Vrbo is globally rolling out Sponsored Listings: better search placement can now be bought
Following a pilot programme, Vrbo Sponsored Listings has become globally available through the Expedia Group Advertising platform. The model differs from traditional pay-per-click: the partner determines the amount they are willing to pay for each booked night, with a minimum bid of five US dollars. There is no upper limit.
Will it object appearing at the top of relevant results depends on the so-called advertising score and the auction result. Partners cannot see competitors' bids, but they can track impressions, clicks, bookings and return on investment, and stop or modify campaigns on the fly.
For professional property managers, this opens up a practical possibility to direct additional budget solely towards weaker slots, for instance mid-week or periods of lower demand.
The pilot results look good, but they call for caution
Expedia Group states that partners involved in the pilot achieved on average 49 percent more bookings, 39 percent higher revenue, and 30 percent more booked nights. However, these are the company's internal data, so they should not be automatically applied to every property or market.
A more important question for property managers will be incrementality. If a paid placement generates a booking that the property wouldn't have received without the ad, the additional cost can be highly effective. If the guest would have booked the same accommodation anyway, a Sponsored Listing simply adds another item to the overall OTA cost. Industry sources therefore recommend targeted use, primarily for dates and properties where organic visibility is not sufficient.
Expedia is increasingly integrating Vrbo into its ecosystem
Sponsored Listings was part of a broader integration of the vacation rental segment into Expedia Group's distribution infrastructure. The company is already expanding Vrbo inventory through its B2B network, which includes tens of thousands of partners and travel agencies, while Vrbo Payments further connects bookings, payments and the One Key ecosystem.
For apartment and villa managers on the Adriatic, this means yet another distribution tool, but also another revenue management decision: how much is a top spot in OTA search worth when, on top of commission, promotions and discounts, you also start paying for visibility itself?
