This document summarizes a study on traveler attribution that analyzed clickstream data to understand how travelers research and book flights and hotels. Some key findings: 1. OTAs are used throughout the travel planning process from inspiration to research to booking. Meta sites are commonly used for research and drive traffic to OTAs. 2. Supplier sites that consumers start their research on see more bookings on those supplier sites, but not always where research began. 3. The study provides recommendations for marketers to take a full-funnel media approach leveraging OTAs and meta sites, create partnerships across influential touchpoints, and give travelers a reason to remember and return to brands.

1. TRAVELER ATTRIBUTION

2. WENDY OLSON KILLION
Director, Product, Expedia Media Solutions
6 Years at Expedia, Inc.
Previous experience: Market research, editorial
and product management across the automotive
industry.
Fun Fact: I grew up in Naches, WA (population 808)
on an orchard and bee farm. My parents have one
of the largest apiaries in the US and my first job at 4
years old was building bee frames.

3. EXPEDIA, INC: MORE THAN 150 TRAVEL
BRANDED SITES IN 70 COUNTRIES

4. Source: comScore WW January 2015.
EXPEDIA MEDIA SOLUTIONS: GLOBAL NETWORK OF SITES
Worldwide Monthly Unique Users (Millions)
39.5M 21.1M 4.3M 12.1M
962K 12.3M 773K 2.6M
367K 7M 3.7M

5. REAL WORLD INSIGHTS
Traveler
Attribution
Multiscreen
Consumer Behaviors

6. TALK TO US
@ExpediaMedia
#TravelerAttribution

7. DEFINING ATTRIBUTION
Attribution is the process of identifying a
set of user actions (“events”) that
contribute in some manner to a desired
outcome, and the assigning of value to
each of these events.
- IAB Attribution Primer, 2014

8. ATTRIBUTION
THE CURRENT REALITY
NONE/DON’T KNOW – 15% of digital advertisers don’t use any
form of attribution to assign credit to channels or partners
SIMPLISTIC – 34% of advertisers use first touch attribution and
27% use last touch
Source: Forrester Research (commissioned by Google), “Cross-channel Attribution is Needed to
Drive Marketing Effectiveness”, May 2014
“Half of my advertising is
wasted, I just don’t
know which half”
- John Wanamaker

9. METHODOLOGY
This study looks at clickstream data 45 days prior to hotel &
flight bookings
The goal was to isolate where users initiated their research
and how their interaction with key touch points influences
where they transact
Search is often attributed to bookings via the last touch
methodology; the study widened the scope of focus to identify
other key influencers in the traveler’s path to purchase

10. 2.5 3 3.4
5.2
6.9
15.5
5 Weeks Out 4 Weeks Out 3 Weeks Out 2 Weeks Out 1 Week Out Week of Booking
PACKAGE BOOKERS CONSUME A LOT OF TRAVEL
CONTENT, ESPECIALLY THE WEEK OF BOOKING
Number of travel sites visited per week by the average segment member,
Oct’12-Mar’13 aggregate
• Travel content consumption the
week of a package booking
more than doubles the prior
week’s volume
• Number of visits to travel sites
made by package bookers 45
days before booking:
Average Travel Site Visits per Week
*Same sites counted only once per session in visits figure; visitation to same site during a different
session will be counted as a separate visit
38

11. INDUSTRY
% OF UNIQUE VISITORS
MARKET SHARE
% OF BOOKERS
META
9%META
14%
OTA
33%
OTA
30%
SUPPLIER
61%SUPPLIER
53%

12. FULL FUNNEL VIEW
HOTEL

13. CONSUMER FUNNEL VIEW – HOTEL
144 Unique Scenarios
28,565,866 Instances
Inspiration Mid-Funnel Booking
Point of Inspiration
Influential
Touchpoint
Downstream
Touchpoint
Hotel Booking Location
Supplier
40%
All OTA
39%
Meta
21%
Supplier
36%
All OTA
49%
Meta
14%
Supplier
51%
All OTA
40%
Meta
10%

