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Planning Your 2022
Marketing Budget for the
Hospitality Rebound
INDEPENDENT HOTELS
EBOOK
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Table of Contents
MUST HAVE
STRONGLY CONSIDER
NICE TO HAVE
Preparing Your Marketing Budget for the Year Ahead
3 Things to Know When Creating Your Marketing Budget
Website Design
Pay Per Click Advertising
Metasearch Marketing
OTA Advertising
Technical SEO
Onsite SEO
SEO Content Creation
Local SEO
Email Marketing
Social Media Management
Social Media Advertising
Display Advertising
Reservation Recovery
Conversational Marketing
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Preparing Your
Marketing Budget for
the Year Ahead
If you’re like most hospitality marketers, your marketing budget was likely
scrapped in early 2020 and then unsettled in 2021. After the worldwide
pandemic battered hotels and forced marketers to rethink their strategy,
the industry has adapted to the ‘new normal.’ Travelers have followed suit,
returning in droves to increase occupancy rates and push the industry
through recovery.
Trying to put together a marketing strategy without a budget can be
challenging. Creating brand awareness and driving direct bookings without
a clear plan in place makes it dicult to plan long-term, set goals and stay
on track nancially. Successful hospitality marketing can’t be done on a
whim. Thankfully, 2022 appears to be the year of the hospitality rebound.
According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, hotel room
occupancy is expected to reach 52.5% by the end of 2021 and hit 61.4% and
sell 1.23 billion rooms in 2022, nearing 2019 numbers. One thing is clear
moving forward: The hospitality industry has pushed past recovery mode
and into a rebound.
As the rebound presses on, it’s time to reect on what marketing strategies
make sense for your hotel and put together a 2022 budget that will help
ensure your hotel is part of the rebound.
When all is said and done, a marketing budget is only as good as your
marketing plan. To reposition your hotel for the year ahead and revive your
bookings, you need a diverse marketing mix. As you plan your budget,
we’ve put together a guide of marketing tactics and strategies you need
to know about and broken them down into three categories: Must Have,
Strongly Consider, Nice to Have.
Let’s dive in.
3
ings to Know
When Creating Your
Marketing Budget
Creating a marketing budget and choosing how to allocate your funds isn’t as simple as plugging numbers into a
spreadsheet. The best marketing budgets are built strategically, taking into account your goals for the year and then
allocating your budget to marketing tactics that will help you get there.
There is no such thing as a cookie-cutter budget. The right spending breakdown will vary based on your hotel type,
location, audience and more. Before determining how to build your budget and where to spend marketing dollars, you
should answer three questions.
3. WHO IS YOUR IDEAL AUDIENCE?
Your marketing mix will depend on a number of factors, but no strategy or budget should be put in
place without determining who your ideal guest is. Depending if your hotel caters to business guests, the
leisure traveler, or a combination will aect the marketing tactics you use to reach your goals.
1. WHAT ARE YOUR HOTEL’S
2022 GOALS?
Every hospitality marketer’s ultimate goal is to increase
bookings, but it’s important to have a clear focus on
your overall marketing initiatives for the year ahead.
Sure, more bookings is the end goal. But what tactics
will help your hotel get there in 2022? Ultimately,
your marketing budget should align with your goals,
whatever they might be.
• Need to drive more direct bookings? You may
want to invest in metasearch and other proven
advertising methods that cut down on commission-
based tactics.
• Looking for increased organic trac? Creating a
blog and focusing on on-site and technical SEO can
improve your hotel’s search engine rankings.
• Want to improve your brand awareness? Display ads
and social media management can help showcase
your hotel’s amenities.
2. WHAT ARE YOUR CURRENT
OPERATING COSTS?
Before you start allocating your marketing budget,
it’s important to have a clear picture of what you have
to spend. To begin putting your budget together, rst
determine costs that are locked in, including:
• Marketing sta costs
• Software and website costs
• Outsourced work costs
When you’ve determined those costs, it allows you
to not only better allocate the remaining budget to t
your strategy, but it also gives you insight into what
marketing work can be completed in-house and
what work might be best done in collaboration with a
strategic marketing partner.
