Metasearch

Feed your direct rates into Google, TripAdvisor and Trivago to compete directly with the OTA’s who will also be advertising your rates.

  • Display your own direct rates from your PMS into Google Hotel Ads and other meta channels

  • Direct rates stated as ‘Official Website’ for increased guest appeal

  • Address rates and differentials with OTA pricing to compete (and beat OTA pricing)

  • Switch sell guests from OTA’s to your own booking engine

  • Flash sales for direct bookings can also be visible on metasearch 

Have you ever searched for your property on Google and noted all the OTA rates that are feeding into your brand name? Do you know what the percentage of users that access your site from Google without metasearch is? It’s probably at least 40-45% of all your website users! So how many users are lost when searching your business on Google as they click on OTA rate feeds?

One click of the OTA rates and the user is taken to the OTA site. Not only is the guest now viewing your property on an OTA, but they are also being shown competitor properties. The OTA wants a sale and you pay a commission, if your property is booked. However, the guest may be lost altogether as the OTA presents competitor properties and the booking is made with another business.

The solution is metasearch to aid the direct sale, switch sell market share to your property and as an additional bonus, gain an increase in natural search traffic as guests click on your organic listing.

Metasearch enables a live rate feed to be displayed directly into Google Hotel Ads or other meta channels such as TripAdvisor, Trivago or Kayak. A single click takes the user straight into your property booking engine – with the dates selected on Google (or other meta channel) replicated. With careful set-up and review of OTA rates it is possible to beat the OTA’s on price and thus be attractive to the user on Google in the first instance. Not only is it possible to beat OTA rates, but the commission saving is significant.

Flash sales for direct bookings also presents a good opportunity. In addition to promoting an offer to your email database, website, social media etc, metasearch enables you to feed the promotional rates to meta channels. This presents an opportunity to feature rates to new prospects that are likely to be better than all OTA rates currently being displayed.

Meta rates are fed about 90% of the time, which is intentional. The user location, day of the week, time of day, search criteria etc. all contribute to algorithms as to when rates are displayed to ensure the best possible conversion rate. You only pay a click cost if the user clicks on your direct pricing link.

A strategy has been put in place with client hotels to ensure they compete directly with the OTA’s and start taking back the direct business and diluting the OTA market share. We have the ability to switch on and switch off rates as necessary – such as hotel closures due to Covid-19.

Metasearch should be embraced, not feared and will quite possibly become your most important online marketing channel. Although a little technical, it can be set-up and managed effectively, is not expensive and shows a tangible return. It will also increase your natural (organic) search returns too as users click on to the (free) property listing on Google.

Metasearch is underutilised by independent properties in the UK and OTA’s know that. Around 95% of hotels do not have metasearch live, providing the perfect opportunity for OTA’s to generate business from your profile and then charge you booking commission for the privilege!

A trusted metasearch partner is in place and can be used to aid set-up. No minimum monthly spends are required, enabling metasearch to be switched on or off as need be. Regular rate checks, account management and reporting is provided by Innitiate to ensure maximum visibility on its success.