About URL variables and conditions for Hotel ads

This article explains how you can use URL variables and conditions to identify click sources for most travel ad formats, including Paid booking links, Travel promotion ads and Travel Feeds in Search ads.

Getting started

URL templates, which can be configured in Hotel Centre, define the landing page that a user is directed to after clicking on a travel ad or free booking link. When you include one of the variables or conditions from the table below in your URL template, we’ll populate it at serving time with the relevant value based on the ad format that the user clicked or the campaign type that the ad was served from.

Ad format clicked or Campaign type ad format was served from
	Variable used in URL template: GOOGLE-ADS-CLICK-SOURCE What is the source of the click?	Condition used in URL template: IF-HOTEL-CAMPAIGN Is the click from a Hotel campaign ads?	Condition used in URL template: IF-AD-CLICK Is the click from an ad?	Condition used in URL template: IF-PROMOTED Is the click from a travel promotion ad?
Paid booking links (BL)	'bl'	True	True	False
Travel promotion ads (TPA)	'tpa'	True	True	True
Travel Feeds in Search Ads (TFSA)	'tfsa'	False	True	False
Travel ads shown from Performance Max and Performance Max for travel goals (PM) campaigns	'pm'	False	True	False
Free booking links (FBL)	blank	False	False	False

Additional details and examples

GOOGLE-ADS-CLICK-SOURCE

'GOOGLE-ADS-CLICK-SOURCE' is a variable that can be added in the URL template in Hotel Centre to identify ad click sources. When this variable is used in a URL template, we replace it at serving time with values denoted below corresponding to specific travel hotel products.

URL template example:

In this example, Google will construct the following URLs. Note that the 'clk_src=' labelling are only examples and can be adjusted per your preference.

IF-AD-CLICK

If you want to track which clicks come from any ad click source, you can add IF-AD-CLICK to your URL template(s) in Hotel Centre.

In this case, if you are running Paid booking links, Travel promotion ads or Travel Feeds in Search ads, this conditional will track ad clicks from these sources but not differentiate between them.

URL template example:

In this example, based on the table below, you would get the following URLs for each of the formats. Note, the 'adType= labelling are only examples and can be adjusted per your preference.

IF-HOTEL-CAMPAIGN

If you want to track which clicks come from Paid booking links and Travel promotion ads, you can add IF-HOTEL-CAMPAIGN to your URL template(s) in Hotel Centre.

URL template example:

In this example, based on the table below, we construct the following URLs for each of the travel formats. The 'adType=' values are only examples and can be adjusted per your preference.

IF-PROMOTED

If you want to track which clicks come from Travel promotion ads, you can add IF-PROMOTED to your URL template(s) in Hotel Centre.

URL template example:

In this example, based on the table below, we construct the following URLs for each of the travel formats. The 'adType=' values are only examples and can be adjusted per your preference.

Combining conditionals

IF-AD-CLICK and IF-HOTEL-CAMPAIGN example

Combining IF-AD-CLICK and IF-HOTEL-CAMPAIGN, in this order, differentiates whether clicks are generated from general ad clicks and whether ad clicks are from a Hotel campaign (e.g. Paid booking links and Travel promotion ads).

Assuming this is your URL template in Hotel Centre and IF-AD-CLICK is placed before IF-HOTEL-CAMPAIGN:

Based on the table below, Google will construct the following URLs for each of the travel formats.

Related links

• Hotel prices API: Variables and conditions
• Hotel Centre: Manage and update your landing pages
• Hotel Centre: Hotels starter guide
• About Hotel campaigns in Google Ads
• About Performance Max for travel goals
• About property promotion ads