Client name withheld under NDA.
Hotels in Singapore depend heavily on online travel agencies, which take a commission on every booking. Locals searching staycation singapore, about 3,600 searches a month, and visitors planning a trip often book through those platforms by habit. Every booking a hotel wins directly instead keeps that commission and gives the hotel the guest's details for the next stay.
This 90-room boutique hotel in a heritage district had a loyal following but took only 18% of its bookings directly. It spent S$7,000 a month on ads, mostly boosted Instagram posts and a brand search campaign, and could not tell which ads produced bookings because the booking engine was not connected to its ad accounts. Direct bookings from ads ran at about 210 a month.
We connected the hotel's booking engine to Google Ads, Meta and Google Analytics so that every direct booking, its value and its source were recorded.
Without booking data, the ad accounts could only optimise for clicks. Tracking real bookings let both platforms learn which guests were worth finding. Booking data also showed which room types and stay lengths were most valuable, which shaped the offers and creative that followed.
We protected the brand search with a best-rate message, added campaigns for staycation and district searches, and set up Google hotel ads so the hotel's own rate appeared next to the travel agencies.
Many guests search the hotel's name and then book on a travel agency site. Showing the direct rate in the same results kept more of those bookings with the hotel. Hotel ads also showed real availability and rates, so guests could compare prices without leaving Google.
We built separate Meta campaigns for local staycations, couples' getaways and short-haul travellers, with creative showing the rooms, the rooftop and the neighbourhood rather than generic hotel shots.
A local couple planning an anniversary and a visitor planning a city break respond to very different images. Separate campaigns let each see the stay that suited them. The neighbourhood creative also appealed to locals, who often chose the hotel for its surroundings as much as the rooms.
We created offers only available on the hotel's website, such as breakfast and late checkout, and retargeted visitors who checked dates but did not book.
A clear reason to book direct, beyond price, gave guests a reason to skip the travel agency. Retargeting caught people still comparing options. Retargeting also reminded guests about the offer they had seen, which mattered because hotel bookings are often decided over several days.
We moved budget week by week towards dates with low occupancy and away from dates that were already nearly full, and planned campaigns ahead of school holidays and long weekends.
Spending to fill rooms that would sell anyway wastes money. Pacing the budget by occupancy put the ads where they made a real difference. Weekly pacing calls with the revenue manager kept the ads aligned with the hotel's own rate strategy.
Six months in, ads brought in 395 direct bookings a month instead of 210, worth S$109,000 a month. Monthly spend rose to S$9,500, but each direct booking cost S$24 instead of S$33, and return on ad spend grew from 7.4× to 11.5×. Direct bookings rose from 18% to 29% of all bookings, which meant less commission paid to travel agencies and more guest details the hotel could use for future stays. The hotel also built an email list from direct guests that it now uses for repeat stay offers.
Booking engine connected, search and hotel ads live with direct rates.
Audience campaigns and direct-only offers took direct bookings past 300 a month.
395 direct bookings a month at an 11.5× return on ad spend.
Ad platforms can only find more bookers if they know who booked. Connecting the booking engine turned clicks into real booking data.
Breakfast or late checkout offered only on the hotel's own site gave guests a reason to skip the travel agency, without starting a price war.
Pacing the budget towards low-occupancy dates put the ads where they changed the outcome instead of chasing rooms that would sell anyway.
Meta, Google and tracking working together as one programme.
Results across SEO, paid media, content, web and more.
How a premium F&B brand grew attributed revenue across Meta and Google.
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