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Must Have
These are the marketing tactics you must implement to cover
your bases and optimize your ability to drive bookings in the digital
space. That doesn’t mean your hotel needs to implement these for
12 months, but you should nd a place in your marketing plan and
budget for them at some point in the coming year.
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MUST HAVE
Website Design
How old is your hotel website? If the answer is 3+ years, you might want to consider a redesign
in 2022. Even if your website is brand new, it isn’t a bad idea to allocate some of your marketing
budget to ensure it stays fresh or to add new functionality that will keep you relevant. Your website
is your No. 1 salesperson. It’s the rst impression you make on a guest—even before they step foot
inside your hotel. What experience is your current website oering guests?
HOW IT FITS IN YOUR BUDGET:
As an independent hotel, it can be dicult to
embark on a website redesign or update alone,
especially from a technical and compliance
perspective. A strategic hospitality agency can
ensure your website is technically sound and
built to succeed in the mobile world.
WHY IT MATTERS:
83% of U.S. adults prefer to book their trips
online, and an estimated 700 million people
are expected to make a booking online
by 2023. More than ever before, the entire
customer journey—from research to booking—is
happening without human interaction. That is
especially true on mobile, a place marketers
should prioritize. According to Hotels.com, 42%
of people have booked a hotel on mobile.
PRICE RANGE:
$6,000-$25,000
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MUST HAVE
Pay Per Click Advertising
Driving bookings to your hotel website is all about real estate, particularly at the top of
Google’s search engine page results (SERP). Commanding that top position is done through
pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. A targeted PPC campaign can create an immediate presence
in search engine results for the keywords you choose, such as your brand name or a local
destination. This is a strategic approach to ensure you’re top of page and top of mind when
prospective travelers go searching.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
The ideal budget for your hotel
will depend on a variety of factors.
You don’t always need to spend
thousands of dollars per month to
make an impact. Your hotel could
launch a Google Ads PPC campaign
internally, but many hotels work with
an agency to develop a strategy,
keyword research, and more.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Google, which controls 92% of the
search engine market, processes 5.6
billion searches each day. According
to data, 28.5% of clicks on Google
are on the rst result (15.7% are on
the second). With PPC advertising,
you can command the top of search
engine results for strategic keywords
and drive more potential guests to
your website instead of a third-party
booking platform or a competitor.
PRICE RANGE:
Advertising spend $500 - $6,000+
per month, Service fees $200 - 900+
per month
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MUST HAVE
Metasearch Marketing
Metasearch sites such as TripAdvisor, Google Hotel Ads, and Kayak are convenient ways for guests
to search and compare the availability and pricing for multiple hotels at once. While there is some
complexity to executing a metasearch strategy, when done right it can have a drastic impact on
direct bookings. People love convenience and the ease of researching and booking on metasearch
sites has helped the marketing channel take o in recent years.
HOW IT FITS IN YOUR BUDGET:
While metasearch has taken o in the past year, it can
be a challenge to set up with various bidding strategies
and technical requirements. Even Google recommends
using a Hotels Ads partner for optimal setup.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Metasearch now reportedly accounts for 45% of global
online travel trac, in large part thanks to Google
Hotel Ads. Metasearch ads pull rate and inventory
information into one place and receive prominent
placement on Google. They work especially well
for direct bookings and typically have commission
rates between 10-15%, lower than OTAs. Metasearch
performed particularly well during the pandemic, in
some cases seeing ROAS of 10x or higher.
PRICE RANGE:
Advertising spend $150 - $2,000+ per month, Service
fees $200 - 500+ per month
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MUST HAVE
OTA Advertising
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) sparked the online booking trend when they launched in the early
2000s. Even with the rise of metasearch, OTAs are still a dominant player in the eld. OTAs such
as Booking.com, Expedia and Priceline.com allow hotels to have listings that include photos, hotel
information and features, room rates and availability, and reviews. Because of their prominence,
OTAs are an eective part of the marketing mix, even if they typically command commission rates
ranging between 15-25%.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
OTAs such as Booking.com or
Expedia have partner programs to
help independent hotels get started.
