This is Part 2 of a 2 part series
Click Here to Access Part 1: Google Ads ROAS (formerly Adwords)
If you currently pay for, or are considering paying for Google Hotel Ads to drive more direct bookings, we encourage you to read through this blog post and use this information to correctly determine if you are making the return on your Google Hotel Ads spend that you want to be making.
We teach our Advantage Plan clients that if you are going to participate in ANY paid advertising program, your benchmark, or line drawn in the sand when it comes to what you should be spending vs. what you are making on that spend, should be compared to what you pay, or would pay to an OTA to deliver a booking.
In most cases that’s 18%. IE: you pay 18 cents to make a dollar.
Therefore, any paid program that allows an Innkeeper to sell their rooms direct, that costs less than 18 cents on each dollar made, leaves more money in the Innkeepers pocket than selling via the OTA.
Note: In some cases, you may choose to spend slightly more on a direct booking than what you spend on an OTA guest, if you gain other types of advantages, such as building a repeat customer base, etc.
This is Part 2 of a 2 Part Series making Innkeepers aware of the whole story when it comes to calculating ROAS on their Google Hotel Ads.
ROAS is short for Return on Ad Spend.
This is a term that was referred to by the majority of the presenters, at the at the Direct Booking Summit in Miami last month, as the standard process for determining the cost of a direct booking. It is a simple calculation that applies to any paid program an Innkeeper chooses to use when attempting to drive traffic and sell their rooms via a direct booking effort.
In Part 2 of this Series, we will be reviewing Google Hotel Ads ROAS.
Google Hotel Ads is a part of the Metasearch options provided by Google, and are considered a Share-Shift Marketing Strategy.
PPB (Pay Per Booking) Google Hotel Ad programs, such as the one offered by Eviivo, typically charge a flat percentage rate on any booking made through their Google Hotel Ads program, and PPB data is not available in Google Analytics. In such cases, Innkeepers will need to access their Google Hotel Ad booking data via their booking software.
Let's move on to what is track-able in your Google Analytics. Let's take a look at ROAS on a PPC (Pay Per Click) Google Hotel Ads program.
GA snapshot of Last Click Bookings
Note: We have variety of clients that use Google Hotel Ad Programs from different providers. We typically see a low volume of bookings coming from the various Google Hotel Ads programs available to Innkeepers, as compared to other booking referrals. There may be some correlation to getting more Google Hotel Ad bookings IF YOU ONLY use Google Hotel Ads (and no OTA's) as compared to if you use both. This may be due to less options for the guest to click on.
The campaign name you are searching for will depend on what digital marketing firm or PMS you have chosen to use to connect your Google Hotel ads. Each firm uses different nomenclature to identify their Google Hotel Ads in Google Analytics.
A Few Examples of Google Hotel Ads Nomenclature:
- googlehotel
- googleha / meta
- Google Hotel Ads by ____
Speakers at the Direct Booking Summit in Miami recently reinforced the process in which Acorn Internet Services monitors our clients Ad Spends when they reminded the audience to not just look at Last Click conversions, but also to include the Assisted conversions when determining ROAS for any paid direct booking effort.
It can be a bit tricky looking for Assisted Conversions coming from Google Hotel Ads. The key strokes in Google Analytics are: Conversions --> Multi-Channel Funnels --> Assisted Conversions. Then you will need to appropriately set your primary dimension and look for any data that matches or is related to your Google Hotel Ads nomenclature. If you are having difficulty finding this information, please contact your digital marketing provider to walk you though accessing it.
Innkeepers need to know if they are being shown the whole picture
or one that their Digital Marketing Firm wants them to see.
It was interesting to see many of the attendees at the Direct Booking Summit in Miami sharing their concerns about trusting the data their Marketing Firms were providing them regarding Metasearch ROAS. The bottom line is -- Innkeepers and Owners must educate themselves when it comes to return on all their marketing investments. They must establish and clearly understand their revenue goals, and also how to validate if those goals are being met on a monthly basis. Being involved is key!
Don't forget these considerations when calculating ROAS: Read Full Article from Big Commerce Essentials
Advertising incurs more cost than just the listing fees. To calculate what it truly costs to run an advertising campaign, don't forget these factors:
- Partner/Vendor costs: There are commonly fees and commissions associated with partners and vendors that assist on the campaign or channel level. An accurate accounting of in-house advertising personnel expenses such as salary and other related costs must be tabulated. If these factors are not accurately quantified, ROAS will not explain the efficacy of individual marketing efforts and its utility as a metric will decline.
- Affiliate Commission: The percent commission paid to affiliates, as well as network transaction fees.
- Clicks and Impressions: Metrics such as average cost per click, the total number of clicks, the average cost per thousand impressions, and the number of impressions actually purchased.
You will need to check with your Google Hotel Ads marketing provider to determine if their monthly reports include only the Ad Spend portion of your cost that was paid to Google, or if they indeed do include all their own fees you are paying them to operate the program for you.
IE: are the setup and monthly maintenance fees included in the ROAS section of your monthly reports.
NOTE: A ROAS calculation will not work on a PPB (Pay Per Booking) Google Hotel Ads Program, as there is no Ad Spend involved, only a flat % rate charged on any bookings made.
If your business is in decline, and you don’t know why, Acorn Internet Services, Inc. can help. Our Advantage Plan Level 3 program will identify issues, create a plan of action and personally meet with you on an ongoing basis so you can quit wasting money and put it where it will make the highest return on your bottom line.
No - - It’s not SIMPLE. No - - It’s not EASY.
And who doesn’t want an Easy Button? Innkeeping is EASY --- said no Innkeeper ever! The same goes for your digital marketing. Plug and play digital marketing is easy for the digital marketer when it's a one-size-fits-all program. But, digital marketing, when done right, in the best interest of the Innkeeper's bottom line, is neither simple nor easy. Every Innkeeper's digital marketing needs are unique, just as they and their own property is unique. It takes time to create and execute an individualized marketing plan that fits their needs, and will help them with their specific direct booking growth. Innkeepers who care about growing their business need to know where every dime of their advertising is going, and how much of a return that dime is making, and that takes time, effort and wisdom. Otherwise you’ll continue to pay for services you thought would drive direct bookings and wonder why they aren't working.
If you want to know why, click the request information button below. We can help!
