How a luxury hotel used TravelAds to reach its target audience during the slow season

To experience exceptional service in some of the world’s most sought-after destinations, look no further than Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. With a portfolio of 90 hotels and resorts in 32 countries, this iconic global chain focuses on delivering unforgettable experiences.

Overview

To experience exceptional service in some of the world’s most sought-after destinations, look no further than Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. With a portfolio of 90 hotels and resorts in 32 countries, this iconic global chain focuses on delivering unforgettable experiences.

Nestled between Italy and France on the French Riviera, the seaside Fairmont Monte Carlo attracts travelers looking to connect with the vibrant spirit of the area and attracts leisure and business guests alike. As one of the largest luxury hotels in Europe, the Fairmont Monte Carlo is home to an internationally renowned NOBU restaurant, two rooftop pools, and 18 meeting rooms designed for a variety of events.

The Opportunity

“The hotel is very big — we have more than 600 rooms — so we are mainly focused on attracting leisure and corporate groups during the low seasons. That’s why we needed the help of TravelAds Sponsored Listings to fill the hotel during specific months,” Joëlle Salles Ducraux said. Since targeting the right guests at the right time was crucial to reaching their goals, Ducraux knew their strategy had to involve flexible, customizable advertising that could adapt to fluctuation in demand.

The Solution

“Our goal was to really increase the hotel’s visibility and awareness. Using display advertising with TravelAds is a better way to convert travelers. The two solutions work well together, and when we combined display advertising with TravelAds, we saw a growing impression share when it comes to display activation — more than 800,000 impressions,” she said. TravelAds are a cost-effective, pay-per-click solution that allows you to scale up, scale down, or pause your campaigns as needed to help improve visibility. The user-friendly solution enables you to customize your copy and photos to highlight specific promotions, events or activities. Choosing to focus on an amenity in a campaign is one advertising example for hotel marketers to use as inspiration.

“During the summer, we launched a new pool, so I only had to go into the TravelAds portal to update the wording and pictures, and it was live in a few hours. It’s easy to use, which is good because a lot of alternatives are not as friendly,” Ducraux said. Another solution that properties find beneficial to use in their campaigns are display ads, which offer everything from branded mobile experiences and emails to industry-standard displays. The benefit of pairing display ads or TravelAds with other solutions allows hotels to reach travelers at different stages of their purchasing journey.

The ability to target specific travelers, like groups, was a critical part of the Fairmont Monte Carlo team’s advertising strategy, and the robust targeting capabilities of TravelAds and display ads enabled the team to reach their target audience. To meet your hotel’s specific advertising goals and objectives, our full-funnel suite of solutions can be paired together or used independently. The Fairmont Monte Carlo found they increased their visibility with travelers looking to book by combining solutions. Beyond using TravelAds and display advertising in tandem, the hotel implemented our co-op advertising solution. Co-op advertising campaigns provide a cost-effective way to work with like-minded properties or marketers. For example, your hotel might want to work with a specific destination on a campaign but you’re working with a limited budget. Our digital experts coordinate a co-op campaign with like-minded advertisers and marketers to help you meet your campaign goals while staying in budget. You’ll find this level of support from our team regardless of which solution you use.

“It helps us a lot because Expedia Group are the experts, so they know the tools very well and the market in general. They know the behavior of our guests, of the people watching our market and our hotel, so it’s important to have their input,” she said.

The Results

“Our revenue and room nights are growing a lot thanks to TravelAds,” Ducraux said.

By utilizing our solutions offerings from October 2022 to February 2023, the Fairmont Monte Carlo saw an 85% year-over-year increase in rooms booked, more than 800,000 impressions, and a 28% increase in average revenue per occupied room.

Ducraux used reports from Expedia Group to evaluate their campaigns as needed. Doing this allowed the property to track demand and adjust to ensure they were hitting their goals throughout the year.

Ducraux also found it easy to communicate with their account manager and gain access to information and helpful tips that further improved their campaign.

“It’s important for us to be in touch with the Expedia team to be sure we are aligned with our strategy and to adapt if needed. For instance, July should be a very good month for us, but sometimes we can see in June that the data doesn’t show that, and we get a bit worried. Then we can decide to adapt our TravelAds strategy,” she said.

That was the case for the property in August 2023. They weren’t seeing the level of demand they expected, and they were able to adapt their approach and scale up their TravelAds campaign. Because TravelAds are flexible, they could dial down their spending when they didn’t need help filling rooms in April and May.

The flexibility of TravelAds benefited their yearly campaign planning, too. With TravelAds, she could easily adjust her campaign if things shifted. That flexibility allowed her team to plan their campaigns in advance but didn’t lock them in so they could pivot as needed.

“We plan to continue TravelAds all of 2024,” Ducraux said. “It’s really easy to work with, and it’s not a big risk because we can adapt everything.”

Ducraux recommends taking advantage of TravelAds’ flexibility and continually analyzing your campaign with the real-time results that are available. If the results are not what you want, you can easily adapt things like your ad spend, target audience or content.

Connect with our digital media consultants to learn how to best engage, influence and convert travelers to increase your bookings.