8 TripConnect Cost-Per-Click Campaign Questions

Answers to the most common Cost-per-Click (CPC) campaign questions we receive from hoteliers.

What eight questions do hoteliers most frequently ask about TripConnect Cost-per-Click campaigns? Read on for clear answers to queries posed by your hospitality colleagues:

What are TripConnect Cost-per-Click campaigns?

A TripConnect CPC campaign allows independent hotels to bid to appear in the Tripadvisor PriceFinder search area. With CPC, you can post your rates and availability alongside Online Travel Agents (OTAs) in high-visibility PriceFinder search results right on your property’s Tripadvisor listing. If a traveler clicks on your link, they’re sent straight to the online booking page of your property’s own website — helping you convert them quickly and easily into direct bookings.

To use this cost-per-click solution, hoteliers must place bids to appear in the PriceFinder results. Your bid and the rates you provide to Tripadvisor determine your placement within the results. Providing both competitive bids and competitive rates continues to be the best way to optimize your appearance in PriceFinder results. If a traveler clicks through to your website, you’ll pay whatever price you’ve bid for that click. 

Why am I competing with OTAs on my own property page?

The PriceFinder area on your Tripadvisor property page has been designed to give travelers easy access to rate and availability information. TripConnect CPC helps provide multiple booking options — including the hotel’s own website — to compete fairly for the right to earn traveler clicks, without preference to any one business over another.

Will you tell me the CPC amount that OTAs are bidding for my property, or how many clicks they’re receiving?

Tripadvisor respects your privacy and does not share your proprietary data with other organizations — including OTAs. Similarly, we respect the privacy of our OTA partners and do not share their data with hoteliers.

Does my connectivity partner offer TripConnect Cost-per-Click?

To see if your connectivity partner offers TripConnect CPC, visit www.tripadvisor.com/ConnectivityPartners. If your connectivity partner is not certified, see if they offer instant booking — another way for your property to appear in PriceFinder results. Learn more about instant booking here. 

What happens when I reach my spending limit or budget cap?

You can use spending limits or budget caps to control your TripConnect CPC costs. As soon as your campaign hits the limit you’ve specified, your CPC link will no longer be visible on the site. However, you’ll receive email notifications when your campaign end date is approaching or your budget is running low. While your CPC link may no longer appear, links to other bidders (like OTAs) will remain in your property’s PriceFinder results as long as their campaigns are active. As a result, we encourage hoteliers to actively monitor their CPC campaigns and make adjustments as necessary.  

How will I be billed for my TripConnect Cost-per-Click charges?

On the 5th of each month, you’ll be charged for all of the clicks you received in the previous month. For this reason, you may see charges after your campaign has ended because we bill at the beginning of each month. You can access and print your bills through the Billing & Payments page. To access this page, log into your Management Center and under the "Help & Settings" tab, click "Billing and Payments."

What forms of payment are accepted for TripConnect Cost-per-Click charges?

At this time, credit card and direct debit are the only forms of payment accepted for TripConnect CPC related charges.

How does TripConnect Cost-per-Click work with Sponsored Placements?

If you are looking to both increase visibility of your property and drive direct bookings, you now have the opportunity to highlight your rates and direct booking channel via TripConnect CPC within Sponsored Placements. Setting this up is easy — simply set up your CPC campaign first, and then create your Sponsored Placements campaign. When asked about your business objective be sure to choose the “Increase visibility and direct bookings” option.

It’s important to understand that when selecting this option, and linking your TripConnect campaign to your Sponsored Placements campaign, they become dependent on one another. This means that if your CPC campaign runs out of budget or reaches its end date, your Sponsored Placements campaign will no longer appear to travelers. To avoid this, be sure to watch for email notifications alerting you when your CPC campaign is near the end of its budget or end date.

Please note that you will be billed for your Sponsored Placements campaign and your CPC campaign separately.

• At the end of each month you’ll be charged for all of the clicks you received on your Sponsored Placements
• On the 5th of each month, you’ll be charged for all of the clicks you received on your listing page in the previous month

Remember, you can access and print your bills through the Billing & Payments page at anytime. To access this page, log into your Management Center and under the "Help & Settings" tab, click "Billing and Payments."

Already have an active TripConnect CPC campaign and want to sign up for Sponsored Placements? Click here to get started.