The ultimate hotel guide to seasonal paid search marketing
Seasonal paid search marketing is a great way to meet your hotel’s shifting objectives throughout the year. However, it can also be somewhat complex, making it tricky to ensure the best outcome for campaign performance through seasonal marketing.
If you’re interested in seasonal paid search but unsure where to start, this guide is for you. We’ll answer frequently asked questions about seasonal paid search advertising and provide advice to get you started with your hotel or property.
Should my hotel use seasonal paid search advertising?
Though seasonal paid search marketing can come with a number of benefits, a seasonal ad strategy doesn’t make sense for every hotel. An occasional ad copy refresh is always a good idea, but for some hotels, the time spent on consistent seasonal updates would be better used towards other optimizations.
Seasonally shifting demand drivers
Seasonal paid search advertising is best used when your hotel has shifting demand drivers. This could include seasonal draws such as skiing, yearly events in the area, or even amenities such as an outdoor pool. Weather and climate can also act as a seasonal demand driver. For example, tropical climates may be equally appealing year-round, but travel in a location with clear seasonal divides may see fluctuations with those weather changes.
Season-dependent hotel demand drivers
Certain hotel demand drivers can also provide a compelling reason to implement seasonal paid search advertising. Hotels prioritizing year-round outdoor adventures, for example, may want to call out the unique experiences available during each season. For a hotel located near a large arena or stadium, drawing more attention to location may be a smart move when the relevant sports are in-season. Even a shift in business mix could be a reason to add seasonal paid search advertising, gearing language more towards a business or leisure audience, depending on the month.
Booking trends don't always match demand drivers
Most hotels have slight differences in seasonal demand, but this isn’t always the result of a unique demand driver. Though booking volume often fluctuates, seasonal paid search marketing is most effective when the reasons for those bookings change. If guests are drawn to your hotel for somewhat consistent reasons throughout the year, a seasonal paid search marketing strategy may not be necessary for your hotel.
Does my hotel need seasonal paid search marketing all year?
Deciding when to run seasonal paid search advertising comes down to your hotel’s unique demand drivers. Depending on the reasons that your guests book, your hotel may benefit from seasonal ads for a few weeks, a few months, or the entire year.
Year-round messaging for year-round demand drivers
If your hotel has ever-changing demand drivers with unique draws across all seasons, you may find success with year-round seasonal rotation. Since features vary across winter, spring, summer, and autumn, it can be beneficial to call out shifting experiences throughout the year. Hotels based on outdoor adventures are a great example of this. Winter sports, spring hikes, summer water activities, and autumn colors all have a unique draw, so individual paid search advertising for every season may be beneficial.
Seasonal messaging for peak seasons
On the other hand, hotels with demand drivers falling into one “peak” season may only need seasonal paid search advertising during that period. Ski resorts, for example, may only need seasonal callouts during the snowy months. While spring, summer, and autumn have some unique features, tailored ads might not be necessary during those times since the main seasonal demand driver is contained to the winter months.
Maintain messaging during the off-season
However, it’s important to remember that demand drivers may not completely disappear during the off-season. Though paid search advertising is most effective when focusing on demand drivers from the current season, many guests plan their stay months in advance. Because of this, it’s smart to provide some level of visibility for all seasonal demand drivers throughout the year, regardless of how often your hotel rotates dedicated seasonal messaging.
Should my hotel simultaneously run evergreen paid search advertising?
The answer to this question once again relies on your hotel’s particular demand drivers, as well as your marketing objectives.
Performance considerations
Running simultaneous seasonal and evergreen messaging offers more to work with for paid search advertising platforms, which could help performance. A wider variety of ad copy creates more opportunities for a platform to tailor your hotel’s ads, optimizing paid search campaigns to reach your target guests. A higher number of assets could also mitigate ad fatigue, as the same copy is less likely to appear multiple times to the same user.
However, multiple paid search ads create more moving parts in an account, potentially increasing the time required for campaign management. Balancing multiple ads can complicate your hotel’s paid search marketing strategy, sometimes making it difficult to identify key optimization tactics or diagnose performance changes down the road.
Significance of demand drivers
Another factor in the decision to run evergreen ads is the significance of your hotel’s seasonal demand drivers. In cases where seasonal features are a core draw for your hotel, it may be beneficial to run seasonal ads exclusively. For example, if the vast majority of guests book to see a basketball team located near your hotel, abandoning evergreen ads during basketball season may be the right choice.
