OTA Ads availability
OTA Ads is currently in pilot and is being released progressively to eligible properties.
If OTA Ads is not visible in Cloudbeds Digital Marketing, your property may not be included in the current rollout or may not meet the eligibility requirements.
Broader availability is targeted for July 15, 2026. This article will be updated as the rollout progresses.
| Purpose | Learn how to subscribe to OTA Ads, set up an Expedia advertising campaign, and monitor campaign performance from Cloudbeds Digital Marketing. |
| Best for | Property and account owner · Specialized manager |
| Use this when | You want to promote your property on Expedia search results pages using OTA Ads in Cloudbeds Digital Marketing. |
| You need | Cloudbeds Digital Marketing, an OTA Ads subscription, an active Expedia connection or agreement, an active Expedia property listing, available Cloudbeds credits, and the required OTA Travel Ads role privileges. |
| Expected result | You can create an Expedia advertising campaign, set the budget and visibility, choose ad creative, and review campaign performance. |
| Important limit | Expedia does not provide individual reservation IDs for OTA Ads reporting. |
Introduction
OTA Ads helps you promote your property on online travel agency search results pages directly from Cloudbeds Digital Marketing.
With OTA Ads, you can create and manage cost-per-click advertising campaigns from your Cloudbeds account. Expedia is the first supported channel for this product. When travelers click your ad, they are sent to your live Expedia listing, and the booking is completed on Expedia.
OTA Ads is designed to help your property increase visibility with travelers who are already searching on Expedia.
OTA Ads availability may depend on your property’s eligibility and account setup. If you do not see OTA Ads in your account, your property may not have access yet.
Before you start
To use OTA Ads, your property needs:
- An active Expedia connection or agreement.
- An active Expedia property listing.
- An active Cloudbeds Digital Marketing subscription.
- An active OTA Ads subscription.
- Available Cloudbeds credits for campaign ad spend.
- A role with the required OTA Travel Ads privileges.
OTA Ads uses Cloudbeds credits for campaign ad spend. You can choose how much budget to invest in the campaign.
OTA Ads role privileges
OTA Ads permissions are managed from the Users section in Cloudbeds PMS. Go to Users, open the Roles tab, and review the Digital Marketing privileges.
The OTA Ads privileges appear as:
- OTA Travel Ads: Admin: Allows the user to subscribe, edit the daily budget, and customize campaign content.
- OTA Travel Ads: Manager: Allows the user to customize campaign content.
To review or update role permissions, see Add, edit or delete roles.
If you cannot access OTA Ads or complete the setup, ask your Property Owner or a user with permission to manage roles to confirm that your role has the correct OTA Travel Ads privilege enabled.
What you can do with OTA Ads
With OTA Ads, you can:
- Subscribe to OTA Ads from Cloudbeds Digital Marketing.
- Create an Expedia advertising campaign.
- Set your campaign budget.
- Choose a visibility level.
- Select images from your Expedia image library.
- Use AI-generated text for your ad title and description.
- Preview your ad before starting the campaign.
- Monitor campaign status and performance from the dashboard.
Subscribe to OTA Ads
Use the OTA Ads tab in Cloudbeds Digital Marketing to review the subscription details, confirm the requirements, select your credits option, and start the setup process.
- In your Cloudbeds PMS, click the Main Menu icon and go to Digital Marketing.
- Click the OTA Ads tab.
- Click Get started.
- In the Sign up for OTA Ads drawer, review the monthly fee, ad budget information, and requirements checklist.
- Click Continue.
- In OTA campaign settings, review the Budget step.
- Select your preferred credits option.
- Optionally enable Auto-refill credits and select the refill amount.
- Review and accept the terms and conditions.
- Click Sign up.
The Sign up button becomes available after all required options and checkboxes are selected.
After you sign up, you can continue setting up your campaign budget, visibility, image, text, and preview.
Set up and manage your OTA Ads campaign
After subscribing, use the OTA campaign settings drawer to configure your campaign. The setup includes budget, visibility, image, text, and preview settings.
Budget
Use the Budget step to choose how many credits you want to invest in your OTA Ads campaign.
You can select one of the available credit options and enable Auto-refill credits to help keep your campaign running when your balance drops below the selected threshold.
OTA Ads uses prepaid Cloudbeds credits for ad spend. If the campaign runs out of available budget or credits, the campaign pauses automatically. After you update the budget or add credits, the campaign can restart automatically.
Visibility
Use the Visibility step to choose how actively your campaign competes for placement on Expedia search results pages.
The visibility slider ranges from increasing ROI to increasing views. The middle option is labeled Medium and balances cost with the number of times your ads are shown to travelers.
A higher visibility setting may help your ad compete more actively, depending on Expedia search demand, availability, and other marketplace factors.
Image
Use the Image step to select the image that will appear in your ad.
OTA Ads uses images imported from Expedia. To use a new image in your OTA Ads campaign, upload the image to your Expedia property profile first. Cloudbeds retrieves eligible images from Expedia through the connection.
After the image is available in Cloudbeds, you can select it during campaign setup.
Text
Use the Text step to review or customize your ad headline and description.
OTA Ads can generate ad text for your campaign. Review the suggested headline and description before saving the campaign. Edit the text if needed so it accurately represents your property.
Preview
Use the Preview step to review how your ad may appear before saving your changes.
Check that the image, headline, and description are correct. The preview may include sample data that does not reflect actual traveler-facing information.
When everything looks ready, click Save.
Monitor OTA Ads performance
After your campaign is active, use the OTA Ads dashboard to monitor campaign status and performance.
The dashboard may show information such as:
- Campaign ROI
- Spend
- Revenue
- Current and previous bookings
- Current and previous clicks
- Current and previous views
- Remaining budget
- Impressions
Expedia does not provide individual reservation IDs for OTA Ads reporting. This means you can monitor campaign performance in the dashboard, but you will not see the specific Cloudbeds reservation IDs generated by the campaign.
Why your ad may not appear in Expedia search results
An active campaign does not guarantee that your ad appears in every Expedia search.
Your ad display depends on live marketplace factors, including:
- Traveler search dates.
- Your property’s availability for the searched dates.
- Expedia search demand.
- Your selected visibility level.
- Your campaign budget and credit status.
- Your Expedia listing status.
If your property does not have availability for the searched dates, the ad may not appear.
Where bookings happen
When a traveler clicks your OTA Ad, they go to your property’s Expedia listing.
The reservation is completed on Expedia. Expedia then sends supported reservation and performance information through the normal connected flow.
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