OTAs and Metasearch Dominate Google’s Hotel-Related Keywords
More than 75% of clicks belong to online travel agencies
Even though hotel brands have gone all in on direct booking campaigns, online travel sites like Booking.com and Hotels.com continue to dominate paid search advertising, according to media research firm Kantar.
Between Jan. 1 and Feb. 11, Kantar analyzed over 1,600 lodging-related Google search keywords like "las vegas hotels" and "nyc hotels" across desktop and mobile. Of the searched keywords, more than 75% of all ad clicks belonged to online travel agencies (OTAs) and metasearch engines, sites that often operate as the middlemen between hotels with vacant rooms and consumers looking for a deal.
While Kantar's data doesn't include conversion rates—consumers who clicked on an ad and actually booked a hotel room—it does provide a window into what companies are (and aren't) spending on paid search.
"Who comes up in the search engine matters—who shows up, who gets the most clicks. There's a finite amount of real estate on the search results page," said Jim Leichenko, a marketing director at Kantar who conducted the research. "What you're seeing is that the OTAs are really capturing a significant amount. …[Hotels] are well aware they are in an uphill battle against online travel agencies on the paid search side."
