Beyond the funnel: The new rules of hotel marketing

I have watched hospitality marketing evolve dramatically over the years, starting with the clean, predictable funnel: awareness, consideration, booking. It served us well. We could measure it, optimize it, and feel confident in the process it promised.

But that model is breaking. Today, 60% of searches end without a click. Travelers are not making it to your site the way they used to. Search engines and AI are serving answers before anyone even lands on your page. The journey to booking is no longer linear. It is fragmented, circular, and often invisible.

So what do we do in this zero-click world?

We stop thinking in straight lines and start building adaptive growth loops. Marketing systems that listen, learn, and continually feed back into each other.

Why funnels don’t work anymore

Funnels assume a neat progression: you find us, you compare us, you book with us. Reality is messier. A potential guest might see a display ad, scroll past your property on Instagram or TikTok, check rates on an OTA, revisit your blog, get retargeted with an ad, receive a reminder via email, and only then decide to book. Sometimes they book without ever visiting your site at all.

Trying to force that into a funnel does not just fall short. It ignores how travel browsing actually happens now.

What works instead are loops. Strategies that adapt. Every interaction, whether it is an email open, an ad view, or a review read, feeds into the next one. These loops learn from behavior and make the journey smarter, more responsive, and more personal.

Tactical takeaway: Map your current guest journey. List out every touchpoint where a traveler interacts with your brand. Ask yourself if those touchpoints are connected or if they operate in silos. Look for opportunities to create continuity, such as aligning messaging between your display campaigns and your follow-up emails.

Organic search is fading, but content still counts

Ranking well in Google historically has been marketing gold. Now, AI-generated results and featured snippets are claiming more real estate and more clicks.

That said, this does not mean SEO is dead. Fresh content, helpful blogs, and useful information are more important than ever. Google rewards them, and AI relies on them.

But here is the reality. Organic search is no longer the only hero. We need media, owned channels, and marketing loops that learn from behavior to fill the gaps.

Hotels often ask: What kind of content should we be creating? The answer lies in listening to your guests and your market. Here are some effective ways to uncover topics worth writing about:

• OTA reviews- Scan Booking.com, Expedia, or TripAdvisor reviews to see what guests consistently mention. If travelers are asking about parking, dining options, or nearby attractions, those are content opportunities.
• Social media conversations- Watch what people are saying in Instagram comments, TikTok travel videos, or Reddit threads about your destination. These conversations highlight authentic traveler interests.
• Search trend tools- Use Google Trends or other keyword research tools to see what is spiking in interest. Seasonal queries like “best family ski resorts in Utah” or “things to do in Napa in the fall” can drive timely content.
• Local events- Build content around festivals, conferences, and seasonal activities happening near your property. Guests are searching for this information, and it positions your hotel as a helpful resource.

Tactical takeaway: Audit your website content and brainstorm new ideas from these sources. Focus on creating content that answers real questions, reflects your property’s unique perspective, and positions you as an authority both in Google and in AI engines.

Media is essential at every stage of the guest journey

With organic traffic shrinking, media becomes critical. Smart marketers treat it as a portfolio, not silos.

• Display advertising works at the top of the journey. It plants the idea and inspires travel before the traveler even knows they want it.
• Meta is both a discovery and consideration channel. It combines reach and targeting, letting hotels inspire travelers with visuals while also re-engaging them through remarketing.
• Paid search captures the moment travelers are actively looking. It helps you show up when intent is clear.
• Metasearch sits at the bottom, where comparison happens and booking decisions are made.
  

When display, Meta, paid search, and metasearch work together, they create a seamless journey, feeding the loop from inspiration to conversion. But it is not enough to just run these channels side by side. What sets high-performing hotels apart is the ability to understand how the entire media mix is working together through unified data.

Without unified reporting, display, or Meta, they may look like they are underperforming, when in fact they are seeding demand that shows up later in paid search or metasearch. Paid search might appear expensive if viewed in isolation, but when connected with attribution data, you can see that it is strengthening both direct bookings and assisted conversions.

