As a fast-growing hospitality brand, Sonder knew that visibility was crucial to reaching more travelers and putting heads in beds. Their app-based platform offers guests design-forward apartments and boutique hotels, focusing on merging style with tech-enabled efficiency. To fuel growth, Sonder needed a flexible solution that could engage travelers who had already chosen their destination and were ready to book — all while delivering a strong return on ad spend (ROAS).

Sonder also wanted to build brand awareness by educating travelers on its design-led approach and modern service. Lastly, the company needed a flexible solution that could support the quick onboarding of new properties to maximize revenue and minimize cash burn during initial onboarding.

Sonder started using TravelAds Sponsored Listings with a small group of properties as a test to gauge the impact of this solution on brand visibility and bookings. After seeing positive results and a good ROAS, the marketing team decided to roll out TravelAds to properties globally. Since then, Sonder has onboarded five to ten properties per month, and currently 95% of all Sonder properties use TravelAds. Sonder uses many TravelAds features, but the main benefits the company has found are the solution’s overall flexibility, bid enhancers, and post-bill for payments.

TravelAds’ flexibility allows Sonder’s marketing team to easily scale up or down their advertising efforts depending on seasonality and real-time demand. The company also uses product features like bid enhancers to target key segments and markets.

For a company like Sonder, managing the ad spend for hundreds of properties and thousands of units can be complex. Post-bill makes operations significantly easier: each property automatically receives a pre-determined line of credit that is paid after properties receive clicks on their ads. This means that the finance team has only one bill to process each month and the marketing team can quickly assess property spending to understand growth opportunities and optimize campaigns.

The reporting dashboard available in the TravelAds portal allowed Sonder and our lodging media expert to analyze multiple data points to drive the efficiency of the campaign, adjusting along the way to maximize results.

Ultimately, Sonder saw a ROAS of nearly 16:1. With the strategic placement of bid enhancements, Sonder’s bookings outperformed the expectations set at the beginning of the campaign. Sonder not only saw positive quarter-over-quarter growth for room night bookings but also noted a decrease in admin efforts due to the newly implemented post-bill solution.

The company continues to work closely with its Expedia Group lodging media expert and support team to quickly onboard new properties, avoiding the waste of resources that would come with a live property that is not advertised. The Sonder team is looking forward to continued growth in the future.