When hoteliers think about hotel paid search advertising, most immediately focus on Google. While Google Ads remains a core part of any digital marketing strategy, relying on a single search engine limits reach, visibility, and incremental revenue.
Adding Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) to your hotel’s channel mix can unlock high-intent traffic, lower cost-per-click, and incremental direct bookings — often with less competition than Google.
If your goal is to increase direct bookings and reduce dependency on OTAs, Bing should not be overlooked.
What Is Microsoft Advertising (Bing Ads) and Why Does It Matter for Hotels?
Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) allows hotels to show paid search ads across the Microsoft Search Network, including Bing, Yahoo, and partner sites. Because Bing is the default search engine on Windows devices and Microsoft Edge, it captures a significant share of desktop-based searches — particularly in corporate and office environments.
For hotels, this means visibility in front of users actively searching for terms such as:
- “Boutique hotel in Barcelona”
- “Luxury hotel near Hyde Park”
- “Family-friendly resort in Algarve”
These are not browsing users. They are high-intent travellers close to booking. Capturing that demand directly can significantly improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).
Lower Competition, Lower CPCs, Higher Efficiency
One of the main advantages of Bing Ads for hotels is lower competition. Many independent hotels and even agencies concentrate their budgets solely on Google, leaving Microsoft’s network underutilised.
Because fewer advertisers compete aggressively on Bing:
- Cost-per-click (CPC) is often lower
- Brand terms are cheaper to protect
- Impression share is easier to win
- Return on ad spend can outperform expectations
For independent hotels trying to compete against global chains and OTAs, this creates an opportunity to gain visibility without dramatically increasing budget.
Access to a High-Value Audience
The Bing audience profile is particularly attractive for hotels targeting premium or corporate travellers. Research consistently shows that Microsoft’s search users skew slightly older and report higher average household incomes compared to other search audiences.
Bing also maintains strong desktop usage, which remains highly relevant for hotel bookings. Higher-value stays, longer trips, and corporate travel are frequently researched and booked on desktop devices, where users compare options across multiple tabs before making a decision.
For city hotels, upscale properties, and business-focused destinations, this audience alignment can drive stronger conversion rates and higher average booking values.
Desktop Search Still Converts for Hotels
Although mobile traffic dominates overall search volumes, desktop remains a powerful conversion channel in hospitality marketing. Many travellers begin their journey on mobile but finalise their booking on desktop — particularly when comparing rates between OTAs and the hotel’s direct website.
Because Bing has stronger desktop penetration, it often captures users during this decisive stage. Running branded and non-branded campaigns on Microsoft Advertising helps ensure that when a potential guest searches your hotel name, they find your official website first — not an OTA listing.
Protecting your brand across all search engines is essential if you want to reduce commission leakage.
Bing Ads Deliver Incremental Demand – Not Just Duplicate Traffic
A common misconception is that Bing simply duplicates Google traffic. In reality, many users exclusively use Bing due to default browser settings, corporate IT restrictions, or personal preference within the Microsoft ecosystem.
This means Bing can deliver incremental direct bookings that your Google campaigns would never capture.
For hotels looking to diversify their marketing mix and reduce reliance on OTAs, incremental revenue matters. Expanding into Microsoft Advertising is not about replacing Google — it is about strengthening your paid search strategy across multiple demand sources.
OTA Brand Defence on Bing
OTAs actively bid on hotel brand terms across search engines — including Bing. If you are only defending your brand on Google, you are leaving space for OTAs to capture high-intent traffic elsewhere.
Running branded search campaigns on Microsoft Advertising allows you to:
- Control your messaging
- Highlight direct booking benefits
- Protect rate parity positioning
- Capture guests before they click an OTA
Even a modest budget can protect significant direct revenue over time.
When Should Hotels Invest in Bing Ads?
Bing Ads are particularly effective for:
- 4-star and 5-star hotels
- Urban and corporate-focused properties
- Hotels in highly competitive destinations
- Properties with strong desktop conversion performance
- Hotels already investing in Google Ads who want incremental growth
If you are already running paid search campaigns, launching on Microsoft Advertising is relatively straightforward. Campaign structures can be imported, tracking can be aligned with your booking engine, and optimisation can be layered in without rebuilding strategy from scratch.
How AdsPlus Supports Hotels with Bing Ads
At Userguest, AdsPlus helps hotels build and optimise multi-channel paid search strategies to increase direct bookings while maintaining sustainable ROAS.
AdsPlus is a fully managed service, where our expert team combines human strategy with AI and automation to continuously optimise campaigns and deliver the strongest possible performance.
Our approach goes beyond simple campaign imports. Our AI-powered paid ads focus on brand protection, OTA defence, audience targeting, and conversion optimisation across Google, Bing, Meta and TikTok, ensuring hotels capture demand wherever it exists.
If you are serious about growing direct revenue and building a more resilient digital acquisition strategy, adding Bing to your channel mix is a logical next step.
Talk to the AdsPlus team and start turning untapped Bing demand into profitable revenue.