Hotel marketing that sells direct
Ads measured in direct bookings, not clicks, and your name on Google without paying an OTA for it.
Free assessmentThe problem with paying the OTA for your own name
Someone searches for your hotel by name on Google. Booking and Expedia show up before your site, because they bid on your brand in the ads. The guest who had already chosen you books with them, and you pay a commission on a booking that was yours.
Meanwhile, social media spend is measured in reach and likes. Nobody knows how many bookings it brought, so the budget is set by gut feeling.
Four levers, measured in bookings.
Brand defense. People searching for your hotel by name land on your site, not on the OTA that bid for it.
Google campaigns on your own name, with the perks of booking direct in plain sight, so that click doesn’t go to the OTA.
Google Ads and Meta. Ad spend is measured in direct bookings, not clicks.
Campaigns wired to analytics: every ad is judged by the bookings and revenue it brings, and the budget moves toward what works.
Winning back visitors. Whoever checked dates and left sees your hotel again, with those same dates.
Visitors who searched dates on your site and didn’t book meet your hotel again on Instagram or Google, with the room and dates they were looking at.
SEO and content. Content that puts you in front of travelers while they choose a destination.
A content plan, on-page optimization and one article a month about your destination, so you show up on Google and in AI answers ahead of the OTAs.
How we do it: your ad spend follows your hotel’s calendar.
Positioning. We define what sets your hotel apart and who we tell about it.
Before the first ad, Gabriela sets the message, the source markets and the perks of booking direct. Campaigns and content all start from there.
Brand defense. The first thing we switch on is your name on Google.
Someone searching for your hotel by name has already chosen you, so that campaign is usually the most profitable of all. It stops Booking or Expedia from taking a booking that was yours.
Dates that need help. Every week, revenue flags the soft dates and that’s where the budget goes.
Dates that sell on their own don’t get a dollar. Every offer comes with a condition, such as a minimum stay or a non-refundable rate, so the rest of your nights don’t get cheaper.
Done with
Measured in bookings. Every campaign is judged by the bookings and revenue it brings in.
Each one has a cost-per-booking cap that never exceeds the commission the OTA would charge. Whatever doesn’t hit that number gets switched off, and the budget moves to what works.
Done with
Within the methodology
Hotel marketing sits in two steps of our methodology: strategy, where we decide who to talk to and when, and execution, where campaigns go live.
It relies on the other three pillars to avoid overspending: Revenue Management tells it which dates need guests and how much each booking can cost, Data confirms which campaign brought in each one, and Technology makes sure the ad lands on a website that converts.
A campaign without that information is a gamble. That’s why we recommend adding all four pillars, with the same team and the same numbers, for less than it would cost to hire one person for marketing and another for pricing in-house.
Frequently asked questions
What is hotel marketing?
Everything you do so a traveler chooses your hotel and books direct: showing up when they search your destination, winning the search for your own name, advertising on the dates you need to fill and bringing back people who checked dates and left. We measure it in direct bookings and revenue.
How do I get more direct bookings?
Start with your name. Someone who searches your hotel on Google has already chosen you, and if Booking shows up first, you pay commission on a booking that was yours. Then come ads on slow dates and content about your destination.
Who pays for the ads?
You do, directly to Google and Meta with your card, so you see every dollar. We decide which dates to invest in and the maximum each booking may cost, always below the commission the OTA would charge.
Do you also run the hotel’s social media?
Day-to-day posting on Instagram and Facebook is not included, and neither is photo or video production. Meta ads are, and they are measured in bookings like every other campaign.
How it starts
The assessment is free: you answer a few questions about your hotel and see right away where your marketing stands, along with the other three pillars. Then, if you like, we walk you through it in 15 minutes.
The four pillars
- Data
- Technology
- Hotel marketingYou are here
- Revenue Management