Attracting valuable travelers to drive impactful bookings

Finding the most profitable travelers is complex and competitive. On average, travelers view 141 pages and consume more than five hours of travel content in the 45 days prior to booking a trip.* Among this sea of information in the research and planning process, it can be challenging for travel providers to understand where to find and attract valuable travelers.

So, how can you set up your travel business for success by bringing in the travelers who provide the most value and positively impact your bottom line? Ultimately, to increase your revenue, you need to attract travelers that spend more, stay longer, and are open to inspiration.

According to our recent study, not only do our travelers stay longer — they also spend more — with Expedia Group travelers spending 10% more on big trips compared to other travelers.** Read on for insights and strategies to help you target and convert travelers who will generate high-value bookings.

To better understand how traveler behaviors — including trip spend, length of stay, and openness to inspiration — vary based on their preferred booking platform, we conducted custom research with Global Web Index (GWI) across eight global markets: Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, UK, and the U.S. The online survey included more than 8,000 respondents aged 16 to 64 who had purchased a vacation in the last three to six months, spanning various audience groups.

There are many elements of a valuable traveler, but one essential piece that will always impact the bottom line is how long they stay. You want travelers to come for an extended stay, helping fill rooms during the week and resulting in more time for activities, shopping, dining, and in-market spending. And our travelers stay longer, nearly one additional day in hotels compared to other travelers. Looking at Vrbo travelers specifically, they stay 14% longer — more than one day longer — in vacation rentals compared to other OTA travelers.

Evaluate your hotel advertising and marketing strategies to make sure you are reaching and converting these valuable travelers who stay longer on trips. Using tools like Accelerator and TravelAds Sponsored Listings can increase your position in search results, making you more visible to these travelers taking longer trips and helping to generate more revenue per guest. 

Another opportunity to boost visibility on our sites is through our exclusive partner programs — VIP Access for hotels and Vrbo’s Premier Host. These programs recognize and reward properties that deliver exceptional guest experiences through benefits like increased visibility in search results, badging, dedicated support, and more. Increased visibility means increased opportunities to reach our top-tier travelers who are looking for trusted and elevated experiences.

Aside from spending more on big trips than other travelers, Expedia Group travelers are more likely to book premium accommodations, spending 18% more per night on hotel bookings and 22% more per night on vacation rental bookings than other travelers.

Our travelers also have more impact once they are on-site at hotels, taking advantage of on-property services and amenities which results in powerful incremental revenue opportunities. 

Reaching travelers who spend more on property provides another layer of value for our partners. Effectively market to and engage our travelers through your listing by showcasing the amenities and activities offered on property, your food and beverage options, and any shopping opportunities. Further incentivize on property spending with special promotions and discounts for guests, such as a free appetizer with an entree purchase or resort credits for bookings with a longer length of stay. And, if you’re a member of our VIP Access program, you can entice our rewards members to book your property with perks like free parking, free breakfast, or spa credits.

Another great way to connect with our reward members is to offer a Member Only Deal with offers tailored by reward tier. This can be a great way to attract valuable travelers who will take advantage of on-property offers during their stay.

In addition to spending more on property, our travelers spend more while at their destination — which means they are also supporting local businesses and driving economic impact for the destination.

While in a destination, our travelers spend 37% more on activities and nearly 10% more on meals than other travelers.

Help travelers visualize and plan their ideal trip with content that spotlights a variety of offerings in your destination — from activities and experiences to premiere dining and can’t-miss shopping.

Destination marketing organizations can also incentivize travelers and drive more bookings to your destination by funding bonus OneKeyCash™ on eligible hotel bookings, which travelers can spend on future trips. These incentives can drive value for you and other travel businesses in your destination, while also building awareness.

The ability to connect with travelers who are open to ideas and influenced by advertising is especially important for travel suppliers. Our travelers want to be inspired — they are 22% more likely than other travelers to be undecided on a destination before booking a trip. They are also more likely to be influenced by advertising.

Advertising is an effective way to reach our travelers that seek travel inspiration while browsing, shopping, and planning on our sites.

Native advertising placements on our brand sites and apps can help you stand out to travelers in a non-intrusive way as they research their next destination, how to get there, and where to stay. This can help with increasing your visibility and building brand affinity. You can inspire the right travelers at the right time with our unmatched combination of global reach, deep traveler insights, creative capabilities, and media buying power. 

We understand the importance of reaching valuable travelers who bring you the bookings you want. That’s why we’ve invested in attracting valuable travelers through One Key™, our comprehensive travel rewards program. By increasing One Key membership and bookings through our well-loved travel brands, we’re creating more demand for you.

To connect with the valuable travelers searching and booking travel on Expedia Group sites, and One Key members, visibility is key. Whether through an Accelerator campaign, advertising campaign, or Member Only Deal, we have a variety of tactics to help you show up on our sites and capture demand.  

For additional traveler insights and strategies for connecting with valuable travelers, download the full report.