Skift Take

Travel brands have been chomping at the bit for a "book now" button in Instagram. With this new ad product, they're one step closer to finding out a real ROI from the Instagram strategies.

This morning Facebook expanded its Dynamic Ads product to cover travel brands, with Marriott International and Trivago on board as two of its launch participants.

Facebook’s advertising product allows it to target consumers as they move from site to site and across multiple devices, and as they switch from desktop to mobile and back again.

“For the first time, we are tailoring dynamic ads for a specific industry, making it easier for travel advertisers to tap into cross-device behavior and convert bookings,” Christine Warner, Facebook’s Travel Head of Industry, told Skift. “With Dynamic Ads for travel, advertisers can capture people’s intent to travel based on actions taken on their website or mobile app, and follow up with relevant messaging. These actions might include browsing a destination or hotel without booking, or booking a flight without making a corresponding hotel reservation.”

At launch the brands’ ads will only be present on Facebook desktop and on mobile browsers and apps, but as Facebook has done with other verticals, it will soon expand the program to Instagram as well as Facebook’s Audience Network, the latter which targets consumers on the mobile web and in apps.

Karin Timpone, Global Marketing Officer, Marriott International, said in a statement that, “We jumped at the opportunity to be first in our industry and to evolve our messaging from a single transaction at one point in time to an ongoing guest relationship that drives deeper engagement for a longer period of time.”

Dyanamic Ad - Trivago

Trivago is a launch partner for Facebook’s new Dynamic Ads for travel brands.

Mobile First

Mobile usage is really the focus here. With Facebook and Instagram’s apps, the company commands a significant portion of consumers’ time on mobile, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg claiming last month that the average user was on at least one of the brand’s mobile apps 50 minutes per day.

Withe the new ad product, Facebook can serve up ads for hotels, booking sites, and other travel brands based upon past browsing history on desktop and mobile. The ads will target users based on destination and date, and drive bookings directly to the travel brands. This is the first time Facebook has combined the elements of time and location to its ad products.

Although Facebook has been able to drive users to buy from brands sites, this will be the first time travel brands will be able to drive direct bookings from within the Instagram app without a convoluted set of steps.

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The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

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Tags: facebook, instagram, marriott, trivago

Photo credit: The new Facebook Dynamic Ad product featuring an ad by Marriott International. Facebook

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