Another critical element is creative differentiation. Boilerplate ads that could be promoting any property will always underperform. What builds brand trust and drives bookings is featuring the hotel’s sustainable competitive advantages, the unique experiences, amenities, and positioning that no competitor can replicate. Media spend is only as effective as the story it tells, and hotels that lean into their unique strengths see higher conversion rates across every channel.

This is where GCommerce’s data platform makes a difference. By pulling performance data across all media channels into one unified view, we help hotels see the true value of each channel, how they interact, and where to shift budget for maximum impact.

Tactical takeaway: Do not evaluate your media channels in silos. Look for ways to connect performance data across your media mix to understand the entire guest journey. And make sure your ads reflect what makes your property different. Generic creative erodes trust, while highlighting your brand’s long-term competitive advantages builds authority and drives higher booking conversion.

AI search is here, and it is shifting the game

AI is not on the horizon. It is in the search bar already. AI-powered results are answering traveler questions on the spot. That means:

• Organic clicks may shrink further.
• Authority, both in content and brand, becomes critical.
• AI could start sending traffic directly to your booking engine without OTAs in the mix.

This is both a threat and an opportunity, which is why we are introducing AI Metasearch, a way to place your direct booking link in AI-powered search results while still enjoying reporting, attribution, and control. It is the next evolution of metasearch for a zero-click world.

Tactical takeaway: Begin preparing for AI visibility now. Make sure your property information, reviews, and content are accurate, fresh, and structured. Think of every piece of content you create as a potential answer AI could surface to a traveler’s question.

Learn more about how to optimize for AI search in our full guide. 

Fundamentals still drive success

Even as AI rises, fundamentals remain your foundation. In fact, they are more important now because they fuel both human and AI discovery.

• Email marketing remains the most revenue-efficient channel. It is direct, owned, and powerful.
• Content and blogging keep Google interested and give AI engines a reason to cite you. The demand for fresh content has never been higher, but simply publishing words on a page is not enough. AI can assist with speed and efficiency, but it cannot replace the strategic perspective, brand alignment, and hospitality-specific expertise required to create content that actually drives bookings. Hotels need content that answers the questions travelers are asking, reflects the property’s unique story, and builds long-term authority. That requires a thoughtful strategy behind the words.
• Schema markup provides structured data that helps AI and traditional search understand your property.
• Guest reviews reinforce credibility. Not just with travelers, but also with AI that values citations and signals.

These fundamentals are not optional. They are the base layer upon which loops, AI visibility, and media integration stand.

Tactical takeaway: Look for ways AI can accelerate the process, such as generating topic ideas or first-pass outlines, but always layer in human editing and hospitality expertise. This ensures your content is not just fast, but accurate, on-brand, and positioned to win visibility in both search and AI engines.

Growth comes from loops, not ladders

The old ladder-like funnel is obsolete. Guest journeys loop back, circle forward, and intersect across channels. Marketing loops that learn from behavior, feeding insights back into media, content, email, and AI discovery, are how we stay relevant.

Hotels that master both fundamentals and future-facing strategies, email and AI, reviews and media, schema and marketing loops that learn from behavior, will not just survive. They will define what hospitality marketing looks like in our new era.

The funnel has run its course. The future belongs to systems that adapt, learn, and keep guests connected.

Tactical takeaway: Start building your own loop model. Sketch out how your media, content, email, reviews, and AI readiness connect. Ask: What happens after a traveler clicks? After they open an email? After they read a review? Growth will come from the connections you build between these moments.

Where hotels go from here

The rules of hotel marketing are shifting. The funnel that once guided strategy is no longer reliable, and organic search alone will not deliver the results it once did. But that does not mean growth is out of reach. In fact, the opportunities for hotels have never been greater.

The hotels that will win in this new era are the ones that adapt. They will invest in media at every stage of the guest journey. They will lean on data to understand how channels work together instead of judging them in silos. They will prioritize fundamentals like email, reviews, and content while preparing for the rise of AI-enabled search. Most importantly, they will create marketing loops that learn from every interaction and strengthen with each cycle.

Hospitality has always been about connection. The tools may change, but the goal remains the same: to build trust, inspire travelers, and keep them coming back. For hotels ready to embrace this shift, the future is not something to fear. It is something to build toward with clarity, confidence, and creativity.

Contact us today to apply the loop to your hotel marketing.