Small property, core channel only
$1,500 to $3,000 a month
Hospitality marketing agency work that wins bookings back from the travel portals
Every room night you sell through a booking portal costs you a hefty commission, and the guest ends up in the portal's database instead of yours. Instead of a generic hospitality marketing agency, you work with a specialist who has marketed hotels before. They build a direct channel so guests book with you and come back without a middleman.
Free, no obligation. A senior project manager walks you through the analysis.
Free analysis in 24 hours
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your marketing with your competitors'.
Free marketing analysis
- PDF analysis
- 5 competitors
- Prioritized action list
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Key takeaways
The short version
Before you read on
- A share of your bookings shifts from expensive portals to your own website.
- Your occupancy no longer hinges on commission terms someone else sets.
- You fill the calendar off peak too, with offers that reach the right travelers at the right moment.
- Within 24 hours, a senior project manager puts a travel and hotel specialist on your property.
How it works
How to win guests back from the middlemen
Online travel agencies send real traffic. There's no point pretending they don't. But every night they sell takes a cut of your rate, and the guest's email and preferences land in their database, not yours. In effect, you're paying for access to your own customer, and when that guest comes back next year, you pay all over again.
You don't need to walk away from the portals. You need a strong direct channel running beside them. The goal is simple: anyone who stayed once books on your website next time, and new travelers find you through search, maps and social feeds, not just the big booking sites.
What you get
Hotel advertising that grows direct bookings
Done well, your own promotion cuts what you pay in commission and puts you back in charge of each guest relationship.
Less commission paid out
Each reservation on your own site is a night you sell without splitting the revenue with anyone.
A guest list you own
Contact details stay with your property, so you can invite past guests back without paying a third party to reach them.
Occupancy in the slow months
Targeted offers fill rooms in the weeks when portal reservations dry up.
More revenue per stay
Packages and extras you sell direct, like late checkout or a spa credit, raise what every reservation is worth.
Checklist
What promoting your property involves
A direct channel runs on a handful of tools that work together, and each one needs regular attention.
Checklist
- A hotel website with a booking engine that's easy to use on a phone
- Search campaigns on lodging phrases tied to your location
- A map listing with room photos and up-to-date offers
- Guest review management, since reviews build trust faster than any ad
- Email campaigns and special offers for people who've already stayed with you
- Seasonal and weekend packages that make each night worth more
Side by side
Direct bookings versus depending on the portals
If one booking platform sends most of your guests, that platform controls your results. A change to its rules, its ranking algorithm or its commission rate can hit occupancy overnight, and you get no say in any of it.
A direct channel turns that around. Once a solid share of guests book with you, you own the list, the message and the chance to invite people back for free. The portals become one source among several instead of the thing holding up the business. That's why seo for hotels and hotel online marketing matter so much: they're how a traveler reaches your site without going through someone else's checkout.
Step by step
Your hotel marketing strategy, step by step
Every step fixes one weak spot before the next step adds traffic.
Step 1
Occupancy review
We look at where your guests come from, how much you lose to commission and which weeks of the year sit half empty.
Step 2
Strengthen your own channel
Your specialist reworks the website and booking engine so booking direct is easier than on a portal: fewer clicks, no surprises at checkout.
Step 3
Bring in new guests
Campaigns and your map listing go live, sending travelers straight to your site instead of a comparison page.
Step 4
Repeat stays and the low season
Past guests get well-timed email invitations, and offers aimed at the right audiences fill the quieter months.
What it costs
How much marketing for a hotel costs
Your budget depends on the size of the property, where it is and how seasonal demand runs. For planning, here are typical monthly US ranges for the marketing work itself, before ad spend and online travel agency commissions.
Hotel with a full online presence
$3,000 to $10,000 a month
Booking engine and website
one-time cost that depends on scope
Performance-linked arrangement
part of the fee tied to direct reservations
In short
How we work, at a glance
24 hours
to line up a specialist in travel and hotel marketing
portfolio
past hotel campaigns and the bookings they drove, reviewed before we assign anyone
15+ years
of experience for the senior project manager who tracks your direct bookings
sector
background your specialist brings from hotel and travel marketing
Side by side
Relying on a booking portal versus promoting the property yourself
Commission on every night
Reservations with no revenue split
The guest belongs to the portal
Your own list for inviting guests back
Dependence on someone else's algorithm
Control over your own channel
Shown on the same screen as competitors
A website that presents only your property
Before you start
A hotel marketing specialist for your property within 24 hours
A hotel lives on occupancy, reviews and the daily fight to keep reservations from drifting to a portal. A senior project manager with 15+ years in marketing assigns someone who has marketed lodging properties before, so seasonal swings and booking mechanics are nothing new to them. You'll know your specialist's name within 24 hours, and the first consultation is free. The work covers everything a hotel digital marketing agency would, from search to hotel social media marketing. Start with a free analysis of your property.
Checklist
What to check before someone takes over your property's marketing
Travel plays by its own rules, so confirm a few things before any work starts.
Checklist
- They've marketed hotels or other lodging properties before
- They understand how commission and direct reservations affect each other
- They know how to fill the calendar outside high season
- They cover maps, reviews and how your rooms look online
- They build a guest list that turns into repeat stays
Good to know
Which properties see the strongest return
Properties that get most of their reservations from portals gain the most, because every percentage point you move to the direct channel is commission you keep. The higher your nightly rate, the faster the work pays for itself.
It also works well for highly seasonal places like mountain lodges, beach hotels and spa resorts. For them, everything comes down to filling rooms off peak, and a direct channel plus a guest list lets you put an offer in front of people exactly when demand needs a nudge. For these properties, digital marketing for hotels is less about steady spending and more about timing. See the full range of channels on the services page.
FAQ
Questions companies ask us
Short answers. The free analysis call covers anything specific to your company.
01Should we stop listing on booking portals?
No. The portals bring in valuable traffic. The idea is to build a strong direct channel next to them, so you win back some reservations from commission and stop depending on a single source of guests.
02How do I get guests to book on my own website?
Give them a smooth booking engine, a clear offer and a small perk for booking direct. That might be a better rate, or an extra the portal listing doesn't include, like free parking or a welcome drink.
03What can be done about occupancy outside the season?
Aim offers at the right guests: weekend packages, themed stays and invitations to people who've been there before. Email marketing for hotels shines here, because past guests already know the place and respond faster than strangers do.
04How much does marketing for a hotel cost?
In the US, smaller properties start at around $1,500 to $3,000 a month, and the budget grows with the size of the hotel and the scope of work. You'll only get a meaningful number after an occupancy review.
05Do you help with guest reviews?
Yes. In travel, reviews carry huge weight. Your specialist helps you collect feedback from happy guests and reply to the tough ones calmly and consistently. Over time, that builds trust in the property.
06How quickly will the share of direct bookings grow?
You'll usually see first results a few weeks after the website is fixed and campaigns go live. Moving a noticeable share of bookings from the portals to your own channel takes several months, not a flip of a switch.
Free analysis
See where your marketing stands, then decide what to do next
Send us your website. Within 24 hours, you'll get a written analysis comparing your channels with your competitors', plus a call with a senior project manager who has run marketing for 15+ years.
- Analysis within 24 hours
- No obligation
- PDF covering 5 competitors
- Team picked by your PM
Free marketing analysis
- PDF analysis
- 5 competitors
- Prioritized action list
Your analysis is prepared by a senior project manager with 15+ years of experience in marketing.
Are you a marketer with experience in a specific industry? Join the team