Exclusive Offers / Value Adds

Use Exclusive Offers, previously referred to as Value Adds, to give travelers a clear reason to book through your Ripe-powered site and to track which offers influence booking behavior.

Exclusive Offers are reservation incentives that are not usually available on other online travel sites. They can include special offers, discounts, local gift cards, attraction tickets, event access, or destination-specific experiences.

Prerequisites

Before you promote an Exclusive Offer:

1. Define the offer name, traveler-facing description, and eligibility rules.
2. Confirm which properties participate in the offer.
3. Confirm how the offer is fulfilled after booking, such as at check-in, by email, or through a partner redemption process.
4. Decide where the offer should be promoted, such as your main website, lodging page, microsite, campaign landing page, or Ripe Search Widget.
5. Prepare tracking values so you can identify offer traffic in reporting.

1. Choose the Right Offer

Prioritize localized offers that connect to your destination. These offers are usually stronger than generic discounts because they answer the traveler’s question: “Why should I book here?”

Good offer types include:

• Local attraction tickets
• Restaurant, retail, or community gift cards
• Event-specific access or perks
• Destination-branded packages
• Limited-time booking incentives

Generic offers can still work, but tailor them to a specific audience, season, event, or need period. Avoid offers that are unclear, difficult to redeem, or disconnected from the reason the traveler is visiting.

2. Promote the Offer Early

Introduce the offer before the traveler reaches the booking engine. The earlier the traveler understands the value, the more likely the offer is to influence the booking decision.

Place offer messaging in these locations:

• Ripe Search Widget placements: Mention that Exclusive Offers are available when travelers book through your site.
• Primary lodging pages: Add concise copy near the booking call to action.
• Microsite and campaign landing pages: Match the offer to the event, venue, festival, or promotion that brought the traveler to the page.
• Lodging-related content pages: Add offer copy where travelers are researching where to stay.

Keep the message specific. Instead of “Book now for perks,” use copy that names the offer, explains who qualifies, and tells the traveler where they will see it in the booking flow.

3. Configure the Search Widget

Use the Ripe Search Widget when the offer is tied to a specific microsite, event, landing page, or campaign.

1. Open your Ripe account.
2. Select Widget Builder.
3. Start from the Account Default widget or duplicate an existing widget.
4. In Microsite Settings, select the microsite if this widget should send travelers to a specific campaign or event booking experience.
5. In Date Settings, leave dates blank for general lodging traffic, or pre-fill event dates for an event-specific microsite.
6. In Search Filters, add optional filters such as property type or area if they help travelers narrow results.
7. In Appearance, update labels, colors, and button text so the widget matches the campaign message.
8. Preview the widget and confirm the search path sends travelers to the correct booking experience.
9. Save the widget, copy the generated embed code, and place it on the relevant page.

Saved widget changes publish to embedded widgets automatically, so you do not need to redeploy the embed code after each content or style update.

4. Track Offer Traffic

Use tracking parameters to separate general lodging traffic from offer, widget, and microsite traffic.

Use lodging_source when you need a custom reporting label for a campaign, offer, landing page, or partner placement.

https://lodging.example.com/search?lodging_source=spring-museum-pass

Use Source=SearchWidget when the traveler enters through a Ripe Search Widget. The value must be SearchWidget so the traffic-source logic can classify the visit correctly.

https://lodging.example.com/search?Source=SearchWidget&lodging_source=spring-museum-pass-widget

If a microsite parameter is also defined, Ripe classifies widget traffic as affiliate_search_widget. If a microsite parameter is defined without Source=SearchWidget, Ripe classifies the visit as affiliate_link.

5. Confirm the Traveler Experience

After the traveler reaches the booking engine, the offer appears in the booking flow in several places:

1. On the search results page, the traveler can select an offer from the navigation menu.
2. Selecting an offer highlights properties where the offer is available.
3. If the traveler does not choose an offer on the search results page, the offer can still appear later on the property page or during checkout.
4. After launch, offer reporting shows which offers travelers select most often.

Use this reporting to compare offer performance, update campaign messaging, and decide which offers to repeat.

Optional: QA Before Launch

Before promoting the offer, test the full path from the marketing placement to checkout.

1. Open each page where the offer is promoted.
2. Click the search widget or lodging link.
3. Confirm the URL includes the expected tracking values, such as Source=SearchWidget or lodging_source.
4. Confirm the booking engine opens the correct microsite or lodging experience.
5. Select the offer on the search results page.
6. Confirm eligible properties are highlighted.
7. Continue to a property page and checkout to confirm the offer remains visible where expected.

If tracking values are missing, update the link or widget configuration before launch. If the wrong properties are highlighted, confirm the property eligibility list before sending campaign traffic to the page.