Hotel PPC: Ultimate Guide For More Guests

Competition for online visibility is fierce In the hotel industry. Online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com and Expedia dominate search results, capturing 40% of the global travel market.

Independent hotels need innovative strategies to attract potential guests when they are searching for accommodation online. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising offers a powerful solution to this problem. 

Paid search lets you appear at the top of search results. Since you only pay when someone clicks your ad, PPC is a cost-effective way to attract qualified leads and drive bookings.  

This article explores the benefits of hotel PPC and provides a step-by-step guide for launching a successful hotel PPC campaign.

What Is Hotel PPC?

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising offers hotels a shortcut to the top of search engine results pages (SERPs). 

And because 70% of people use search engines to plan their travel, this targeted approach makes it a powerful tool for generating leads and driving bookings.

The best part? You’ll only pay when a potential guest expresses interest by clicking on your ad.

How Does Hotel PPC Advertising Work?

Understanding PPC starts with keywords—the words and phrases people use when searching for a place to stay.  

These keywords hold clues about a user's intent—this is the purpose or goal behind the search.  

Intent signals to search engines what the user wants, influencing which organic results and sponsored PPC ads appear.

PPC and SEO experts often rate the level of intent based on how likely a user is to buy something based on the search term they type in. 

For example, “Hotel in Miami” is a typical keyword someone might type into Google. It suggests a medium intent to buy, as the user might be researching options but is not ready to book.

The bidding process

With PPC, advertisers (like hotels and resorts, for instance) set a budget for their ads and decide how much they're willing to pay for each click.

They use this budget to bid on keywords relevant to their business. 

A behind-the-scenes auction determines which hotel ads are displayed when someone searches for those keywords.

Here are the factors that a search engine considers:

➡️Bid amount: How much the hotel will pay per click?

➡️Ad relevance: How closely the ad matches the search intent.

➡️Ad quality: Is the ad well-written and enticing?

➡️Landing page: Does the page the ad links to provide a good user experience and match the search?

The ads with the highest scores get shown to users. Importantly, Google and other platforms want to show users the most useful results, so even if you're not the highest bidder, a fantastic ad and landing page can still win you a prime position.

What determines keyword costs?

In hotel PPC campaigns, the cost per click is determined by the specific keywords you select.

Some keywords are more in demand than others. High commercial intent keywords (those showing a clear desire to book) are generally more expensive due to increased competition.

For example, using a keyword tool like Ahrefs shows that "last-minute hotel deals" have a cost-per-click (CPC) of $1.50 due to high demand and the likelihood that the searcher is ready to book. It also has a global search volume of 70K.

On the other hand, "best hotel in miami beach” has a CPC of just $0.80, as it's less indicative of immediate booking intent. This is because the user is looking at different hotel options in a specific area.

Now that you understand how PPC works, the next section will show you how to set up successful PPC campaigns for your hotel. 

How to Get Started with Hotel PPC Campaigns

Set goals

Before diving into keyword searches and ad creation, take the time to define exactly what you want to achieve with PPC. 

Clear goals will guide your campaigns and help you measure success. Make sure your goals are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Choose your platform

There are many different types of PPC advertising formats and platforms available. 

Here's a breakdown of the primary options and how they can benefit hotels:

Search ads

These text-based ads appear on search engine results pages. They're ideal for targeting people actively searching for accommodation using specific keywords.

Display ads

Display ads are banners, images, or videos that appear on websites and apps. This type of ad is great for increasing brand awareness and remarketing (more on this later).

Social media ads

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are ideal for visually appealing ads that showcase your hotel's unique appeal. 

Use social media ads to target potential guests based on interests, demographics, and past travel behavior. With 35% of people discovering new travel destinations on Instagram, Meta Ads presents a powerful opportunity to inspire “wanderlust”.

Select your keywords

Now it's time to think like a potential guest! What words or phrases would they use when searching for a hotel like yours? Brainstorm a list of keyword ideas, then use keyword research tools to refine them. 

Here is what to take into consideration when doing keyword research:

✅Search volume: Look for keywords with a decent number of monthly searches. 

✅Relevance: Choose keywords that closely match a potential guest's search. Examples include your hotel's location, amenities, or type of experience. Remember, high relevance means there is a higher likelihood that someone clicking your ad is ready to book. 

✅Intent: Prioritize keywords that suggest the searcher is close to making a decision. For example:

• "Book [hotel name]"
• "[city] hotels with rooftop pool"
• "Last-minute deals [location]"

These keywords are more valuable than broad terms like "best Paris hotels.” 

