The Power of Google’s Performance Max Campaigns for Hotels: Boosting Direct Bookings with Reduced Costs

For years, Google Ads has been the go-to for businesses to create marketing campaigns in order to build their brand awareness and connect with potential customers. The advent of new technologies and machine learning, in particular, could – of course – not leave these operations untouched and, thus, Google has rolled out a brand new type of campaign that unifies all the components of Google’s advertising offerings under a single algorithm: Performance Max. 

Our Performance and Data Analysis team has incorporated Performance Max campaigns in their day-to-day advertising campaigns for several of our hospitality clients with impressive results, as they have managed to achieve more direct bookings with reduced CPC. 

Keep reading to find out more about Performance Max campaigns and how they can benefit hotels and Destination Marketing Organisations (DMOs) as well as how we have leveraged Performance Max campaigns for our clients.

What is a Performance Max campaign and how does it differ from previous campaign types?

A Performance Max campaign in Google Ads is a type of advertising campaign that enables advertisers to run their ads across multiple Google networks and platforms, including Google Search, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail. What distinguishes this type of campaign is that the machine learning algorithms and automated bidding strategies join forces to optimize the ad delivery and reach the advertisers’ performance goals thanks to a more streamlined process, which allows them to create a single campaign with multiple ad formats and placements, rather than separate campaigns for each network or platform. 

How have we leveraged the Performance Max campaigns for our clients?

After implementing Performance Max campaigns for most of our clients, the results we have seen are impressive. One of the most successful ones was implemented for a hotel property in Sifnos, where Display, Generic, and Performance Max campaigns were executed for markets in Greece, UK, USA, and Australia, among others. The Conversions that are mentioned below concern direct bookings through the property’s website. 

The results speak for themselves; the Performance Max campaign for the Greek market managed to produce more than 230,000 Impressions which resulted in 2 Conversions compared to the respective Display campaign that brought neither Impressions nor any Conversions. The Australian Performance Max campaign was equally successful as 2 Conversions were produced out of a little over 25,000 Impressions, compared to the mere 617 Impressions that the Generic campaign produced, with 0 Conversions. 

Even more impressive were the Conversions produced by the Performance Max campaigns for the US and the UK; the former managed to bring in 3 Conversions from about 67,000 Impressions – compared to 0 Conversions from 1,005 Impressions in the respective Generic campaign – while the latter produced 7 Conversions from more than 52,300 Impressions compared to 0 Conversions from 1,266 Impressions in the respective Generic campaign. 

Finally, it should be noted that these Performance Max campaigns managed to yield the aforementioned results with about 65% less – in some cases – Cost Per Click (CPC), which resulted in enhanced Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). 

How can Performance Max campaigns contribute to the marketing planning of hotels and DMOs?

Seeing the notable results that Performance Max campaigns brought for our clients, it is obvious that there are several benefits stemming from this type of campaigns that hotels and DMOs can leverage for their marketing planning and individual advertising. Some of them are listed below:

1. Increased visibility and reach: Google’s machine learning algorithms provide Performance Max campaigns of hotels with increased visibility across multiple Google products, including Google Search, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, which can lead to more website traffic and bookings. For DMOs, this could be translated into reaching a larger audience and drawing more travelers to their location. For this reason, Performance Max is ideal for awareness campaigns.

1. Better targeting: Hotels can target specific audiences with Performance Max campaigns based on their demographics, hobbies, and activity. The chance of a conversion, thus, may be increased as the prospective visitors who are more likely to be interested in their property and services are exposed to their ads. In a similar manner, DMOs can reach potential visitors who are more likely to be interested in their destination, resulting in higher quality traffic and conversion rates.

1. Improved ad formats: Hotels and DMOs can employ a range of ad types with Performance Max campaigns, including text, picture, video, and carousel ads. This adaptability may enable them to present their facilities and offerings in a more captivating and eye-catching manner, which can lead to higher engagement and conversions.

1. Enhanced reporting: Hotels and DMOs can measure their return on investment (ROI) more efficiently and make data-driven choices about their advertising strategy by using Performance Max campaigns, as they offer thorough reporting and insights into ad performance to continually optimize the campaigns and ensure that they are driving the desired results.

Overall, a Performance Max campaign may assist hotels and DMOs in increasing the visibility of their location, luring more travelers, and accomplishing their marketing objectives, as they can develop a more successful and captivating advertising campaign that produces tangible results by utilizing the power of machine learning and state-of-the-art ad formats.

Have more questions? Contact us today and let our experienced Performance team create  Performance Max campaigns that will take your business to the next level.