Why Your Hotel Is Probably Running Too Many Facebook Ads

January 14, 2025 by Morgan Tuohy

One of the most overlooked factors that can make or break your hotel’s Facebook marketing campaigns is the number of ads you run at any given time. While on the surface, it may seem like it’s beneficial to always run more ads, offers, and campaigns than your competitors, a spray-and-pray approach will almost always bring worse results than an effective, controlled hotel ad campaign strategy.

What we’re talking about today has a lot to do with the conversation around ad frequency we posted earlier this year. We’d recommend giving that blog post a read first, but if you don’t have time, here’s a short synopsis:

In order for your hotel’s ad messaging to stick with your target audience, your audience has to see the same message between 2 and 10 times. Running too many hotel ad campaigns to a large audience ends up diluting your messaging, wasting ad dollars, and confusing your customers. It’s important to keep this frequency number in mind when planning your campaigns.

Why shouldn’t our hotel run as many offers/ads as possible?

On the surface, running more hotel offers and ads seems to make sense. On Facebook, we’re serving ads to diverse audiences, from retired people who can easily accommodate a weekday vacation to parents of young children on a long weekend to young professionals looking for a romantic date. Doesn’t it make sense to run offers for all of these groups and more?

This thinking often leads to diluted messaging, confused customers, and fewer conversions as a result. Read on to find out why.

What does a good hotel retargeting campaign strategy look like?

In a hotel retargeting campaign, we’re delivering ads to people who have previously shown interest in staying at your hotel or have recently visited your website. These are customers who probably already know who you are but need a push to be reminded why they should actually book a stay. When considering how many ads and offers to run in your hotel’s retargeting campaigns, we have a few guidelines we recommend:

Run six or fewer ads at a time

Running more than 6 ads at a time makes it hard for the Facebook algorithm to learn enough about your ads to deliver them effectively. Don’t believe us? Take it from them. We recommend having a daily budget of at least $5 per ad, if possible. If your daily budget is $15/day, it is probably wiser to run only 3-4 ads.

Run 3 or fewer offers of hotel messaging types

Now that you’re running six or fewer ads, we can talk about offers. We recommend not running more than 3 offers at any given time, giving room for around 2 ads per offer. For example, you might run 2 ads for a 20% savings offer, 2 ads for an extra night offer, and 2 evergreen ads that aren’t tied to offers at all.

This allows Facebook to deliver the same type of messaging to the same user in multiple ways instead of always having to deliver the same ad to a user that might resonate with a 20% savings offer, for example.

Allow your hotel’s Facebook campaigns to optimize before rotating offers

Once you’ve chosen an offer to run, we recommend running the offer for at least 2 weeks, but preferably longer. It can take days for Facebook to optimize a new ad type or offer, so rotating offers weekly only hinders your hotel’s Facebook campaign performance. Be wary of ad fatigue, though; refresh images and copy at least seasonally.

What does this look like?

Consider the following two hotel Facebook ad accounts (with identifying information removed) from September 2024. In the first screenshot, there are 9 individual hotel offers and one hotel press accolade, each with one ad. Note that the ad frequency for 8 of 10 ads is below 2, meaning on average, the target audience is exposed to each offer less than 2 times. This frequency isn’t high enough to drive a substantial number of bookings.

In the second screenshot, the hotel only runs one offer and a handful of evergreen ads. The two hotel offer ads see a frequency of 3.00 and 2.57. There’s some overlap here, so the number of times the average user is exposed to this offer each month across both ads is 3.62 times. Delivering this offer at a high frequency is driving more bookings for the hotel, specifically on the offer this hotel is prioritizing. In addition to our one hotel offer ad, 3 supplemental evergreen ads help to round out our hotel Facebook campaign, providing less sales-focused copy and reminding customers about the experience they’ll have on the property.

This strategy provides clarity for your hotel’s audience with a specific offer or set of offers, without having so many choices they get overwhelmed.

What does a good hotel prospecting campaign strategy look like?