✅Cost-per-click (CPC): Most keyword tools provide a CPC estimate. This shows how much you can expect to pay each time someone clicks your ad. 

✅Competition: Understand how difficult it will be to rank highly for certain keywords. Highly competitive keywords often mean higher CPC and require more effort to rank on the first page of results. Google Ads refers to this as keyword competitiveness. 

For example, data from Ahrefs highlights this: the keyword phrase 'airport hotel Atlanta' has a manageable keyword difficulty (23), solid search volume (300/month), shows booking intent, and has a reasonable CPC ($1.70).

These metrics suggest this keyword is worth pursuing for hotels located near Atlanta’s airport.

💬 Narrow down your list

Start with a broad list and get specific. 

Say your hotel caters to families, your initial list might include:

🔍"Family Hotels Orlando"

🔍"Disney World hotels with shuttle"

🔍"Kid-friendly beach resorts"

🔍"All-inclusive family vacations"

If you specialize in affordable family stays, you may decide to prioritize the keyword "budget family hotels in Orlando."

💬Use negative keywords

Negative keywords are the terms you don’t want your ad to appear for. You can add them to your Google Ads campaigns to prevent them from showing in irrelevant searches.

Adding negative keywords to your Google hotel ads saves money and ensures your ads reach the right audience.

Create optimized landing pages

PPC ads are just the first step. To fully capitalize on them, they need to link to landing pages designed to convince a potential guest to book. Here's how to ensure your landing page seals the deal:

➡️Match ad intent: If your ad promotes "Oceanfront Suites with Balconies," the landing page should immediately focus on this feature. Don't make users hunt for what they were promised!

➡️Strong visuals: Encourage people to book by showing them stunning, high-quality images and videos of your rooms, pool, dining areas, and any unique amenities.

➡️Clear booking options: Make the "Book Now" button impossible to miss. Place it above the fold (the visible area before scrolling), and consider using a contrasting color to make it stand out. Simplify the booking process as much as possible.

➡️Mobile-friendly: A huge portion of hotel searches happen on smartphones. Your landing page must load quickly, be easy to navigate, and have touch-friendly buttons on mobile devices.

Here is an example of a great landing page. We searched for “luxury hotel los angeles” and this ad for the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Beverly Hills came up:

And the landing page ticks all the right boxes:

✔️Matches ad intent: The Waldorf's landing page immediately aligns with our search. It conveys exclusivity and highlights the amenities a luxury traveler would expect. 

✔️Strong visuals: The images showcase the hotel's elegance, from the rooms to the stunning pool area. This helps potential guests get excited about their stay.

✔️Clear booking options: The prominent "Check Availability" and "Make a Reservation" buttons make it easy for users to take action. For PPC campaigns, removing friction from the conversion process is vital. Note the strategic placement of the button above the fold, so users don't have to scroll.

A well-designed landing page is the cornerstone of a successful PPC campaign. Invest the time to create pages tailored to each ad for maximum conversions. 

Craft compelling ad copy

Your ad copy is your chance to make a powerful first impression on potential guests. With limited space, every word matters! Google ads have two parts, headlines and descriptions. Below we’ll show you how to create copy for each. 

Headlines

Start with a short, attention-grabbing headline (around 30 characters) highlighting your hotel's unique selling point.  

If you have an exclusive offer, make it the star of your headline; you could say something like: "Book Direct for 10% Off!"

Description

Next, craft a slightly longer description (around 90 characters) that expands on the benefits and paints a picture of the experience—for example, you could say something like "Indulge in Oceanfront Luxury, Steps from Miami's South Beach."

For added impact, try using urgency, something like "Limited-Time Offer! Book Now"  

Throughout the copy, naturally weave in your primary keywords to help your ad appear for the most relevant searches.

Here is an example of an advertiser leveraging ad extensions:

Create your Google Ads account

Ready to start reaching potential guests? Setting up your Google Ads account is the first step. Google Ads is free to join and easy to set up.

Set up your target audience

Get your hotel in front of the right people! With Google Ads, you can tailor your PPC ads to appear specifically for potential guests most likely to book.

Advanced targeting options

You can take your targeting up a notch with these advanced options: 

➡️Placements: Select specific websites or apps where you want your ads to appear (relevant travel blogs, booking sites, etc.).

➡️Topics: Have your ads appear on pages about specific topics (like "family travel" or "luxury hotels").

➡️Remarketing (now called data segments): Show ads to people who have previously visited your hotel website. This is highly effective for re-engaging potential guests.

