Whether you are starting your first campaign or looking to improve your current one, we have recommendations for you.
Starting your first campaign
Opt for a Quick Start campaign
Quickstart campaigns are quick and easy to set, 100% automated and on average, they have been providing the highest return to partners on this program.
Create one campaign per hotel
If you are looking after multiple properties, we recommend creating one campaign per hotel as separate campaigns allow distinct targeting by property. You will also be able to set individual budgets easily and activate/pause hotels independently when needed.
Opt for "Always On"
Once a campaign has reached its end date you will not be able to relaunch that campaign. A new campaign will need to be created even if you still have funds in your account. As a result, we recommend opting for an “Always On” campaign. You can always pause and restart that campaign whenever you wish!
Follow Budget Recommendations
One of the steps for creating a campaign is to set a budget. The platform provides you with a recommendation based on the number of travelers looking for a property in your market, and the current level of competition. You are welcome to increase or decrease this budget as you go.
Starting with a Custom Campaign
A Custom Campaign allows you to refine your campaign settings and targeting parameters. If you prefer this option, here are a few recommendations for you.
Opt for "Always On"
Because you need to create a whole new campaign every time the end date has been reached, we recommend opting for "always on". This way, you can pause and restart your campaign whenever you wish, without needing to create a new campaign.
Set daily budgets
The Budget is the maximum amount you are willing to spend for your campaign within the timeframe selected. You have a few Budget-Type options: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Custom. We recommend setting a Daily Budget, so you have full control over how your Budget is spent throughout the month.
Opt for ROAS Goal of 10
The ROAS goal is the return you would like to achieve with your campaign. E.g. for ROAS Goal = 10, you wish to generate $10 for every dollar spent.
If you have opted for automation, the auto-bid will aim at reaching this return goal. A ROAS goal of 10 provides a good balance between exposure and return.
Opt for ASAP Budget
Pacing defines how often your budget should be spent when opportunities arise. ASAP pacing spends your budget on every opportunity right away, based on the levels of demand. We are seeing higher returns on ASAP budget in larger markets or when the budget is lower than recommended.
Opt for Bid Automation
We recommend letting our AI automation technology do the bidding for you! This way you do not need to manually edit your bid. The auto-bid will be automatically optimized on a daily basis to reach your budget and ROAS goals. We also see usually better performance (in terms of spend and ROAS) with bid automation on.
Targeting Best Practices
The Booking Network Sponsored Ads program allows you to target travelers in an infinite number of ways. Read below for best practices!
Leverage Targeting Automation
This feature offers the potential to optimize your performance through automated targeting bid adjustments, setting the stage for enhanced ROAS and more efficient budget utilization. Targeting Automation works well with bid automation (you can opt for it at the campaign level).
Add Targeting... Later!
While the minimum bid for the program is $0.50, activating exact targeting moves your minimum bid to $0.75. This can increase your production but also impact your return. So we recommend starting with a blank canvas: no targeting in the beginning.
Optimize targeting based on your performance
As your campaign gets activity, you will be able to leverage the reporting table and identify opportunities on certain segments directly on the reporting page, by selecting a Dimension under Filters and Dimensions. For example, you can view performance per traveler country, device type, hotel, daily date, campaign...
You can then identify cohorts that bring the most bookings, and add a boost or a multiplier towards those. We recommend starting small with the minimum boosts of $0.25. Increase it as you go.
Prefer Boosts and Multipliers over Exact Targeting
Using exact targeting means narrowing the reach of your campaigns, as you are limited to travelers matching certain criteria. We recommend using the boost or multipliers instead, so you increase visibility where it matters but your campaign does not lose exposure.
Limit the number of targeting layers
As targeting increases your bid, we recommend no more than 2 layers per campaign at the same time.