Colina Secreta: from position 27 to 11 on Google and $19,775 in website bookings
A twelve-room glamping retreat in the jungle of Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. With a new website and Google campaigns, it climbed from position 27 to 11 in search and recorded thirty bookings on its website worth $19,775.
- Client
- Colina Secreta
- Location
- Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
- Rooms
- 12
- Pillars
- Hotel marketingTechnology
- Website
- colinasecreta.com
The challenge
Before its new website, Colina Secreta ranked, on average, at position 27 in Google search, far from the top results. Anyone looking for a place to stay in Puerto Viejo found plenty of options before reaching it, and every booking that ended up with an online travel agency, such as Booking or Expedia, cost the hotel a commission. The hotel had to reach those guests before the agencies did.
The solution
In October 2024 we launched Google Ads campaigns, the ads that appear above the results when someone searches for a place to stay in Puerto Viejo. Then we rebuilt the website on WordPress, as the owner asked, with every page set up so Google could understand it and show it. We tracked bookings in Google Analytics to know which channel each sale came from.
In the 45 days after the new website went live, the average Google position moved from 26.8 to 10.9 and the hotel appeared 25,845 times in search, up from 10,571: 144% more. The ads drew 25,082 clicks and returned $2.53 for every dollar spent, according to Google Ads. Since September 2025, with the revenue manager the hotel hired in charge of pricing, that return rose to $3.61.
While we worked with the hotel, its website recorded thirty bookings worth $19,775, and 85% of that revenue came from Google, between search and ads. Visits from AI assistants such as ChatGPT grew 108%.
Results
- Average Google position
- 26,8 → 10,9
- Google appearances
- +144 %
- Per dollar on Google Ads
- $2,53
- Website bookings
- $19.775