14. TOP 10 MOST COMMON
PATHS FOR HOTEL BOOKERS
RANK INSPIRATION MID-FUNNEL RESEARCH BOOKING
SHARE OF ALL
SCENARIOS
1 Supplier Supplier Supplier Supplier 7.2%
2 OTA Meta OTA OTA 4.5%
3 Meta Meta OTA OTA 4.4%
4 OTA Supplier OTA Supplier 3,6%
5 Supplier Supplier OTA Supplier 3.4%
6 OTA Meta OTA Supplier 3.4%
7 Supplier Supplier Meta Supplier 3.2%
8 OTA Supplier Supplier Supplier 2.8%
9 Supplier Meta OTA Supplier 2.8%
10 Supplier Meta OTA OTA 2.8%

15. MID-FUNNEL
HOTEL RESEARCH TRENDS
SUPPLIER META
OTA
Meta
Supplier
DMO
61%
6%
32%
1%
OTA
Meta
Supplier
DMO
37%
25%
38%
1%
45% 36%
INSPIRATION

16. MID-FUNNEL
META IMPACT
SUPPLIER HOTEL BOOKINGS
23%OTA
Meta as a
Mid-Funnel
Touchpoint
16%Supplier.com

17. WHERE HOTEL BOOKERS
INITIATE THEIR RESEARCH
Site where hotel was booked
OTA META SUPPLIER
Hotelinspirationpoint
OTA 44%
23%
33%
42%
25%
33%
34%
20%
46%
META
SUPPLIER

18. FULL FUNNEL VIEW
FLIGHT

19. CONSUMER FUNNEL VIEW – FLIGHT
144 Unique Scenarios
46,000,432 Instances
Inspiration Mid-Funnel Booking
Point of Inspiration
Influential
Touchpoint
Downstream
Touchpoint
Flight Booking Location
Supplier
47%
All OTA
40%
Meta
13%
Supplier
36%
All OTA
46%
Meta
18%
Supplier
76%
All OTA
16%
Meta
9%

20. TOP 10 MOST COMMON
PATHS FOR FLIGHT BOOKERS
RANK INSPIRATION MID-FUNNEL RESEARCH BOOKING
1 Supplier Supplier Supplier Supplier
2 Supplier Supplier OTA Supplier
3 OTA Supplier OTA Supplier
4 Supplier Supplier Meta Supplier
5 OTA Meta OTA Supplier
6 OTA Supplier Supplier Supplier
7 Supplier Meta OTA Supplier
8 Supplier Meta Supplier Supplier
9 OTA Supplier Meta Supplier
10 OTA Meta Supplier Supplier
SHARE OF ALL
SCENARIOS
10.2%
6.9%
6.5%
6.2%
5.7%
4.9%
4.4%
4.2%
4.0%
3.4%

21. MID-FUNNEL
FLIGHT RESEARCH TRENDS
62% 29%
INSPIRATION
SUPPLIER META
OTA
Meta
Supplier
DMO
60%
6%
33%
1%
OTA
Meta
Supplier
DMO
39%
26%
35%
0%

22. SUPPLIER FLIGHT BOOKINGS
25%OTA
Meta as a
Mid-Funnel
Touchpoint
15%Supplier.com
MID-FUNNEL
META IMPACT

23. WHERE FLIGHT BOOKERS
INITIATE THEIR RESEARCH
Site where flight was booked
OTA META SUPPLIER
Flightinspirationpoint
OTA 45%
14%
41%
42%
16%
42%
38%
14%
48%
META
SUPPLIER

24. RECOMMENDATIONS

25. #1KEY FINDINGS & INSIGHTS
OTAs are used at all
phases of the consumer
Consider a
full-funnel
media approach
through OTAs.
path to purchase –
inspiration, mid-funnel
research, and even at the
point of booking.

26. #2KEY FINDINGS & INSIGHTS
Create
partnerships
Meta sites are commonly
leveraged as influential
that touch points but meta
provide efficient
and scalable
reach on the top
channels.
drives more traffic to OTAs
than to any other travel
category.

27. #3KEY FINDINGS & INSIGHTS
Bring them
back – give
them a reason
to remember
and return.
Consumers who start
research on supplier
sites are more likely to
book on supplier, but not
necessarily where they
initiated.

28. THANK YOU
DOWNLOAD THE FULL STUDY
bit.ly/travelerattribution
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