Today, we’re talking about acquiring new customers and here’s the thing: You’ve got to align your digital strategy around one, clear goal.

Getting new customers to stay at your hotel is different than getting repeat customers.
It’s different from getting people to eat at your restaurant. It’s different from getting local brides to book a wedding at your hotel.

And because acquiring new customers is different…
hotel marketers need to leverage a very specific set of tools.

So what are the best tools to get your hotel in front of new customers?

There are three.

1. Google Non-Brand Search Ads.

Want to get your hotel to show up on the first page of Google for Luxury Hotels In South Carolina? Run this ad.

Does it work?
On average, hotel marketers who use this ad type see a 2:1 return on ad spend. That’s a 50% marketing cost. Note: That is a last click attribution, which makes it very conservative.

2. Google Non-Brand Metasearch Ads.

Want to get your hotel to show up first for hotels in your city on Google Hotels? Run this ad.

Does it work?
On average, hotels who use this ad see a 2.5:1 return on ad spend. That’s a 40% marketing cost. Note: This is also a last click attribution, which makes it equally conservative.

3. Expedia Travel Ads.

Want to get your hotel to show up first on Expedia when customers search for hotels in your city? Run this ad.

Does it work?
On average, hotels who use this ad see a 16:1 return on ad spend. But when you combine that with the 20% average OTA cost, you’re actually looking at a 26% marketing cost. One more thing: That’s on a 28-day attribution window, which makes it far less conservative than the last click we see on Google.

Acquiring new customers is expensive.

That’s true. Acquiring new customers is always going to be more expensive than getting that repeat business. But new customer acquisition is critical to any business’s long-term success and growth.

Why do these products work so well?

It’s pretty simple, actually. Each one of these products intercepts travelers at the perfect point in their journey. They’ve decided on a destination, but have not yet decided on a hotel.

Sometimes we call this mid-funnel or high intent, which means they are ready to book but haven’t yet made up their mind, so they are much more likely to consider new options and alternatives that they’ve maybe never considered before.

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