Performance to the max?

What is Performance Max for Travel Goals?

Performance Max ads appear across the entirety of Google's extensive advertising ecosystem. The Travel Goals variation is built specifically for hotels and can also display the same ad formats as hotel ads when pricing is available, helping to reach travellers who are actively planning a trip.

Unlike other Google ads campaigns where we can manually set bids and placements, PMax relies on Google’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) to handle bidding, audience targeting, and ad placements.

While this automation can be a great time saver, it also means we relinquish control over the placement of ads.

Where Will My Hotel Ads Show Up?

With Performance Max for Travel, a hotel’s ads can be seen in several places across Google’s network:

• Google Search
• YouTube & Display
• Discover & Gmail
• Google Maps
• Hotel Ads (including rates and availability details if a hotel feed has been setup)

Setting Up Performance Max for Your Hotel

To run a PMax campaign with a travel goal, your hotel’s inventory needs to be linked to Google.

There's two options to set this up:

1. Connecting Google Hotel Center – If your hotel is listed in Google Hotel Center, we can link it with Google Ads account and PMax can automatically pull in the pricing and availability details.
2. Using the Hotel Picker Tool – If the hotel is not listed in Google Hotel Center, we can manually create a hotel properties feed using the Hotel Picker Tool within Google Ads.

Once the hotel feed is connected, Google’s AI will take the reigns, testing different ad formats, combinations and optimising bids.

It's worth remembering that you can’t manually adjust bids for specific placements.

Pros & Cons to Consider

Running a Performance Max for Travel campaign brings both benefits and limitations. Specifically:

Benefits

• Broader reach – Your ads show up across multiple Google platforms
• Hotel Ads integration – Live pricing and availability can help to improve conversions
• Time-saving – AI automates bidding and targeting

Limitations

• Less control – We can’t choose exactly where the ads appear
• A requirement for high quality visuals – High-quality images and videos are game changing when it comes to visual impact and results
• More limited reporting – Insights aren’t as detailed as with other Google Ads campaign types

Is Performance Max Right for Your Hotel?

If you're looking to expand your reach via Google and target travellers at different stages of the booking funnel, Performance Max with a hotel feed could well bring you success. It works best if your hotel is already listed in Google Hotel Center and you’re open to experimentation with AI-driven ad automation.

However, if you (or your agency partner) prefers to be in the driving seat with your ads – choosing specific spots for them, carefully selecting who sees them and setting those bids yourself – then Performance Max might feel a bit like handing over the keys. It definitely opens up your reach and lets AI work its magic, but that also means you'll have less direct, hands-on control.