Expedia recently announced big updates to their Expedia Travel Ads program to increase bid minimums to $0.50 for all markets. This change could potentially shift the competitive landscape of Expedia Travel Ads bidding. Coupled with this release, Expedia is now offering heightened reporting surrounding their bid boost levers, providing additional granularity into understanding the success of or opportunities for a campaign. In light of this update, Koddi has been monitoring performance globally to assess how impactful this change has been, as well as which markets are seeing the biggest adjustments.

In this blog post, we will discuss which markets are experiencing the greatest impact and share our recommendation for keeping CPCs at a reasonable level while still achieving desired results.

 

Overall Impact of the Expedia Bid Minimum Increase

When looking at Expedia Travel Ads CPCs from a macro perspective, we have observed an 18% increase in CPCs since the bid minimum increase. As the base bid minimum requirement rose from $0.25 to $0.50, many advertisers raised their bids to remain competitive. Additionally, as more advertisers compete for the same ad space heading into the summer months, the cost per click has naturally increased. This has resulted in a higher cost for each click and a more competitive bidding landscape on Expedia Travel Ads.

It’s important to note that while this may lead to higher costs for advertisers, it can also lead to more targeted and valuable clicks for consumers. Historically, the minimum could be very far away from the market average. As a result, it could take advertisers many weeks to get their bids to a level that would generate meaningful activity. With this update, advertisers starting at the minimum obtain the necessary insights to run a successful campaign quickly and efficiently.

In addition to access to enhanced campaign insights, advertisers can opt into bid automations to help maximize marketing budget in the most effective way possible. Hotels that have opted into automation, available exclusively on the Koddi platform, have been proven to drive more revenue and room nights. Utilizing our advanced machine learning technology will ensure that you’re spending efficiently while working towards your advertising and business goals.

 

Market Insights From CPC Increases

Some markets are more competitive than others, which means there will be some differences in CPC increases as the markets and size of markets change. When breaking the data out by market size, we found that smaller markets have seen the greatest impact since the bid minimum increase.

 

 

Overall, the increase to minimum base bids and increasingly competitive landscape on Expedia Travel Ads has had varying impacts on CPCs, depending on the market size. Key takeaways include:

• Average CPCs have increased in the immediate days following the adjustment
• Rural, smaller markets have experienced the biggest impact to the CPC increase
• Markets that had CPC levels higher than $0.50 before the increase are seeing an increase in market level CPCs

 

Expedia Travel Ads Bidding Recommendations

To keep CPCs at a reasonable level while still achieving your desired performance goals on Expedia Travel Ads, the Koddi team recommends:

• Ensuring that your base bids are above $0.50 to keep properties live
• Continuously monitoring budgets for your entire portfolio to verify that you have appropriate funding to cover the new minimum
• Reviewing performance frequently to watch for spend and booking shifts
• Leveraging Koddi automation to maximize returns and visibility

The Koddi team is ready to help you monitor performance and leverage automation to optimize your bids to ensure you’re maximizing your advertising budget. Get in touch with our team today.