A good hotel prospecting campaign strategy follows similar rules to an optimal retargeting campaign strategy. The only modification for prospecting is instead of delivering different hotel offers, we recommend experimenting with different messaging points while introducing your hotel to new, unaware audiences. These are the guidelines we recommend:

Run six or fewer ads at a time

Just like with retargeting, we recommend running no more than 6 ads at a time. Again, if your hotel’s budget is less than $30/day, sticking to a rule of $5 per day, per ad is a good starting point when deciding how many ads to run.

Run 3 or fewer hotel messaging aypes

Prospecting is a great place to experiment with new ways to introduce your hotel to prospective guests. We see the most success with four main categories of prospecting ads:

Evergreen ads
- These ads mirror the imagery and language on your hotel’s website, how you’d describe the experience of staying at your hotel to a new guest.
Review ads
- Pulling reviews from Google & other websites gives prospective guests confidence they might enjoy their stay and click through to your hotel’s website to find out more.
Press ads
- Maybe Forbes or Travel & Leisure raved about a stay at your hotel. Quotes from reputable press outlets often provide guests with confidence about your hotel and drive interest, similar to review ads.
Offer ads
- Although we see the most success with offer ads in retargeting campaigns, sometimes they’re worth experimenting with, combined with softer, more prospecting-focused language.

What does this look like?

Consider the following screenshot (with identifying information removed) from a hotel experimenting with brand pillar ads, review ads, and evergreen ads. Monthly, this hotel rotates between different brand pillars & reviews, turning off ads that are less successful and testing new concepts to avoid ad fatigue. Although ad spend is concentrated between a few ads, all ads were served at least 2,500 times during the month, allowing Facebook to collect adequate data on what ads are driving the most qualified traffic to the website.

(TLDR) Too long; didn’t read

In short, managing your hotel’s ad volume is one of the most important things you can do to improve your Facebook performance. Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind:

Run 6 or fewer ads in any campaign to allow Facebook to best optimize your hotel’s ads
Run at least 2 ads for any offer or messaging type so your message can be delivered in multiple ways
Rotate ads often (but not too often!) to avoid ad fatigue

You deserve a partner in creating your hotel’s Facebook campaign strategies. Reach out to the experts at GCommerce Solutions to learn more about running highly effective campaigns that help drive more guests to your hotel.

Maximizing your TikTok Campaign Potential

January 13, 2025 by Meaghan Reynolds

TikTok provides a vibrant platform for advertisers to engage with users creatively. Here's how to leverage its features to optimize your campaigns:

Leverage TikTok’s Creative Codes

TikTok’s Creative Codes are designed to help advertisers craft ads that perform well on the platform. Here’s an expanded look at each component:

TikTok-first content: TikTok thrives on organic, native content. This means that ads should feel like they belong to the platform, unlike traditional ads. Using vertical formats (9:16 aspect ratio) and lo-fi, unpolished visuals (e.g., raw footage, informal settings) helps make ads feel more authentic. Creators are central to TikTok, so partnering with influencers or creators can elevate your ad’s relevance and engagement.
Trends: TikTok is driven by trends, and these can be fleeting, so it’s essential to stay on top of what’s happening in real time. TikTok's Creative Center is a great tool for finding current and popular trends. Integrating your brand into these trends can make your content more shareable and increase its reach. For example, if a popular meme is trending, creating an ad that aligns with that meme can catch the audience’s attention quickly.
Production: TikTok users expect high-quality video but not overly produced content. Use crisp visuals and sound but maintain an authentic, informal feel. Keeping your content fresh is key—if ads look stale or overly similar to previous ones, they can lose engagement. Refreshing your video ads regularly prevents ad fatigue, where users start to ignore or block out your content.
Structure: A good TikTok ad often follows a simple, clear structure:
- Hook: Capture attention in the first 3 seconds with something unexpected or intriguing.
- Body: Provide value or content that supports your message (e.g., product benefits, brand story).
- Close: End with a strong, clear Call-to-Action (CTA) that guides the viewer on what to do next, whether it’s clicking a link or visiting your website.
Stimulation: TikTok ads should move quickly. Use fast cuts and scene changes to maintain interest, and text overlays to highlight key points. People tend to scroll fast, so your ad must grab attention immediately. Dynamic editing with playful transitions can make the ad feel more like organic content.
Sound: TikTok is inherently auditory, so sound plays a huge role in creating an emotional connection. Music sets the mood of the ad, while voiceovers can help tell a story or explain how your product works. TikTok’s Commercial Music Library ensures that you have access to royalty-free music, which can be essential for maintaining the copyright integrity of your content.

