Just two years ago Organic Search accounted for 62% the average hotel website traffic. In 2017 that has dropped to 42%. As it drops other channels are taking its place. Mostly it is the OTA that are filling the loss of organic search and direct bookings. Today metasearch has also become a major player for direct bookings at a fair cost. Two article are reviews for this summery of Metasearch engines compared – see the details and links below.

metasearch engines compared – tripadvisor leads in ad spend

TripAdvisor a Major Player

In the article on “metasearch engines compared” FastBooking stats show that “Metasearch had become the most important advertising channel for hotels”. The graphs illustrates how matasearch has given hoteliers a significant and profitable alternative to OTAs, boosting direct business at reasonable cost.

This article on MetaSearch Engines Compared, hightlights the trends and returns for hotels using metasearch. It shows TripAdvisor the top position in metasearch advertising.

Google Hotel Ads Exploding!

The stats also show the rapid rise of Google Hotels Ads as forecast for 2017. Also interesting is the graph on Google Adwords – it shows steady growth and better than average return on investment at 12 times cost compared to the metasearch average of 10 times.

MetaSearch Engines Compared & Direct Booking in -Authors’ Tip

“We have noticed a substantial difference in return on ad spend for hotels that chose to give advantages to direct bookings. Lowering rates for direct bookings is one of the most efficient ways to make metasearch generate substantial direct revenue. We have noticed a return on ad spend by an average of 2.5X. As a general rule of thumb, if one is selling at higher rates on one’s website the results will not be profitable. At rate parity, the results are acceptable, although this lowers the direct booking percentage.”

Metasearch Giants Article –

You may also visit the Tnooz page at https://www.tnooz.com/article/performance-metasearch-giants-hotels/

Who’s Afraid of Google Wolf!

In a this analysis of metasearcher, Fastbooking noted that Google Hotel Ads has “grown exponentially”  by click volume and return on ad spend.

“Based on click volume, Google’s Hotel Ads matured in 2016, and today the click volume equals or surpasses TripAdvisor while keeping a very profitable return on ad spend. As Google is integrating the ads deeper into its search results, maps, and other products, it is poised to become one of the leading hotel metasearch providers in the market.”

A hotels ROI using Google Hotel Ads is now 10.1x, overtaking out TripAdvisors 10x. Also note that Google Hotels Ads’ traffic is now larger than TripAdvisor hotel metasearch, as is its cost per click.

For more link this see the skift report at https://skift.com/2017/04/24/google-hotel-ads-is-becoming-the-behemoth-everyone-feared/