Six Reasons Bing Ads Should Be Part of Your Hotel Marketing Strategy

Sure, we all know Google dominates the search market. According to data from HubSpot, the search engine giant fields 6 in 10 U.S. search queries (which is obviously a lot). But that still leaves another 40% of online searches up for grabs, and today, we’ll discuss the leading way to snag your share of them. There are plenty of powerful reasons your hotel brand shouldn’t overlook Bing Ads for hotels — here are our top six.

1. Appear On Multiple  Search Platforms Using One Ad Dashboard

When your hotel runs PPC campaigns with Microsoft Advertising (previously Bing Ads), your ads will be served on a trio of major search engines — Bing, Yahoo and AOL — as well as on partner sites such as DuckDuckGo. This can help you broaden your exposure to include consumers who prefer to use alternative search platforms over Google.

2. Connect With Additional Microsoft Ecosystem Searchers

Because Bing is integrated into the Microsoft ecosystem, it serves as the default search engine for queries on Windows devices via the Microsoft Edge web browser, Microsoft’s Copilot AI-powered chatbot, and more. Thanks to a partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft, Bing even powers searches on ChatGPT when the AI chatbot is seeking up-to-date information. As a result, using Microsoft Advertising offers your hotel access to vast numbers of consumers you’re unlikely to reach through Google.

3. Tap Into Older, More Affluent Audiences

When it comes to consumer demographics, Bing tends to attract an older user audience than Google. Most of the search engine’s users fall into the 35-to–54 age range, and it also attracts a substantial segment of users between the ages of 55 and 64. This older demographic is more likely to be based in the United States, tends to be more affluent, and is more likely to be married than the 18-to-34 age group that makes up most of Google’s users.

4. Achieve a Higher CTR

In many cases, Bing can deliver a higher click-through rate (CTR) than Google. Reporting indicates that on Google’s search network, Google Ads deliver an average CTR of 1.91%, while on Google’s display network, the CTR averages 0.35%. According to the same reports, Bing’s average CTR comes in higher at 2.83%. While results can vary greatly from campaign to campaign, in some cases, this higher CTR correlates with a higher return on ad spend (ROAS) for hotels using Bing Ads for their PPC campaigns. 

5. Face Less Competition

With fewer prospective travelers performing their hotel searches on Bing, the engine doesn’t attract as many advertisers as, for example, Google Hotel Ads. This leads to less competition for keywords and PPC ad placement on Bing Ads, and offers your hospitality brand an opportunity to stand out from the (smaller) crowd and shine.

6. Diversify Your Advertising Efforts

The best hotel marketing strategies tap into an assortment of advertising avenues, including Bing Ads. Using diverse channels helps you reach a broader audience and accommodate varying customer behaviors and preferences. It can also help your hotel maintain marketing stability should one of your advertising channels experience a sharp decline in performance. Hotels looking to start using Bing Ads can begin by putting 5% to 10% percent of their budget toward the channel, using it to test PPC ads where the target audience is a fit. After evaluating campaign analytics, you can then scale up or down based on the results Bing ads are delivering for your hotel. If the tactic is working, you may ultimately want to devote 10% to 20% of your search ad budget to the channel.

Don’t overlook Bing ads when planning your digital marketing strategy. The channel can bring especially big benefits for hotels that serve consumers in the U.S. market, those looking to diversify their digital marketing, and those targeting older, higher-income audiences with PPC advertising.

Amplify Your Hotel’s Digital Marketing Efforts With TravelBoom 

Is your hotel or hospitality brand seeking an ad agency that specializes in travel and tourism and can get your property featured prominently on the search engine results page? At TravelBoom, our experts are ready to put their knowledge of search engine marketing (SEM), SEO, and PPC for hotels to work — so you see more visitors to your site and more reservations for your rooms.

Connect with us today to discuss how we can help you boost the effectiveness of your hospitality brand’s digital marketing efforts.