Hospitality & Tourism - Case Study
Luxury Resort: $1.2M Revenue Through Strategic Google Ads
Client: Confidential Resort Client
$1.2M
Total gross purchase revenue attributed to Google Ads campaigns
+40%
Year-over-year increase in Google Ads attributed revenue
Increased
Shift from OTA bookings to direct bookings reducing commission costs
Client Overview
About Confidential Resort Client
Services Provided
The Challenge
What they were facing
This luxury resort faced the challenges common to hospitality: seasonal demand fluctuations, high competition for destination keywords, and the need to fill rooms during shoulder seasons. They were running Google Ads but without clear strategy - campaigns weren't properly segmented, tracking was incomplete, and budget was spread too thin across poorly performing keywords. The goal: maximize direct bookings through Google Ads while improving return on ad spend (ROAS) and reducing reliance on OTA commissions.
Our Approach
How we solved it
We rebuilt their Google Ads strategy from the ground up with a focus on revenue attribution and ROAS optimization. The approach included: proper conversion tracking connecting ad clicks to actual bookings and revenue; campaign restructuring by intent level (brand, destination, amenity, competitor); seasonal budget allocation shifting spend to high-demand periods while maintaining presence during shoulder seasons; landing page optimization ensuring visitors from ads landed on pages designed to convert; remarketing campaigns targeting visitors who browsed but didn't book; and ongoing optimization based on revenue data, not just click metrics. Every decision was driven by one question: what drives the most booking revenue per dollar spent?
Proven Results
The numbers don't lie
$1.2M
Total gross purchase revenue attributed to Google Ads campaigns
+40%
Year-over-year increase in Google Ads attributed revenue
Increased
Shift from OTA bookings to direct bookings reducing commission costs
Optimized
Improved return on ad spend through strategic campaign management
Section 1
The Challenge: Maximizing Direct Bookings in Competitive Hospitality
Hospitality is one of the most competitive industries for digital marketing. Every hotel and resort is competing for the same destination keywords, and OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com have massive advertising budgets.
- •High competition for destination and amenity keywords
- •Seasonal demand creating feast-or-famine booking patterns
- •OTA commissions eating into margins on indirect bookings
- •Existing Google Ads campaigns running without clear strategy
- •Incomplete tracking making optimization decisions guesswork
Key Point:
The real competition in hospitality isn't other hotels - it's OTAs. Every direct booking through Google Ads is a booking that doesn't pay 15-25% to Expedia.
Section 2
The Strategy: Revenue-Focused Google Ads
We rebuilt the Google Ads strategy around one metric: revenue attributed to ad spend. Not clicks, not impressions, not even conversions - actual booking revenue.
- 1.Conversion Tracking Implementation - Connected Google Ads to booking engine, tracking not just conversions but revenue value per booking. This allowed ROAS-based optimization
- 2.Campaign Restructuring - Separated campaigns by intent: brand (resort name searches), destination (location searches), amenity (spa, golf, dining searches), and competitor (people searching competing resorts)
- 3.Keyword Strategy - Focused budget on high-intent keywords indicating booking readiness rather than research-phase keywords with high volume but low conversion
- 4.Seasonal Budget Allocation - Developed annual budget calendar shifting spend to capture peak demand while maintaining presence during shoulder seasons
- 5.Landing Page Optimization - Created dedicated landing pages for each campaign type, matching visitor intent to page content and offer
- 6.Remarketing Strategy - Built audiences of site visitors and engaged them with sequential messaging as they progressed through booking consideration
Section 3
The Results: $1.2M Revenue, 40% Growth
The restructured campaigns delivered measurable, attributable results:
Key Point:
$1.2M in gross purchase revenue directly attributed to Google Ads campaigns. 40% year-over-year growth. These are direct bookings, not OTA referrals.
What these numbers mean for the business:
- •$1.2M in direct bookings avoids $180K-$300K in OTA commissions (15-25%)
- •40% growth demonstrates scalable, repeatable acquisition channel
- •Revenue attribution enables ongoing optimization and budget justification
- •Direct customer relationships allow remarketing and loyalty building
- •Reduced OTA dependence improves long-term margin structure
Section 4
Why Google Ads Wins for Hospitality
Google Ads captures travelers at the moment of decision. When someone searches 'luxury resort [destination],' they're actively planning a trip. The question is whether they book direct or through an OTA.
"OTAs spend billions on Google Ads to capture hotel bookings and charge 15-25% commission. Hotels can compete directly for the same searches and keep that margin."
— Hospitality Marketing Economics
- •Capture high-intent searches from travelers actively planning trips
- •Compete directly with OTAs for destination and brand keywords
- •Control the customer experience from first click to booking
- •Build direct customer relationships for remarketing and loyalty
- •Avoid OTA commissions on every direct booking acquired
Section 5
Ready to Grow Your Hospitality Revenue?
This resort transformed their Google Ads from a cost center to a revenue driver. The same approach works for hotels, resorts, vacation rentals, and tourism businesses of any size.
If you're paying OTA commissions on bookings you could acquire directly, there's an opportunity to improve margins through strategic Google Ads.
"The results speak for themselves. $1.2M in revenue through Google Ads with 40% growth over last year. More importantly, these are direct bookings - we're not paying OTA commissions on this revenue."
Resort Management
Marketing Director, Confidential
Key Insights
What we learned
Revenue tracking is non-negotiable for hospitality. Clicks and impressions mean nothing - what matters is bookings and revenue. We implemented proper conversion tracking connecting ads to actual purchases before optimizing anything else.
Campaign structure by intent drives efficiency. Brand searches (people looking for the resort by name) convert differently than destination searches (people looking for 'luxury resorts in [location]'). Separate campaigns allow separate strategies and budgets.
Seasonal budget allocation maximizes impact. Hospitality demand is cyclical. We shift budget to capture high-demand periods while maintaining minimum presence during shoulder seasons to build remarketing audiences.
Direct bookings beat OTA bookings. Every direct booking through Google Ads avoids 15-25% OTA commission. Even at significant ad spend, direct booking acquisition often costs less than OTA commissions.
Remarketing captures undecided travelers. Booking a trip is rarely an impulse decision. Remarketing keeps the resort top-of-mind as travelers compare options, often converting weeks after the initial visit.
Landing page experience affects conversion rate dramatically. Sending ad traffic to the homepage wastes money. Custom landing pages matching ad intent (amenities, packages, location) convert significantly better.
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