What is Expedia TravelAds for Vacation Rentals?

The vacation-rental marketplace is extremely competitive. No doubt about that.

There are a number of tried-and-true strategies that lodging providers use to set their portfolios apart from the competition. Some utilize promotions for property managers, while others rely on superior content—especially photos and virtual tours—to stand out in the crowded space. 

As an industry leader, Expedia ups the ante with its TravelAds platform. 

Expedia TravelAds is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform that helps lodging providers get noticed. These sponsored listings are generally known to be effective for hotels, but here’s the catch: property managers who take advantage of clustering units can also reap the rewards of Expedia TravelAds.

Hold up…what is “clustering”? 

Quite simply, clustering is a strategy where you combine multiple units under the same listing. When you cluster, that one listing benefits from multiple-units availability, as well as reviews and conversion. Clustered units must share the same physical address, such as a condo building, and they must have access to the same property-level amenities—so yeah, they’re a lot like hotels! (Learn more about clustering here.)

On average, there is a 40% booking increase for property managers who cluster. Even better, some properties have experienced up to a seven-fold increase in their production, proving that clustering is an extremely effective tactic when it’s utilized properly.

And that brings us back to Expedia TravelAds—what is Expedia TravelAds, and how can it help your vacation rentals? Well, when your rental units are clustered together under the same roof and listing like a hotel, Expedia TravelAds can be a boon for business. Lodging providers aren’t required to cluster units in order to use TravelAds, but it’s definitely very helpful. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at the TravelAds platform and some of what it has to offer: 

Expedia TravelAds: Platform Basics

The Expedia TravelAds platform is all about helping you increase revenue by connecting you with the proper audience. Before we get to how that happens, let’s cover the basics:

• Since the TravelAds online platform is pay-per-click (PPC), you only have to pay when your sponsored listings receive a click from a potential customer.
  
• Your ads only appear when you have availability. To repeat: your ads only appear when you have availability. That is super important because it means you never pay for clicks when your properties aren’t available.
• Expedia’s global portfolio is massive—more than 200 travel sites, to be exact. TravelAds connects you to travelers across the company’s entire portfolio.
• You get to choose the target audience based on real-time traveler intent. That means your ads are only visible to potential guests who are searching specifically for what you have to offer, which speaks to the platform’s impressive flexibility. 

Expedia TravelAds: Platform Tools

The whole point of Expedia TravelAds is to help you maximize visibility and bookings. Once you sign up, here are the tools you’ll use to do that:

Customizable Ads

The ads themselves are obviously the core of the platform, and the good news is that they are totally customizable. You can personalize your ad copy and images to showcase what, exactly, makes your properties so wonderful. Your ads can highlight cool amenities, call out any special offers you might have, or shine a spotlight on whatever else you think will set your rentals apart from the competition. 

Targeting

This is what makes TravelAds so powerful: the platform’s sophisticated targeting ability allows you to place your ads in front of all the appropriate travelers. Your targeting strategy can be as broad or as specific as you need it to be, and you can always adjust your targeting and bidding settings to figure out what works best for your business. So whether you want your properties to be the “worm” for early-bird bookers, the “Oh, phew!” for last-minute travelers, or something in between, TravelAds’ precise targeting ensures you’re hitting the bullseye. (And it bears repeating: Expedia’s hyper-targeting means your properties only appear when you have available dates, which saves you money on the PPC platform.) 

Reporting

Finally, when you start using TravelAds to boost production of your vacation rentals, you’ll gain access to Expedia’s reporting dashboard. It’s loaded with lots of helpful information, including real-time data so you can tweak your campaigns for optimal performance. TravelAds accounts are also buoyed by Expedia’s knowledgable advisors, who assist the platform’s participants in reaching their goals.

Questions? Contact us today to learn how you can get more bookings!