Bing Hotel Ads Are Here: How to Incorporate Them Into Your Digital Strategy

Features

Bing Hotel Ads charge on a cost-per-click basis, similar to other metasearch channels like Google Hotel Ads and TripAdvisor. Bids can be set at a percentage of room price and fixed bid per night. Similar to Google Hotel Ads, percentage of room price bidding is the recommended bidding strategy due to its ability to account for rate changes and remain competitive with OTAs across multiple date ranges.

While bid optimizations are currently limited to the device-type level, other multipliers are still on the horizon as Bing works to add user country, check-in day of the week, advance booking window, and length of stay to the mix. Though, unlike Google Hotel Ads, there has been no information on potential bid optimizers on traveler-set dates and default dates on Bing.

Benefits

• Extends Market Reach: Bing has a significant presence in the United States, holding a 33% market share. Also, the search engine reaches 66 million users that are not reached on Google and draws 6 billion unique monthly searches and 140 million monthly users.
• Lower CPC: On average, the CPCs tend to be lower compared to other meta channels, like Google. This is attributed to fewer competitors on the platform for most hotel properties.
• Reach an Older, Higher-Income Demographic: 72% of Bing's network is over the age of 35, with 45 to 54-year-olds being the largest age demographic at 20%. Also, over 33% of Bing searchers have a household income of over $100k.

Recommendations

Bing Hotel Ads is a great addition to hotel brands who have the necessary budget, especially those already seeing high search volume on the platform or high conversions on organic traffic. For those already running SEM on Bing, layering in Bing serves as the next step to complement the overall strategy. The initiative maximizes exposure to potential bookers by extending a property's reach to the 33% of the US market using Bing and the 66 million Bing users that cannot be reached through Google. Additionally, it helps reclaim market share from the OTAs to drive more direct bookings by competing with the OTAs who currently dominate the Bing Hotel Ads platform. Given Bing's skew toward an older, higher-income demographic, Bing Hotel Ads can especially be an effective initiative for properties whose audience has a similar makeup.

As a Bing Partner and one of the first agencies to offer Bing Hotel Ads, contact us at [email protected] to get started today.

ABOUT NEXTGUEST

NextGuest provides hoteliers with everything they need to thrive in the digital world, with bespoke technology solutions developed to meet the needs of luxury hotel clients coupled with elegant design capabilities that bring brands to life. We marry the power of data with brand discovery to uncover unique strategies that apply to everything from website design, content marketing, CRM, and more, helping the world's top hotel brands maximize ROI as they acquire, convert, and retain guests throughout the travel planning journey. While each of our services is available on its own, the integrated technologies, marketing, and consulting offerings work together to increase digital engagement and generate revenue for hoteliers, allowing them to focus on what matters most — serving their guests. www.nextguest.com | [email protected]

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