A strategic partner can provide
guidance on the best platforms, ideal
budget and optimization.
WHY IT MATTERS:
The two largest OTAs, Booking.
com and Expedia, spent roughly $5
billion each on marketing costs last
year, a large chunk of which goes
to Google for advertising. Hotels
might be competing with OTAs
for online attention, but they are
also a worthwhile partner. Recent
data suggests nearly 40% of digital
bookings are done through OTAs and
paying the commission is better than
not securing the booking.
PRICE RANGE:
Advertising spend $200 - $600+ per
month, Service fees $200 - 300+ per
month
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MUST HAVE
Technical SEO
So often, marketers think of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) only as a keyword tool for Google,
Bing and other search engines. But it’s so much more. In fact, technical SEO is just as important as
keywords. Technical SEO refers to optimizing your hotel website for search engine crawlers. While
this includes several factors, especially important are page speed, accessibility, sitemap indexing,
and user experience.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
There are a number of online
resources that can help you see how
your website is performing from a
technical SEO perspective. You may
be able to x some of the issues
yourself, but a website partner may
be required to assist depending on
the errors you uncover.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Google now largely determines
your hotel website’s page rankings
based on mobile-rst indexing, most
specically page speed and page
experience. How fast does your hotel
website load? You might be surprised
by what could be holding your scores
back. Page loading time, metadata,
sitemap size, and more can all impact
your technical SEO and how search
engines view your hotel’s website.
PRICE RANGE:
$2,000 - $6,000 annually, depending
if one-time or ongoing
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MUST HAVE
Onsite SEO
Alongside technical SEO, your hotel website’s onsite SEO is critical. When search engines crawl
your website, they focus on the page titles, meta descriptions, headings and keywords. Search
engine optimization is all about driving trac to your website, and an SEO expert can ensure your
pages are utilizing high-volume keywords and on-site best practice to improve your ranking across
search engines.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
Hospitality marketers can take
onsite SEO into their own hands by
optimizing page titles and content
with keywords they want their hotel
to rank for. When you need help
with strategic keyword research or
keyword improvement, a marketing
strategist can audit your website and
provide guidance to optimize for
organic search.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Trac on Google drops 95% from
page one to page two and less than
1% of search engine users click a
result on the second page. Ignoring
PPC ads and featured snippets,
users click the top organic result
34.2% of the time. Again, search is
all about real estate and optimizing
your website for SEO can help push
your website higher in the results and
drive more trac.
PRICE RANGE:
$500 - $2,500 annually, depending if
one-time or ongoing
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MUST HAVE
SEO Content Creation
Ranking for your branded or local keywords is critical, but you shouldn’t lose focus of long-tail
keywords. Long-tail keywords are generally phrases made up of three to ve keywords that tend to
have lower search volume but attract more high-quality trac. With a blog or other resources, your
hotel website is able to target these niche keywords such as ‘Hotels near Fenway Park’ or ‘‘What
Hotels in Chicago Allow Dogs’ with content about things to do in your city, places to eat, or family-
friendly attractions nearby.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
Content creation can be done
in-house with the proper strategy.
Hoteliers can use keyword research
to see what terms might make for
a good blog article and eectively
drive trac. A marketing agency can
help develop the proper tools and
put together a strategy for topics and
keywords as well as provide an SEO-
focused writer.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Believe it or not, the majority of online
searches are actually specic and
unpopular in terms of search volume.
An analysis of 1.9 billion keywords
found that nearly 40% of all searches
were for the 99.84% of search queries
with monthly search volume of 1,000
or less. With a content strategy, you
can not only provide travelers with
engaging information but also help
your hotel website show up on those
more niche search phrases.
PRICE RANGE:
$2,500 - $5,500 annually
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MUST HAVE
Local SEO
This is a broken record by now but … organic trac is all about real estate, real estate, real estate.
