Before You Advertise a Hotel: A Checklist
Advertising for hotels works differently from most sectors: the person who clicks doesn’t buy immediately. They pick dates, compare prices, and come back days later. If any link in that chain is broken, the ad budget goes straight to waste.
Check the eight items below before you set a budget. This isn’t a strategy piece — for the Google Ads side, see hotel Google Ads.
1. Can someone actually book on your own site?
This is the mistake I see most. Ads run, the click lands, and there’s no working booking engine — only a “contact us” form. Going to an OTA (Booking, Expedia) is easier, so they do, and you pay both the click and the commission.
Test the booking engine from a phone, with real dates, all the way through. I covered what each type of software does separately.
2. Your price isn’t higher than the OTA’s
If your own site costs more than the OTA, advertising means paying to send guests off to book elsewhere. Match it at minimum; better, attach something concrete to booking direct (late checkout, breakfast, a room amenity).
3. The phone and WhatsApp are actually answered
A serious share of hotel bookings still comes by phone and message. Make sure those channels are staffed during the hours the ads run — taking a click at 9pm and replying at noon the next day is more than enough time for that guest to book elsewhere.
4. Measurement is in place
The booking engine usually sits on a different domain, and that’s the most common reason measurement breaks silently: the guest completes a booking and the conversion never reaches your account. Conversion tracking must be set up before launch — and verified with a test booking.
5. The page loads fast on mobile
Hotel pages are image-heavy, which makes them easy to slow down on mobile. Paying for a click and then losing the person to a loading spinner is the most expensive kind of loss. I wrote separately about what a PageSpeed score means.
6. Photos and room details are current
Last season’s photos, a pool that’s closed, breakfast hours that changed — these lower bookings and generate bad reviews. Advertising amplifies the reputation you have; it doesn’t repair a poor experience.
7. You know your review score
Guests see the ad, then search you and read reviews. If your score sits clearly below your competitors’, raising the ad budget isn’t the answer — the review side comes first.
8. Season and cancellation policy are clear
In peak weeks ads are unnecessary; in empty weeks they’re vital. Leaving the budget flat is the easiest way to lose money in hospitality. Your cancellation policy should also be stated plainly — vagueness is one of the most common reasons a booking gets postponed.
Want to go through the list together? I can assess where your hotel stands on these eight and tell you what to fix first. Get in touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does this apply to a small guesthouse?
Yes — more so. With a small budget, one broken link can consume all of it. I covered the difference scale makes on the boutique hotel ads page.
Should I appear on OTAs first, or on my own site?
They aren’t rivals. OTAs provide visibility; direct bookings protect margin. The job of advertising is to capture the person who saw you on an OTA and then searched your name.
If one of these is missing, should I hold off entirely?
If measurement (4) or a working booking engine (1) is missing, yes — you won’t be able to see results. The others can be fixed in parallel.
When should I raise the budget?
In low-occupancy periods, and while your cost per booking sits below your margin per room. I covered the budget decision separately.