Microsoft Advertising has announced significant changes to the management of hotel and property ads, and they are advising advertisers to prepare for a smooth transition to Lodging Campaigns in February.
Starting on February 6, Microsoft Advertising will no longer support the creation of subaccounts and bid management in the Hotel Center. Instead, advertisers will exclusively handle lodging solutions through Lodging Campaigns. However, advertisers can still use Hotel Center for tasks like uploading and editing property feeds or verifying transaction messages.
To adapt to these changes, advertisers need to understand how Lodging Campaigns operate, as they will become the sole method for managing Hotel Price ads and Property Promotion ads. Taking proactive steps now is essential to avoid disruptions caused by the retirement of subaccounts and bid management in the Hotel Center.
Here are Microsoft’s recommendations for a seamless transition by February 6:
- Recreate your existing Hotel Center subaccounts as lodging campaigns.
- Update your URL Tracking at the account/campaign level as necessary.
- Allow your Hotel Center subaccounts to continue running for an additional one to two weeks while your Lodging campaign traffic increases. You may also consider slightly increasing your bids for Lodging Campaigns to boost volume.
- Once the new campaigns have gained momentum, reduce the budget for Hotel Center to $0 and delete the subaccounts.
By following these steps, advertisers can ensure a smooth transition to the new system and continue effectively managing their hotel and property ads.
What are Hotel Price Ads? Hotel Price Ads allow advertisers to showcase their hotels on Bing.com across various devices. Travelers will encounter these advertisements when actively searching for hotel bookings, thereby increasing visibility for advertisers.
What are Property Promotion Ads? Property Promotion Ads are visually prominent advertisements placed at the top of Bing Maps’ hotel grid, triggered by location or amenity-related searches. Designed to inspire early-stage travelers, these ads offer advertisers an opportunity to influence decision-making.
Benefits of Lodging Campaigns. A spokesperson from Microsoft expressed enthusiasm about the potential offered by Lodging Campaigns, including:
- Cross-platform consistency: Lodging Campaigns streamline the management of both Hotel Price Ads and Property Promotion Ads on both platforms, aligning their model and functionality with Google Ads Hotel campaigns.
- Expanded ad distribution options: These campaigns can broaden your reach to a wider audience of travelers by extending to Microsoft audience ads and other syndicated search partners. This expansion can lead to increased engagement with your offerings and more bookings.
- Enhanced targeting opportunities: Lodging Campaigns can boost and extend online sales reach by utilizing existing active remarketing lists from your Microsoft Advertising search campaigns.
- Improved control: This campaign type allows you to run separate campaigns for Hotel Price Ads and Property Promotion Ads.
Enrollment. If you’re interested in participating in the Microsoft Advertising Lodging Solution pilot initiative, please complete the enrollment form to determine eligibility and initiate the enrollment process.
Original news from SearchEngineLand