Many of the ‘must have’ marketing tactics serve the purpose of claiming that prime location on
the top half of Google and other search engines. Google My Business is a key component of
that. Having an optimized Google My Business panel is the No. 1 way to improve your local SEO
ranking. A local SEO plan can help ensure you have a review monitoring strategy and allows you to
showcase your hotel’s story and amenities.
HOW IT FITS IN YOUR BUDGET:
Google My Business is a free tool all hotels should
be utilizing. Google oers resources to get your GMB
listing up and running but a marketing strategist can
oer guidance on best practices and optimizations for
optimal performance.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Reviews are a primary decision factor for travelers and
claiming your Google My Business listing allows your
hotel to stay on top of them. More importantly, when
your hotel has a Google My Business panel, it gives
your property prime location right next to your PPC and
metasearch ads and organic search results. The more
opportunities, the better the chance to drive bookings.
PRICE RANGE:
$2,500 annually
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Strongly Consider
Depending on your hotel’s marketing budget, there are several tactics
that can be eective for brand awareness, communicating with both
current and prospective guests, and showcasing your hotel to an
expanded audience. These marketing eorts should be strongly
considered depending on your ultimate goals and overall budget.
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STRONGLY CONSIDER
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a powerful and cost-eective marketing tool when used right. One of the
biggest advantages of a direct booking (outside of eliminating commissions) is the ability to
cultivate a lifelong relationship with the guest. You have their information, giving you the ability to
engage them with personalized and loyalty-driven marketing content.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
When done right, your CRM should
provide insight into your email data,
allowing you to segment lists and
build customized email campaigns.
If your hotel needs help connecting
your data, developing strategic
campaigns or designing templates, a
marketing agency can oer resources
and experience.
WHY IT MATTERS:
The average email open rate for
the travel industry is 25.9%, which
allows hospitality marketers a strong
opportunity to reach their audience
with updates and oers. People
receive dozens of emails each day, so
drafting a marketing email and hitting
send isn’t sucient. To make email
marketing work, you need a strategy
that makes your subject lines and
emails stand out in an increasingly
crowded inbox lled with junk.
PRICE RANGE:
$2,000 for template design, $500 -
$700 per deployment
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Social Media Management
In today’s landscape, it’s important for hotels to listen, engage, and use social media to their best
advantage. Social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter among
others can help your hotel reach dierent audiences and demographics. Want to reach a Gen Z
traveler? Instagram can drive engagement. Looking for a business traveler? They spend a lot of
time on LinkedIn.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
Hospitality marketers can use a
number of tools like Hootsuite to
schedule out social media posts in a
cost-eective way. Building a social
media presence takes frequency and
trial and error and some hotels utilize
a marketing agency to help build out
branding and a strong plan of action.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Nearly 4 billion people worldwide are
on at least one social media account,
and a 2019 study found that 86%
of people became interested in a
location after seeing content on social
media. Marketing is all about reaching
your audience where they are, and
Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and
other social media networks can help
you showcase your property across
dierent segments, from younger
generations to businesspeople.
PRICE RANGE:
$9,000 - $27,000 annually, depending
on channels and frequency
STRONGLY CONSIDER
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Social Media Advertising
Reaching younger audiences is a great way to drive direct bookings that might be missed
on other advertising channels. While social media advertising on Facebook, Instagram and
other platforms doesn’t command the ‘must have’ status that more popular channels like OTA,
metasearch and PPC do, it should be strongly considered depending on your ideal audience and
the size of your budget.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
Unlike organic social media posting,
social media advertising can be
complex. Some platforms require
retargeting tags to be placed on
your hotel website and there is a
strategic component to targeting the
right audience and locations with an
optimal budget. While your hotel can
boost posts and test social media
advertising, a marketing agency
can ensure you’re spending your ad
budget both wisely and eciently.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Many travelers discover destinations
or have their next trip inspired by
posts and photos they see on social
media. Social media can allow your
hotel to target specic locations, age
groups and interests to eectively
reach your desired target.
