providers (only if it is done by invitation) because it is trying to promote the CPA model to transfer the risk of cancellation to the hoteliers. At Roiback we have been using the commissionable model for more than two years and, therefore, all our partners can opt for it," explains Felipe.

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Finally, in relation to the greater visibility of GHA on mobile devices, Roiback has reported that 40% of the bookings generated in this channel are made through these devices. "This is a figure much higher than the general average of any other channel and of all direct sales. This basically means two things: firstly, the greater visibility that GHA is achieving on mobile devices, in addition to increasing mobile visits; and secondly, that the GHA solution for mobiles is well worked and users are able to complete their bookings on their devices without having to resort to the desktop to finalize it, unlike other traffic channels."

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