➡️Custom audiences: Create highly tailored audiences based on a combination of the factors above.

Set up campaign structure

Your Google Ads account can be organized to make it easier to reach your goals, analyze results, and optimize over time. This is called your campaign structure. 

A good campaign is normally organized around campaigns and ad groups.

Here's how to create a logical framework:

Campaigns

Think of campaigns as the big-picture categories for your ads. 

For hotels, consider dividing them by:

✔️Location: "Miami Beachfront Hotels," "Orlando Theme Park Hotels"

✔️Theme: "Luxury Paris Hotels," "Budget-Friendly New York City"

✔️Target audience: "Family Vacation Packages," "Romantic Getaways"

Ad groups

Within each campaign, create ad groups. Each ad group should center around a tightly-knit cluster of keywords.

A good campaign structure helps organize your ads around common themes, making it easier to target specific keywords and audiences. This increased targeting precision means your ads are more likely to show up in relevant searches, improving their effectiveness and relevance to potential customers.

Also, well-structured campaigns allow you to track performance on a more granular level to see what's working and what isn’t. 

Determine bidding strategies

Google Ads offers flexibility in how you manage your bids (the maximum you're willing to pay per click). Here's a breakdown of the primary options:

Manual bidding

You have full control over how much you bid for each keyword. Manual bidding gives you direct control over how your budget is spent on a keyword-by-keyword basis, giving you fine-tuned precision over your advertising costs. While this approach offers precision, it requires more time and monitoring.

This approach is best for experienced advertisers, or those with smaller campaigns who want to closely manage their spend on specific keywords.

Automated bidding

This approach can be especially helpful for beginners or those managing complex campaigns who want to save time.

We recommend starting with automated bidding focused on "Maximize Conversions" or "Target CPA." You can always switch to manual bidding for more control later on.

The next step is to use your data to make informed decisions. 

Here’s an example of what this looks like for hotels: 

🌴 Scenario: You launch a campaign for your beachside resort, using keywords like "Florida family vacation" and "all-inclusive beach resorts."

👀 Monitoring: After a week, you notice:

• High clicks but few bookings on the "Florida family vacation" keyword.
• Several bookings from the "all-inclusive beach resorts" keyword.

⬆️ Actions:

• Lower your bid for "Florida family vacation," as it might be too broad.
• Increase your bid for "all-inclusive beach resorts."
• Add negative keywords like "cheap" or "discount" to prevent bargain-hunters from clicking your ads.
• A/B test landing page elements (headlines, offers) to boost conversion rates.

Launch and monitor

Dayparting is an advertising strategy where you schedule your ads to run only during specific days of the week and times of the day.  The goal is to maximize your ad spend by showing your ads when they are most likely to be seen by your target audience and lead to conversions.

Running a successful hotel demands your full attention. Mastering online advertising can be time-consuming. That's where PPC.io can help.

We recognize the unique needs of hotel PPC management, and our team of experts can help you avoid common pitfalls that waste your budget and make you miss out on potential guests.

Advanced Tactics: Take Your Hotel PPC to the Next Level

Implement ad scheduling

Ad scheduling lets you control precisely when your ads appear throughout the day and week. Instead of your ads running continuously, you can choose specific time slots for them to be displayed to potential guests.

How to implement dayparting

Dayparting is an advertising strategy where you schedule your ads to run only during specific days of the week and times of the day.  The goal is to maximize your ad spend by showing your ads when they are most likely to be seen by your target audience and lead to conversions.

Next, segment your campaigns. If necessary, divide your campaigns based on target audiences (business vs. leisure) or focus (off-season vs. peak season).

Within your Google Ads account, adjust the ad schedule for each campaign. This lets you increase bids during high-booking periods and decrease bids (or even pause ads) during times with fewer conversions.

Take seasonality into account

Travel demand often fluctuates due to seasons, holidays, local events, and even weather patterns. Understanding these peaks and valleys is essential for effective PPC spending.

Focus on Your Guests, Let PPC.io Handle the Rest

Running a successful hotel demands your full attention. Mastering online advertising can be time-consuming. That's where PPC.io can help.

We recognize the unique needs of hotel PPC management, and our team of experts can help you avoid common pitfalls that waste your budget and make you miss out on potential guests.

Partnering with PPC.io helps free up your time to focus on providing exceptional hospitality. We'll expertly manage your online visibility, driving guests to your website.

Ready to see how PPC.io can boost your occupancy and revenue? Contact us today to learn how our customized PPC strategies bring more guests to your door.