Every booking that comes through an online travel agency (OTA) costs the hotel a commission. OTA commissions tend to run 15 to 25 percent of the room rate. On a $150 rate, a 20 percent commission is $30 per room night. A direct booking keeps that margin, and it gives you the guest relationship.
Google Ads is one of the main tools to move bookings from OTAs to your own website. Here is how we approach it for hotels and hotel groups.
1. Defend your brand name
Guests who search your hotel's name already want to stay with you. If you do not run a brand campaign, OTAs and nearby competitors often show ads above your own listing, and the guest books through them.
- Run a brand campaign for every hotel, with the hotel name and common misspellings.
- Check Auction Insights each month to see who else bids on your name.
- Give guests a reason to book direct in the ad: best rate, a perk, free parking, flexible cancellation, or loyalty points.
- Send the click to the booking engine with the dates prefilled where possible, not to a generic home page.
2. Find guests who do not know your name yet
Brand defense keeps the guests you already have. Growth comes from guests who search the destination, not the hotel. Many hotels run brand campaigns only and leave this demand to the OTAs.
- Target destination searches such as "hotels near [venue]" or "[neighborhood] hotels".
- Plan campaigns around demand generators: stadiums, convention centers, airports, hospitals, and universities near you.
- Build campaigns early for big event dates, such as concerts, sports, and citywide conventions.
- Target the feeder markets your guests actually come from, based on your booking data.
3. Spend with your revenue team, not against it
Marketing spend should follow demand. On compression dates, when the hotel will sell out anyway, cut spend and save the margin. On soft dates, push harder. Also check that ads match booking rules. An ad that promises a one-night stay when a three-night minimum is in place wastes the click and annoys the guest.
4. Track booking engine revenue correctly
Most hotel booking engines run on a separate domain. If cross-domain tracking is not set up, the booking looks like it came from your own website, not from the ad, and Google Ads cannot learn which campaigns produce revenue.
- Set up cross-domain tracking between your website and the booking engine.
- Send the booking value (revenue) to Google Ads, not only a count of bookings.
- Compare Google Ads revenue with your booking engine or property management system each month.
5. Do not manage to ROAS alone
Return on ad spend (ROAS) is a useful gauge, but on its own it gives a false sense of security.
- A very high ROAS usually means underspend, or a report weighted to brand search. Brand clicks convert guests who would likely have booked anyway. The campaign buys only the easiest bookings and leaves new guests to OTAs and competitors.
- A very low ROAS means the spend cannot last. Margin goes first, then the budget gets cut.
- The goal is revenue growth at a return the hotel can keep. Raise spend only while each added dollar still brings in new revenue.
Report ROAS next to total revenue, direct revenue, direct booking share, and room nights. Split brand and non-brand results, so a strong brand campaign does not hide a weak prospecting one.
A short checklist
- Every hotel has a brand campaign with a clear reason to book direct.
- Non-brand campaigns target the destination and nearby demand generators.
- Spend drops on compression dates and rises on soft dates.
- Ads match length-of-stay and booking rules.
- Cross-domain tracking and revenue values work end to end.
- Reports show revenue growth and direct share, not ROAS alone.
Learn more about our work with hotels and hotel groups.