Booking.com claims it is able to measure the incremental ROI of its social channels thanks to a “bespoke model” developed in collaboration with Meta.
Booking.com is switching its attention from brand marketing to investing more in social media, expressing excitement about the prospect of “attractive incremental ROI”.
Speaking on an investor call today (21 February), CFO of parent company Booking Holdings, Ewout Lucien Steenbergen, described social media as a “big area of investment” for the company.
“I would very much like to call out also how excited we are about the development of social media channels. This is a big area of investment for us,” he said.
“We have invested a lot of our technology in this space and expertise working together with some of the large social media channels, particularly Meta where we have built a very close relationship.”
According to Steenbergen, Booking.com has created a “bespoke model” with Meta designed to help monetise leads.
“Incremental ROIs that we can measure with respect to social media channels is something that is new, but we have been able to figure out how to do that,” the CFO claimed.
The business is “very confident” it is attracting an “incremental traveller” via social media, not customers who would have booked with the site anyway.
“We’re spending much more at attractive incremental ROI. So the combination of all of that means that we are very positive and enthusiastic about the outlook with respect to continued marketing leverage for the company,” said Steenbergen.
The full year mix of total room nights booked through the firm’s direct channel was a
“mid-fifties percentage”, up year-on-year. Describing the rise in direct traffic as “clearly a benefit overall”, Steenbergen explained optimising the algorithms Booking.com runs has helped deliver higher performance marketing ROI.
The company invested 7.4% more in marketing in 2024 compared to 2023, rising from $6.7bn (£5.3bn) last year to $7.2bn (£5.7bn) in 2024.
Marketing expenditure as a percentage of gross bookings was 4.2% in 2024, versus 4.5% in 2023. This was driven by a “higher direct mix”, lower brand marketing spend and higher performance marketing ROI, partially offset by increased social media spend.
Booking Holdings finished 2024 with full year revenue up 11% year-on-year to $23.7bn (£18.7bn.) Gross bookings increased by 10% year-on-year to $165.6bn (£131.1bn).
When it comes to exploring social channels, last year Booking.com launched a TikTok creator-led campaign designed to reach young travellers and raise awareness of its Genius loyalty programme.
Speaking to Marketing Week in November, global social media creative strategist at Booking.com UK, Gert Laubscher, said social media plays an “upper funnel” role in getting people to talk about the brand.
“Trends are important to make sure you’re relevant at the time and the algorithm supports that. But when someone does click through and follow us, they see we are more than just trends,” Laubscher stated.
