TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel platform*, today announced the launch of a new direct booking feature within the existing TripAdvisor Sponsored Placements product, giving business owners premium exposure to more booking-ready travellers and helping them increase direct bookings for their properties.
This new direct booking enhancement offers travellers a prominent link to book directly with the property. At the same time, it may help the business avoid costly commissions from online travel agencies (OTAs), which can be up to 25% of a booking.
“We hear frequently from hoteliers they need help solving their biggest booking challenges without breaking the bank,” said Martin Verdon-Roe, vice president, B2B Hotels. “We have launched this new direct booking tool based on feedback from owners, and it’s one of a number of things over the next several months we plan to offer hoteliers to better meet their needs.”
Sponsored Placements, which first launched on TripAdvisor in 2017, appear on high-profile pages across TripAdvisor, including above search results and on nearby properties’ listings. These ads put a property in front of potential guests looking for places to stay when the property matches the guest’s search and has available rooms to book.
Great for travellers, great for businesses A recent study from Ipsos Mori, in partnership with TripAdvisor¹, showed that 71% of travellers decided to book after reading TripAdvisor reviews.
A separate survey of TripAdvisor users, undergone in September, revealed that nearly half of travellers (41%) prefer to book directly with the hotel if given the opportunity, showing the benefits of a direct relationship with the property.
The new enhancement not only helps travellers book directly, but it also helps businesses thrive online. The direct booking enhancement joins many other TripAdvisor tools that helps accommodations grow their business, including free Management Centre tools to manage their online reputation, Business Advantage to optimise their TripAdvisor listings and Sponsored Placements to increase the property’s exposure to millions of high-intent travellers.
Jenn Edwards, Owner of Groveland Hotel, California, has already started using the new feature during beta testing: “Over the past eight years, we’ve seen that it’s increasingly difficult to compete with the OTAs to drive bookings through our direct channels. This new Sponsored Placements feature allows us to increase our property’s exposure and display our rates above those from the OTAs in the ads. This has allowed us to drive more guests to book direct while also cutting our acquisition costs for those bookings in half.”
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