Expedia Group has revealed new data highlighting the impact of its advertising tools in boosting travel partners’ visibility on Expedia Group brands and increasing partner revenue during popular cultural events.
TravelAds and Flight Sponsored Listings are Expedia Group’s sponsored listings tools, allowing lodging and airline partners to appear in a premium placement alongside search results on Expedia Group brands. Overall, globally, properties running a TravelAds campaign see 90% more visibility and 120% more bookings versus non-enrolled properties.1 Company data shows hotels and airlines saw significant boosts in bookings and revenue during major events last year when enlisting the help of these tools.
Looking specifically at major cultural events in 2023:
- The ball is in your court: hotels using TravelAds in the surrounding area of Wimbledon, London, saw an average boost of almost 30% last summer—2an event that draws thousands of spectators each year. Imperial London Hotels used TravelAds to drive demand, resulting in almost 30% of their total Expedia-booked room nights during the tournament coming from the sponsored listing tool.3
- Capturing Tay Tay hysteria: Taylor Swift mania has swept the globe, with local markets seeing a significant boost in their economies from her Eras Tour, including her homecoming stop in Nashville in May 2023. To capture travellers’ attention during this highly competitive moment, Nashville hotels who ran TravelAds campaigns for stays during her Nashville concert saw an average boost of 5% in both revenue and bookings.
- Racing to glory: when fans of Formula 1 travelled to Las Vegas, a US-based regional airline saw an opportunity to promote its Dallas to Las Vegas route via Flight Sponsored Listings to help harness Texan demand. The advertising tool drove almost a 30% increase in revenue4 and contributed to just over 20% of bookings for flights between 15 and 19 November 2023.
- Helping hotel partners score a touchdown: during the 2023 Super Bowl, hotels using TravelAds in Phoenix saw an average boost in revenue of just over 15% over the weekend.5 This year, hotels in Las Vegas saw an average 5% boost in revenue during Super Bowl 2024 when enrolled in TravelAds over that weekend.
The tools can also be leveraged seasonally to boost airline partners’ visibility and to capture important seasonal moments. Etihad Airways helped American tourists expand their horizons outside of their typical winter escapes to locations farther from home in both Abu Dhabi and the Maldives. Using Flight Sponsored Listings, Etihad saw bookings from the US to both destination airports increase by almost 5%, totalling just over a 30% boost in gross bookings.6
‘We’ve been offering our hotel partners the ability to boost their visibility on our sites for over 15 years with our industry-leading TravelAds tool, and are now offering our airline partners the same with Flight Sponsored Listings. There is no doubt this latest data confirms the effectiveness of these advertising tools in helping our partners shine in the most competitive of moments throughout the year’, said Jennifer Andre, VP of Business Development at Expedia Group Media Solutions. ‘We’re excited to continue working with our partners during 2024’s biggest cultural moments—from the Paris Olympics to major world music tours—to offer them our full suite of advertising options and to elevate their listing when they need it the most’.
‘Tour Tourism’ is set to continue into 2024. According to a recent Expedia survey, over 40% said they’d travel for a concert as an excuse to visit a new place.7 When Taylor Swift’s 2024 Eras Tour schedule was announced for Asia and Australia, travel searches increased by over 250% year over year for the corresponding tour cities.8 Similarly, when the 2024 European tour dates were announced, travel searches for May to August 2024 increased by nearly 65% for cities with corresponding tour stops.9
Advertising partners can maximise their use of these tools to ensure they’re capturing demand when it makes the most sense for their business:
- Target specific groups to reach specific goals: TravelAds targeting is based on real-time travel intent and demand data, helping partners identify the most valuable travellers for their hotel. Whether it’s targeting remote workers for longer stays or last-minute bookers, Expedia Group works with partners to understand their unique needs. What’s more, with the shift to a cookieless world, Expedia Group’s first-party data means partners can continue to put their message to the right audience at the right point in a traveller’s journey without the need to revamp ad campaigns or marketing strategies.
- Take advantage of new features on TravelAds: TravelAds’ newly launched automated bidding removes the guesswork from campaign set-up and keeps partners competitive by dynamically adjusting their bids based on their market goal preference and budget. Through the opportunities feature, partners can access personalised and actionable data-backed opportunities and insights to help refine their advertising strategy and drive incremental room nights and revenue.
- Leverage Flight Sponsored Listings: airlines can drive ticket sales and promote strategic routes using Expedia Group’s cost-per-click advertising tool. With over 300 million average monthly searches for flights on Expedia Group sites, airlines need to stand out among the competition if they want to increase brand awareness and overall revenue. With Flight Sponsored Listings, airlines secure a premium position in search results and use custom copy to encourage travellers to book.
