Microsoft Ads unveils major changes to hotel and property ad management

Microsoft Advertising is introducing changes to streamline the setup and management of Hotel Price ads and Property Promotion ads.

Starting February 6, the platform will discontinue the creation of subaccounts and bid management in the Hotel Center. Moving forward, advertisers will exclusively manage lodging solutions through Lodging Campaigns.

Despite these changes, advertisers can continue to use Hotel Center for feed management tasks, such as uploading and editing property feeds or verifying transaction messages.

Why we care. Advertisers must understand how Lodging Campaigns work, as they are the only option for managing Hotel Price ads and Property Promotion ads in the future. To avoid disruptions, take steps now as subaccounts and bid management in the Hotel Center will soon be retired.

Recommendations. For a seamless transition by February 6, Microsoft recommends marketers follow these steps:

1. Recreate your existing Hotel Center subaccounts as lodging campaigns.
2. Update your URL Tracking at the account/campaign level, as needed.
3. Leaving your Hotel Center subaccounts to run a further one to two weeks, while your Lodging campaign traffic picks up. You can also try increasing your bids slightly for Lodging Campaigns to help volume.
4. After new campaigns ramp up, reduce Hotel Center budget to $0 and delete the subaccounts.

What are Hotel Price ads? Hotel Price Ads enable advertisers to feature their hotels on Bing.com across different devices. Travelers will be served these ads when actively searching to book a hotel, enhancing visibility for advertisers.

What are Property Promotion ads? Property Promotion Ads are visual, top-positioned adson Bing Maps’ hotel grid, triggered by location or amenity searches. Aimed at inspiring early-stage travelers, these ads provide advertisers an opportunity to influence decision-making.

Lodging Campaign benefits. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company is “excited about the possibilities that Lodging campaigns offer”, including:

• Cross-platform parity: Lodging Campaigns can streamline the management of Hotel Price ads and Property Promotion ads on both platforms. The enhanced campaign architecture aligns its model and functionality with Google Ads Hotel campaigns.
• New ad distribution options: It can enhance your outreach to a broader audience of travelers by extending to Microsoft audience ads and other syndicated search partners. This expansion can result in increased engagement with your offerings as well as more bookings.
• New targeting opportunities: Lodging Campaigns can help boost and extend the reach of online sales by utilizing existing active remarketing lists from your Microsoft Advertising search campaigns.
• More control: This campaign type gives you the ability to run separate Hotel Price ads and Property Promotion ads campaigns.

Enrolment. If you are interested in taking part in the Microsoft Advertising Lodging Solution pilot initiative, fill in the enrolment form to determine eligibility and begin the enrollment process. 

Deep dive. Read Microsoft Advertising’s Lodging campaign help guide for more information.