Omni
Keeping Travelers Grounded by Going the (Shorter) Distance
Few industries have been hit harder than the hotel industry during the COVID-19 global pandemic. However, because the crisis drove deep-pocketed online travel agencies to the advertising sidelines, Omni Hotels saw an opportunity to better leverage SEM to engage potential guests who were looking to take a trip, even if it was only within driving distance of where they otherwise were sheltering in place.
Services
500%
Increase in ROAS
94%
Higher conversion rate
65%
Lower average CPC
Challenge
The pandemic fundamentally shifted consumers’ travel behavior. Flying anywhere was out of the question for most people due to social distancing concerns. However, many people were desperate to get out and do something, anything. PMG’s goal was to introduce Omni Hotels to those who were open to planning a staycation within a few hours’ drive of their homes, and convince them their nearby resorts were safe and fun to have their getaway.
Strategy & Approach
We took an opportunistic approach and targeted non-brand keywords because the OTAs essentially left that field wide open by scaling down or eliminating altogether their ad spend. We knew that, in hotel search marketing, non-brand is how brands increase awareness and acquire new guests. Also, we recognized that it was to Omni’s advantage that many of the larger chains locked in their loyalty members’ status for the rest of 2020, freeing them up to explore other hotels and resorts that they otherwise would’ve eschewed in pursuit of loyalty rewards.
It was with those factors in mind that PMG set up radii bidding modifiers to effectively increase our reach with consumers who lived within a certain distance of Omni’s properties, and present them with compelling ad copy on why they should choose their nearby resort as the place to get away with their family during stressful times.
Our strategy included setting base bids for non-brand keywords at levels that ensured profitability, while creating multiple layers of bid modifiers based on drive-time. For example, a non-brand keyword had a certain base bid in a geotargeted campaign, but that bid would be increased a certain percentage based on how far the user would have to drive to the property. The end goal was to have strongly competitive bids for non-brand keywords based on consumers’ likelihood of making the trip. The increased relevance was achieved through our bidding strategy, and conversion was supported by ad creative that reinforced “safe and clean” messaging.
Results
While the pandemic wrought tremendous challenges to the brand, Omni Hotels saw significant wins from this effort. The savvy targeting ensured that we were spending against an audience that had high interest in what Omni had to offer, and its effectiveness was reflected by a 94% increase in conversion rate.
Our bidding strategy also allowed us to play in the competitive arena of non-brand keywords (even though OTAs had scaled back their investments, other hotel suppliers, many of them much larger than Omni, were still actively engaged in their SEM investments). We maximized profitability through our bid strategy, and helped drive a 65% decrease in average CPCs for non-brand keywords. Coupled with the higher conversion rates, PMG helped Omni achieve a 500% increase in ROAS.