While the use of meta search in travel is not a new concept, the launch of Google Hotel Price Ads and TripAdvisor Hotel Availability Check is changing how consumers first discover a property and ultimately convert. 

Meta search sites like Kayak and OTAs like Expedia have been used as travel search engines by consumers to find which hotels are in their desired location and price range. The key difference with TripAdvisorintegrating meta search is the influence of rates being strategically placed next to millions of hotel reviews, lessening the number of steps and sites a consumer needs to visit prior to converting.

TripAdvisor has been offering advertising space in the Show Price or Check Availability section on property profiles to OTAs, hotel chains, and independent hotels that work with agency partners for quite a few years now. Up until recently that space was limited to the display of the booking provider’s website link.

Although return was typically high for these placements, this provided limited ability to prequalify a user through rates or availability prior to incurring the cost for the click. With the launch of the rate display, consumers can now see the rate and if the hotel has availability prior to the click which has led to many advertisers observing their overall click costs decreasing and conversion rates increasing.

Another change with the introduction of meta search display is the importance of bid strategy. Although the ordering of booking providers was determined by bid on the previous platform, all advertisers were displayed to the consumer at once which provided even exposure. With the new meta search rate display positioning is still determined by bid but it is playing a more important role in conversion.

In the new display, the top 3 bidders appear prominently with logos at the top of the check availability console area, below are smaller text placements for following 3 booking providers, and then all other providers are hidden beneath a “more sites” link. Positioning is determined by bid and not by lowest rate or other measures at this time. The new display requires more active bidding to be seen by the consumer as demonstrated below:

The announcement of TripAdvisor Connect, the new complement to the release of meta search display, has created a lot of buzz and excitement among hoteliers and has over 200 booking engine providers signed on to become partners.

TripAdvisor Connect is a self-service add-on to the Management Center that will provide the opportunity for small independent hotels with Business Listings to compete directly for their hotel booking among OTAs already playing in that space. In addition to meta search rate display, TripAdvisor Connect will also include ROI tracking, and Review Express which provides hoteliers the ability to request reviews from past guests on TripAdvisor. With these enhancements, TripAdvisor is morphing the Management Center into a central hub for managing reputation, customer relationships, visibility and conversion.

This is an exciting time for an independent hotelier to take control and influence consumers at the time of decision.

To be successful in the meta search game, it is important for hoteliers to consider:

• Rate parity. Your rates will be displayed prominently next to OTAs, which is a huge win to drive bookings to your hotel site. But if rates across channels are not managed properly it can diminish consumer confidence if lower rates are offered outside of your official website or there are large variances in rates across booking providers
• Bids. Depending on how accessible your rates are to OTAs and the popularity of your property, the number of booking providers can vary from just a few to over 10.  Don’t get carried away with your bids – consider conversion rate, average booking value and competition when determining the aggressiveness of your bid
• Reviews. Keep up with responding to and generating more reviews. These will ultimately determine if a consumer will take the next step to check availability at your property
• Property page. Use all the tools that are available to your property on TripAdvisor.  Upload photos and slideshows to enhance your listing, ensure information is correct and if you have a Business Listing highlight special offers which are nice complement to influence conversions next to your rate display.