Manual / Insights

Ad target — when does advertising pay off?

Updated on 2026-09-30

If you advertise on Google or Meta to get more direct bookings, only one question matters: does the campaign bring in enough bookings to be cheaper than simply paying commission? The ad target on Management → Insights → Statistics works that out for you.

Ad target card with the number of direct bookings this month versus the break-even point

Setting it up

  1. Go to Management → Insights → Statistics and select the right property at the top of the sidebar.
  2. Click Ad target at the top right.
  3. Fill in:
    • Advertising budget per month — what you spend each month on Google Ads or Meta. Leave empty = no target shown.
    • Your OTA's commission — what Booking.com or another channel charges you. Default 13%.
  4. Save. The Ad target card appears at the top of the page.

Reading the card

  • Direct bookings this month / break-even point — for example "3 / 4": this month 3 direct bookings came in, and from 4 onwards the campaign is cheaper than commission. A booking counts in the month in which it was made (not the month of the stay), and cancellations do not count.
  • BedFlow calculates the break-even point itself: your budget divided by what one direct booking saves you in commission. That saving depends on the average value of your direct bookings over the last 90 days, so the break-even point moves along with your rates.
  • On the right are Last month (the number of direct bookings then) and Saved this month (the commission your direct bookings saved this month).
  • The bar turns green as soon as the break-even point is reached, and stays orange as long as it has not been.

Example: with an average direct booking of €260 and 13% commission, you save €34 per booking. With an advertising budget of €145 per month, the break-even point is then 5 bookings (145 ÷ 34, rounded up).

What it is not

The ad target is the bar to clear, not a score. BedFlow does not know which booking came from an ad: some of your direct bookings come from returning guests and word of mouth, and would have come in without a campaign too. If your number of direct bookings is already above the break-even point before you start advertising, the campaign needs to add bookings on top of that.

If you really want to measure which ad produced which booking, read Conversion tracking.

See also: Guest origin and revenue per channel — there you can see whether a guest spends more or less via a channel than someone who books directly.

← Back to category