PRICE RANGE:
Advertising spend $200 - $600+
per month, Service fees $200 -
300+ per month
STRONGLY CONSIDER
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Nice to Have
When it comes to any budget, there are the things that are essential
to your marketing plan and then the things that would be great to
have in an ideal situation. Depending on your budget, these nice-
to-have marketing eorts can add an additional layer to reach your
goals. Even if they aren’t 12-month tactics, they can still be eective.
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NICE TO HAVE
Display Advertising
PPC, OTA and metasearch advertising tactics draw attention in the hospitality industry, but display
advertising can still play an important role. Display advertising serves two primary purposes for
hotels: Brand awareness and retargeting travelers who have visited your website. The strategy
helps your hotel diversify its marketing mix and works in tandem with other advertising tactics.
HOW IT FITS IN
YOUR BUDGET:
If your ad budget allows, display
advertising can be an eective way
to keep your hotel top-of-mind.
Google Ads allows for easier entry
into display advertising, but you
may want to work with a partner
to design graphics that convert
more eectively and build out a
campaign with strategic targeting
and technical setup.
WHY IT MATTERS:
There is some data that shows
display advertising gaining quickly
on search ads in the world of
mobile devices and mobile apps.
Nothing is more important to
a hotel than allowing a guest a
glimpse at your hotel and display
ads oer the ability to showcase
your hotel’s brand and personality.
PRICE RANGE:
Advertising spend $200 - $600+
per month, Service fees $200 -
300+ per month
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NICE TO HAVE
Reservation Recovery
It can be extremely frustrating for hospitality
marketers when they dive into their website
data and see dropo on the booking page.
With reservation recovery, a guest who
abandons the booking process isn’t a lost
cause. Your hotel is able to use this strategy
to target travelers with incomplete bookings,
sending them emails with strategic messaging
and oers.
HOW IT FITS IN YOUR BUDGET:
If your website already has a system in place to
capture contact data from abandoned bookings, you
can put together an internal strategy to target them
with campaigns. If not, a marketing agency can help
build out a data ow that works best for your process.
WHY IT MATTERS:
According to SaleCycle, travel has the second-highest
abandonment rate at 81.3%, second only to airlines
(87.9%). That’s higher than the average checkout
abandonment of 76.9% across all industries. That
same data shows that the top three reasons travelers
abandon their booking are because they were just
researching (39%), they were comparing prices (37%),
or they wanted to check with other travelers (21%). That
indicates there is a strong chance for re-engagement
with the right strategy.
PRICE RANGE:
$2,500 - $6,000 annually
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NICE TO HAVE
Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing is no longer just a chatbot. With the right tools, your hotel can take
conversational marketing to the next level with automated real-time conversations. Instead of
making guests ll out a lead gen form and wait for a response, intelligent chatbots allow you
to engage prospects on your website whenever they’re ready. This tactic makes it easier for
wedding planners and businesses to get the information they need or book a site tour, increasing
conversations and shortening the sales cycle.
HOW IT FITS IN YOUR BUDGET:
Building out automated real-time conversation
tools takes the work of a developer. A marketing
strategist can guide the process and build out the
tools for your hotel website. While it is an investment,
conversational marketing tools can pay dividends in
the long run by converting more and better leads.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Automated real-time conversations and other
conversational marketing tactics can be a great way
to answer people’s questions in a more ecient and
instant manner, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
By incorporating conversational marketing on your
hotel website, you can engage them, qualify them
and allow them to book a tour in a matter of minutes,
signicantly cutting down on the sales cycle.
According to Forrester Research, nearly two-thirds of
people will no longer wait more than two minutes for
assistance. With conversational marketing, they don’t
have to wait for that follow-up email.
PRICE RANGE:
$30,000 annually
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Strategic Hospitality Marketing
With more than 20 years of hospitality marketing experience, O’Rourke uses a
comprehensive and strategic approach to help both independent and branded
hotels take their digital marketing to the next level. We create an online presence
for your brand that captures guests from their initial online engagement with you
and seamlessly transitions them to your real-world experience.
To discuss your business challenges and see how we can
help, please contact Brian Fitzgerald, VP Digital Strategy, at
(978) 465-5955, ext. 221, or bfitzgerald@orourkehospitality.com.
