Meet Acronym’s Rebecca Kaplan

Executive Director, Travel Services

When did you join Acronym?

Summer of 2009

What do you do for Acronym and which clients do you work for?

I am the Executive Director of Client Services within Acronym’s travel department. I work directly with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts & oversee our other hotel clients to ensure search trends and insights get shared across our travel client list.

If you had to cite the most impactful change affecting the PPC business that Google has made over the past 12 months, what would that be?

Within the travel industry, Google’s entry into the Online Travel Agency space has had the biggest effect on travel in general, not just within the PPC space.

Google’s Hotel Price Ads works as an OTA, allowing hotels to present their nightly rates alongside the Expedias and Booking.coms of the world, also exponentially increasing costs for hotels. This product also changes the “face” of the SERP. The presentation of this product on the SERP has pushed SEO listings below the fold, making both PPC and HPA participation even more important to drive traffic than ever before.

What are the lingering effects of that change and how has Acronym helped its clients adjust to it?

The effects of Google’s entry into the OTA space has yet to fully be determined.

What we do know for sure, is that as the consumers get more and more savvy, behavior will shift. My clients do participate with Meta Search and Google’s HPA with the hope that this will shift users back to the hotel’s website and off of the online travel agents. Shifting this traffic will benefit hotel profitability.

What do you consider the most interesting aspect of digital advertising overall and the current state of search marketing?

For me, the most interesting aspect of this marketing medium is the constant change and the ability to adjust based on quantifiable results. Unlike any other marketing line, digital advertising is immediate and at its core, a direct response vehicle.  PPC allows us to “talk” to people while they are looking for us–or a hotel in our market in real time. Before search, there was no way to know if your mailer or ad was getting in front to the right person at the right time.

What do you like to do best when you are not working?

When not working I enjoy spending time with my friends and family.

Travel and creating memories are my passions. My husband Ryan and I like to bring our two-year-old son on adventures, whether that be a day trip to the beach, to an aquarium, or on a more exotic vacation.