Google sunsets two ad products designed to help hotels during COVID

Early in the COVID pandemic and at a time when travel cancellations were on the rise, Google said it wanted to “help Hotel ads partners minimize risk while driving future bookings in a responsible manner.” 

To do that, it expanded an advertising option known as Commissions (per stay) that let hotel partners only pay a commission on their ads after the guest stay had occurred.

Now, nearly four years later and as international travel is approaching pre-pandemic levels, according to UN Tourism, Google has announced that on October 31, 2024 it will end Commissions (per stay) and another low-risk ad product, Commissions (per conversion), which launched in 2018.

In a blog post announcing the news, Michael Trauttmansdorff, Google’s director of product management for travel ads, wrote, “During the pandemic, the travel industry experienced significant challenges, and we created solutions to help advertisers navigate a time of deep economic uncertainty. As the needs of travelers and advertisers shift with the industry rebound and technological innovations, we’re evolving to ensure businesses are ahead of these changes.”

The post goes on to explain that the changes are needed because Google is set to phase out third-party cookies later this year and these two commissions-based solutions require cookies and “stay-specific information” in order to determine when a customer has stayed at a property.

“[W]e need to transition to more durable strategies to help grow your business,” Trauttmansdorff wrote.

With these two campaign strategies set to expire, Trauttmansdorff suggested hotels explore two other products – target Return on Ad Spend (tROAS) for hotel ads, which will continue to be updated later this year, and Performance Max for travel goals, which launched in 2023.

“Now we’re expanding this solution to include Hotel campaigns with tROAS across all of the Performance Max inventory. Powered by Google AI, your business has a greater opportunity to stretch your budget and achieve your performance goals,” he wrote.

“A bidding strategy anchored in [artificial intelligence] will make it easier for you to market at the speed of consumers. And in an ever-evolving privacy environment, it will bring you one step closer to meeting people’s expectations and multiplying your results.”