OTA Ads FAQ

Overview

OTA Ads lets you create and manage cost-per-click advertising campaigns on Expedia search results pages directly from Cloudbeds Digital Marketing.

This article answers frequently asked questions about OTA Ads, including who can use it, how ad spend is billed, how campaigns are created, where bookings happen, and what reporting data is available.

This article includes the following topics:

1. General questions
2. Budget and billing
3. Campaign setup and ad creative
4. Performance and reporting
5. Related articles

⭐ General questions

• Question: Who is eligible to use OTA Ads?
• Answer: OTA Ads is available for eligible properties with an active Cloudbeds Digital Marketing subscription, 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. For the full setup and requirements overview, see OTA Ads in Digital Marketing.

• Question: How is OTA Ads different from Hotel PMax?
• Answer: OTA Ads promotes your property on Expedia search results pages. When travelers click the ad, they go to your Expedia listing, and the reservation is completed on Expedia.
• Hotel PMax focuses on direct booking campaigns across Google channels, such as Google Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and other Google placements.

• Question: Is OTA Ads a direct booking product?
• Answer: No. OTA Ads promotes your Expedia listing. Travelers who click the ad are sent to Expedia, and the reservation is completed on Expedia.

• Question: Do I need an Expedia connection to use OTA Ads?
• Answer: Yes. Your property needs an active Expedia connection or agreement to use OTA Ads.

• Question: Do I need an active Expedia property listing?
• Answer: Yes. OTA Ads sends travelers to your live Expedia listing, so your property needs an active Expedia property listing.

• Question: Which role privilege do I need to subscribe to OTA Ads?
• Answer: You need the OTA Travel Ads: Admin privilege to subscribe to OTA Ads, edit the daily budget, and customize campaign content. OTA Ads privileges are managed from Users > Roles in Cloudbeds PMS. To review or update a role, see Add, edit or delete roles.

⭐ Budget and billing

• Question: How is OTA Ads ad spend billed?
• Answer: OTA Ads ad spend is paid using Cloudbeds credits. You choose how much budget to invest in the campaign during setup. For more details about credit-based campaign behavior, see Understanding Campaign Pausing & Credit Policies.

• Question: Is OTA Ads prepaid?
• Answer: Yes. OTA Ads uses prepaid Cloudbeds credits for ad spend, similar to other Cloudbeds Digital Marketing products that use campaign credits.

• Question: What happens if my daily budget runs out?
• Answer: If your daily budget runs out, the campaign pauses automatically in the dashboard, and Expedia stops serving the sponsored listing. After you update the budget or add credits, the campaign can restart automatically. To understand how campaign pausing works for credit-based products, see Understanding Campaign Pausing & Credit Policies.

⭐ Campaign setup and ad creative

• Question: How do I create an OTA Ads campaign?
• Answer: Subscribe to OTA Ads from the OTA Ads tab in Cloudbeds Digital Marketing, select your budget, configure the campaign visibility, choose an image, review or customize the ad text, preview the ad, and save the campaign. For the full step-by-step workflow, see OTA Ads in Digital Marketing.

• Question: Why would I manage OTA Ads in Cloudbeds instead of directly in Expedia?
• Answer: OTA Ads uses Expedia TravelAds. The difference is that Cloudbeds lets you manage the campaign from Cloudbeds Digital Marketing, including the dashboard, campaign budget, visibility setting, ad creative, and performance metrics.

• Question: How do I add an image to the ad library?
• Answer: OTA Ads images are retrieved from your Expedia property image library. To use a new image, upload it to your Expedia property profile first. Cloudbeds can then retrieve eligible images through the Expedia connection. For more details about selecting an image during campaign setup, see OTA Ads in Digital Marketing.

• Question: Can OTA Ads generate campaign text?
• Answer: Yes. OTA Ads can generate ad text for your campaign. Review the suggested headline and description before saving the campaign, and edit the text if needed so it accurately represents your property.

⭐ Performance and reporting

• Question: If a traveler clicks on the ad, where is the booking completed?
• Answer: When a traveler clicks your OTA Ad, they go to your property’s live Expedia listing. The reservation is completed on Expedia.

• Question: Why is my active ad not showing on Expedia search results?

• Answer: Ads are displayed according to live marketplace factors. Your property must have open availability for the searched dates, and your visibility setting helps determine how actively the campaign bids to show your ad.

  Your ad display may also depend on your campaign budget, credit status, Expedia search demand, and Expedia listing status.

• Question: How do I know which specific reservations were generated by my campaign?
• Answer: Expedia does not provide individual reservation IDs for OTA Ads reporting. You can monitor campaign performance in the dashboard using campaign-level metrics, such as revenue, bookings, spend, clicks, views, impressions, and ROI. For more information about reviewing performance, see OTA Ads in Digital Marketing.

Related articles

• OTA Ads in Digital Marketing
• Understanding Campaign Pausing & Credit Policies
• Add, edit, or delete roles