Metasearch Marketing: 5 Ways To Maximize Visibility for Your Hotel

Metasearch marketing is an increasingly important channel for hotels. Hoteliers can see anywhere between 5-15% of their total online revenue generated through metasearch. Because metasearch drives such a qualified audience, it has one of the highest conversion rates. Some engines can drive up to a 4-5% conversion rate. 

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Not only does metasearch allow hotels to reach a large audience of potential guests who are actively in-market for accommodation, it can drive significant traffic and bookings to a hotel's website. In this article we’ll break down how hoteliers can make the most of hotel metasearch and capitalize on its many benefits.

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Cast a Wide Net With Popular Search Engines

There are several popular metasearch engines, such as Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor, Kayak, Trivago, and Skyscanner. Some have more traffic and others are stronger in different geographical locations. Don’t narrow your metasearch presence if you can help it—work with as many as possible. While you need to keep your listings up to date and consistent across all metasearch platforms, doing so allows you to benefit from both scale and reach. 

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Optimize Your Listings for Maximum Visibility

To make the most out of metasearch, it's important to ensure that your hotel listings are optimized for maximum visibility and conversions. This includes:

• Providing accurate and detailed information about your hotel, including photos and amenities.
• Paying close attention to your pricing strategy, both in terms of competitiveness and accuracy. Metasearch engines reward hotels that offer competitive rates, and conversely, they penalize those that offer inaccurate rates. A reliable partner can help your success on this front.
• Encouraging guests to leave reviews on your property's listing—improving your visibility and reputation on the platform.

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Incentivize Direct Bookings With Your Metasearch Strategies

One of the biggest advantages of metasearch is that it directs users to your hotel website. Hoteliers can further incentivize direct bookings driven from metasearch by:

• Offering exclusive discounts or promotions for travelers who book directly through your website
• Providing a seamless booking experience, optimized for both mobile and desktop users

Metasearch engines give preference to hotel direct, with many providing a specific UI to direct providers. Take advantage of this by making direct bookings as appealing as possible.

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Use Metasearch in Conjunction With Other Marketing Channels

Metasearch is an important channel in and of itself. It’s a great always-on channel and it doesn’t rely on third party cookies, which are set to sunset in 2024. But metasearch is at its strongest when used as part of a larger multichannel marketing strategy. 

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Metasearch is one way that travelers can find your property. If you aren’t staying with them as they browse and search across platforms and channels, you will lose out on that ultimate booking to an OTA or a competitor. Some strategies for complementing your metasearch efforts with other channels includes using:

• Programmatic display to increase your brand exposure to those in-market for travel to your destination, retargeting them to stay top of mind, and encouraging users to return to your website to complete their booking
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) to further protect your brand against OTAs and to capture high-intent travelers searching for your specific property
• Social media to reach incremental audiences and engage them where people spend the majority of their time

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Our client Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort and Spa in Bermuda leverages Sojern’s metasearch capabilities alongside a larger digital marketing strategy that includes programmatic display, SEM, and social media. Find out how they got higher average booking values and with this approach, and gained an efficient marketing strategy.

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Work With a Metasearch Partner Like Sojern

Metasearch is a worthwhile marketing channel, but it can require a lot of time and effort to reap the benefits. Hoteliers have enough on their plate, which is why outsourcing to a digital marketing specialist can help maximize results on this channel. Sojern metasearch clients benefit from our team managing their listings across multiple platforms, monitoring performance, and adjusting bidding and strategies in real-time. 

Looking to get started with metasearch, or maybe looking to improve what you’re already doing? Talk to one of our hotel marketing experts now.