Empty rooms? No problem. TripAdvisor now offers "top of search listing" advertising placement to properties in all corners of the globe

- Owners already using Sponsored Placements love the self-service flexibility of budget and spend

- Now all accommodations that share rates and availability on TripAdvisor can buy Sponsored Placements

- New features empower owners to target travelers researching weekend/weekday stays as well as allowing an owner to "pause" and select a restart date of their campaign

- Hoteliers can capture traveler interest and drive highly-qualified traffic to their businesses when they need it most

News provided by

TripAdvisor

Mar 05, 2019, 07:00 ET

NEEDHAM, Mass., March 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TripAdvisor today announced the global rollout of Sponsored Placements, making the site's advertising solution available to any accommodation business who shares live rates and availability with TripAdvisor¹ – just in time for owners to target travelers booking their summer trips.

The ads enable accommodation businesses to capture the attention of travelers and drive quality, targeted traffic to their property by advertising in high-visibility placements on TripAdvisor. Sponsored Placements launched last year exclusively to accommodations with a Business Advantage subscription, and the global rollout now gives properties worldwide the opportunity to target the 490 million visitors browsing the world's largest travel site every month.

The ads put a property right in front of potential guests looking for places to stay in any given area when there is availability and the property matches the guest's search. Sponsored Placements appear in high-profile pages across TripAdvisor, including above search results and on nearby listings.

With high season just around the corner, TripAdvisor data shows that travelers are already beginning to search for places to stay this summer. On average, 70% of searches for travel during high season will happen within the next three months, and with 74% of travelers who book on a hotel site visiting TripAdvisor as part of their research², there's no better way to target potential guests.

"Sponsored Placements has been a game-changer for hotel owners, increasing their visibility to travelers researching their next trip. Now that we have made it available to all accommodation businesses that share rates and availability with us, there's a great opportunity to influence potential guests during a critical phase of the customer purchase path," said Martin Verdon-Roe, Vice President B2B Hotels, TripAdvisor. "And because an ad only appears when your hotel has availability, you can be sure you're spending your advertising budget on a channel which will make a real difference to your business."

New features launched

The global rollout also means new features and functionality. Sponsored Placements now allows owners to target their ads by weekday or weekend stays, allowing advertising budgets to be better targeted than ever before.

TripAdvisor has also built more flexibility into the advertising product with a new "pause" function, allowing hoteliers to schedule a date in the future for their campaign to automatically restart.

"We have listened to feedback from early adopters of Sponsored Placements, and continue to invest in our advertising product for accommodation businesses with these recent enhancements," continues Verdon-Roe, "Sponsored Placements, when combined with Business Advantage, is proving to be a great way to help accommodation owners drive direct booking referrals and build customer loyalty."

"Highly targeted travelers"

Silvia Sutter, Online Traffic Manager, says starting her Sponsored Placements campaign has really helped Sofia Hotel in Barcelona to gain more visibility and traffic: "The results have been great – Sponsored Placements has performed so well that all nine properties in the group now have active campaigns to increase their exposure," says Sutter. "On average, these ads have generated over 50,000 impressions for each property in six weeks to highly targeted travelers."

Accommodation owners can find out more about Sponsored Placements here, as well as register to join a TripAdvisor webinar on preparing for high season here.

¹Rates and availability can be via an online travel agency who partners with TripAdvisor
²comScore Traveler's Path to Purchase, 2018

About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site*, enables travelers to unleash the full potential of every trip. With over 730 million reviews and opinions covering the world's largest selection of travel listings worldwide – covering approximately 8.1 million accommodations, airlines, experiences, and restaurants – TripAdvisor provides travelers with the wisdom of the crowds to help them decide where to stay, how to fly, what to do and where to eat. TripAdvisor also compares prices from more than 200 hotel booking sites so travelers can find the lowest price on the hotel that's right for them. TripAdvisor-branded sites are available in 49 markets, and are home to the world's largest travel community of 490 million average monthly unique visitors**, all looking to get the most out of every trip. TripAdvisor: Know better. Book better. Go better.

The subsidiaries and affiliates of TripAdvisor, Inc. (NASDAQ:TRIP) own and operate a portfolio of websites and businesses, including the following travel media brands: www.airfarewatchdog.com, www.bokun.io, www.bookingbuddy.com, www.cruisecritic.com, www.familyvacationcritic.com, www.flipkey.com, www.thefork.com (including www.lafourchette.com, www.eltenedor.com, www.thefork.nl and www.thefork.com.au), www.holidaylettings.co.uk, www.holidaywatchdog.com, www.housetrip.com, www.jetsetter.com, www.niumba.com, www.onetime.com, www.oyster.com, www.seatguru.com, www.smartertravel.com, www.tingo.com, www.vacationhomerentals.com and www.viator.com.

*Source: Jumpshot for TripAdvisor Sites, worldwide, December 2018;
**Source: TripAdvisor internal log files, average monthly unique visitors during seasonal peak in Q3 2018