Free Report: A Roadmap to Traveler Attribution

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

When it comes to consumers’ browsing and purchasing behavior online, the travel industry boasts one of the most complex digital landscapes.

Travelers have a plethora of seemingly unlimited resources when researching destination, hotel and flight options, which makes gaining their attention and influencing their decisions more competitive.

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When we think about the complexity of the research and booking process, and ultimately what influences consumer decisions, travel marketers are faced with the looming challenge of how to define and measure true attribution to determine which channels in their marketing plans are most effective.

Expedia Media Solutions sought to better understand attribution and commissioned a study with Millward Brown Digital with the goal to deeply analyze the roles travel sites play at every stage and identify the opportunities for marketers to influence consumers. The study examines the various phases of the consumer air and hotel booking journey including initial inspiration, research consideration and ultimately the point of booking across supplier, online travel agencies (OTAs) and meta-search sites.

Specific to hotels, the study found that consumers start with supplier and OTA sites (40 percent and 39 percent, respectively) as the first source of inspiration in the booking process. In the mid-funnel phase, travelers visit OTA sites for research and consideration more than any other category for hotels (49 percent).  Overall, meta-search share shrunk throughout the booking path (21 percent at inspiration and 10 percent at booking), supplier increased throughout the path (40 percent at inspiration and 51 percent at booking) and OTA stayed steady but spiked at mid-funnel.

What you’ll learn from the full study:

• Hotel and flight specific attribution data to help enhance your marketing campaigns
• Consumers who start research on supplier sites are more likely to book on supplier, but not necessarily where they initiated
• How and why meta-search sites are driving more traffic to OTAs than any other travel category

To learn more about the roadmap to traveler attribution, click here to download the Traveler Attribution Study.

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This post was brought to you in sponsorship by Expedia Media Solutions.