Leading Travel Booking Services & Agencies: Q4 2023 Insights

In the dynamic world of travel booking services, a select few brands have consistently distinguished themselves in the US market. As Q4 2023 unfolds, Sensor Tower's data highlights standout performers like Expedia, Booking.com, and TripAdvisor, focusing on their monthly deduplicated audiences across websites and apps. This article delves into the trends from Q3 to Q4 2023, offering insights into audience engagement, app performance, and advertising strategies.

Expedia

Expedia maintains a robust digital presence with its website expedia.com and the Expedia: Hotels, Flights, Cars app.

• Audience Trends: From Q3 to Q4 2023, expedia.com experienced a fluctuating trend in unique monthly visits, maintaining a stable range of around 23M to 24M. The monthly deduplicated audience remained consistently above 30M, with a notable preference for web over app visitors.

• App Engagement: The Expedia app's monthly active users were stable, hovering around 5.2M, indicating steady mobile engagement.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Monthly advertising expenditure peaked in December at over $21M, with significant impressions driven by YouTube and Facebook. Mobile display and OTT channels also played notable roles.

Booking.com

Booking.com offers its services through booking.com and the Booking.com: Hotels & Travel app.

• Audience Trends: The website's unique monthly visits showed a slight decline from 21M in July to approximately 16M in December. However, the monthly deduplicated audience remained above 20M, with a balanced distribution between web and app visitors.

• App Engagement: The app maintained a strong presence with monthly active users consistently above 7.2M, highlighting a preference for mobile bookings.

• Ad Spend & Channels: Booking.com's monthly ad spend varied, with a peak in October at over $19M. YouTube and Instagram were key channels, delivering substantial impressions.

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor's offerings are accessible via tripadvisor.com and the Tripadvisor: Plan & Book Trips app.

• Audience Trends: The website's unique monthly visits were relatively stable, maintaining around 19M in Q4. The monthly deduplicated audience consistently exceeded 19M, with web-only visitors significantly outnumbering app-only visitors.

• App Engagement: The app had modest activity, with monthly active users around 300K, indicating a more web-centric audience.

• Ad Spend & Channels: TripAdvisor's monthly advertising efforts saw a significant increase in November, with spending surpassing $1M. Facebook was the dominant channel, driving the majority of impressions.

Conclusion

Sensor Tower's data underscores the pivotal role of cross-platform analysis in understanding user behavior in the travel booking sector. By leveraging comprehensive insights, brands can effectively strategize and optimize their presence across web and app platforms. This level of detailed analysis is crucial for staying competitive in the ever-evolving travel industry.

For more information, explore Sensor Tower's offerings, including Web Insights, Pathmatics, and App Performance Insights.