Conversely, if most guests book your hotel for a feature that’s available year-round, such as a downtown location or high-end service, then evergreen ads are an essential component of your paid search marketing that should not be removed. Seasonal ads are still a great way to call out additional benefits and experiences available throughout the year, but running these ads alongside evergreen messaging will ensure that seasonal callouts do not detract from the primary draws of your hotel.
How unique should seasonal paid search advertising be?
Whether seasonal paid search marketing is used alone or in tandem with evergreen ads, and regardless of how often this messaging is rotated, your hotel should aim to balance unique seasonal features with year-round benefits. Though the exact mix of these demand drivers will vary by hotel, seasonal paid search marketing should always incorporate messaging related to both types.
Multi-purpose messaging
Many features of a hotel stay the same year-round, and these can be repeated in paid search advertising throughout the year. As long as they call out a consistent benefit of the hotel, headlines and descriptions can be fully or partially re-used in evergreen ads and multiple seasonal ad variations.
Significance of changes
Even when features change seasonally, the significance of these changes affect how different each seasonal ad should be. Some hotels require complete paid search advertising overhauls to call out unique demand drivers, while other hotels only need small tweaks and slight wording changes to fit each season.
Structural separation
However, we do recommend structurally separating paid search advertising for each season, regardless of how similar messaging is between rotations. Creating individual ad variations keeps your paid search campaigns far more organized, making it faster and easier to implement seasonal changes, compare performance across time, and analyze the effectiveness of a seasonal paid search marketing strategy overall.
Seasonal paid search advertising examples
While seasonal paid search advertising should align with your hotel’s individual demand drivers, marketing goals, and brand voice, we know that’s easier said than done. Here are a few example ads to get you started.
Example 1: Hotel in an area known for skiing
This hotel only requires seasonal paid search advertising during the winter.
Example 2: Outdoor-focused hotel
These ads call out unique experiences available during each season.
Example 3: Downtown hotel in a city with four distinct seasons
These ads are a great example of re-using assets between seasons.
Should my hotel use paid search keywords seasonally?
Regardless of your paid search advertising strategy, it’s always a good idea to utilize keywords related to seasonal demand drivers. Targeting these keywords can boost awareness and visibility, potentially driving more bookings for your hotel.
Unlike ads, though, seasonal paid search keywords do not need to be rotated throughout the year. Even if a keyword has low volume when out of season, this will not actively harm your hotel due to the cost per click model on paid search, though seasonal keywords may not generate as many impressions, clicks, or bookings during the off-season, your hotel will only pay for what is generated, leaving no direct impact on overall account efficiency or optimization.
In fact, seasonally rotating keywords could actually cause problems on its own. Guests often plan for seasonal trips months in advance, with seasonal searches lingering through the off-season. Because of this, removing a seasonal keyword could cause your hotel to miss out on important searches and potential bookings, negatively impacting performance.
When should my hotel rotate seasonal paid search advertising?
Because seasonal demand drivers vary so widely, your hotel’s seasonal paid search schedule will depend on your particular circumstances. While most hotel seasons can be broadly divided into winter, spring, summer, and autumn, the exact dates and time periods will change based on the area your hotel serves.
When developing a seasonal paid search marketing schedule, keep your hotel’s marketing objectives in mind. Consider the following questions:
- Do you want your hotel’s ads to focus on immediate bookings, only running seasonal ads for currently available experiences?
- Or do you want to include a bit of lead-up before a season, making sure to account for the guest planning period?
- Do you want your hotel’s ads to slowly transition, using a small period of overlap between seasons?
- Or should your hotel’s ads change suddenly, with a clear distinction between seasons?
There’s no one right answer when it comes to a seasonal paid search advertising schedule. Don’t be afraid to experiment year over year or season over season, to identify what works best for your individual hotel.
Key takeaways on seasonal paid search marketing
Seasonal paid search marketing can be incredibly beneficial, but only if it’s used right. When making decisions about seasonal advertising, always consider your hotel’s individual circumstances.
- What are the key demand drivers for your hotel?
- What are your marketing objectives?
- When and why do your guests book?
Your hotel is one of a kind, and your paid search advertising should be just as unique.
To learn more about seasonal paid search marketing or get your hotel started, reach out to GCommerce today.