Embrace Native content

Native content refers to ads that blend seamlessly into the platform’s regular content, making them feel like organic posts rather than intrusive ads:

Keep it real: TikTok users are highly sensitive to inauthenticity. Ads that appear overly polished or commercialized can appear out of place. Instead, use lo-fi aesthetics, such as videos filmed on a smartphone with natural lighting, and avoid high-end production values.
Use vertical format: Vertical video (9:16) is the standard on TikTok, and videos that are in this format tend to perform best. Horizontal videos often look awkward and less engaging on mobile devices, which is the primary way TikTok is consumed.
Feature people: Authenticity is key on TikTok, so showing real people, such as employees, creators, or customers, can foster a deeper connection with the audience. If possible, feature user-generated content or collaborate with influencers, as their followers are more likely to trust and engage with the content.

Follow TikTok trends

Trends on TikTok can be divided into moments, signals, and forces, each offering different types of opportunities for your brand to align with cultural currents:

Moments: These are short-term trends, often based on memes, viral challenges, or real-time events. Brands can capitalize on these by participating in the trend quickly and authentically.
Signals: These are mid-term cultural trends that may last weeks or months, such as new product categories, emerging cultural shifts, or seasonal events. Adapting to these trends can help brands stay relevant over time.
Forces: These are long-term cultural patterns, like sustainability or social justice, that shape behavior and attitudes. Aligning your brand with these broader, deeper trends can help create a more lasting connection with audiences.

Optimize sound

TikTok is a highly immersive platform, and sound is one of the most important elements for keeping users engaged:

Music: The right song can enhance the emotional appeal of your video. It helps set the tone of your content, from energetic and playful to calm and soothing. TikTok allows users to select songs from its vast library, and using trending music can also give your content more exposure.
Voiceovers: Adding a voiceover to your ad can help explain the product or service you're offering, tell a story, or provide additional context. Voiceovers are especially useful for tutorial or instructional content.
Commercial Music Library: This library offers pre-cleared music that is safe to use for commercial purposes. Using music from this collection ensures that you don’t run into copyright issues, which can be crucial for maintaining the integrity of your brand.

Value of creativity

Creativity is at the heart of TikTok's success, and it must resonate with your target audience on a personal level:

Empathy: Understand the values, challenges, and interests of your audience. Show that you are aligned with their emotions or concerns, whether it’s through humor, inspiration, or relatability. This can increase viewer trust and make the content more shareable.
Resonance: The content should evoke an emotional response. This can be through storytelling, creating scenarios that the audience can relate to, or tapping into cultural relevance (e.g., addressing timely issues or trends).
Variety: Mix content types to keep your audience engaged. Entertainment-focused videos might attract attention, while educational content can provide more value. Combining different formats helps you reach a broader audience with varying preferences.

Strategies for Success on TikTok

Here are several key strategies for optimizing your TikTok campaigns:

Blend paid and organic content: A strong organic presence (e.g., regular posts, user-generated content) can make your paid ads more effective. By consistently posting relevant content, you build trust and credibility, making users more likely to engage with your ads.
TikTok-first content: Embrace the native, informal storytelling style that works well on TikTok. Ads that integrate into the TikTok environment feel more authentic and resonate better with users.
Creator collaborations: Influencers and TikTok creators are trusted by their followers. Partnering with them allows your brand to tap into their audience and establish credibility in an authentic way.
Creative tools: TikTok’s Creator Marketplace is a valuable resource for connecting with influencers, while AI tools can help scale your content and optimize performance. These tools enable you to manage your campaigns efficiently and target the right audience.

Need help getting started with TikTok ads? Reach out today!

Your Holiday Hangover Guide

January 7, 2025 by GCommerce Solutions

Getting back into the swing of things after the holiday season isn’t always easy, but we’ve got you covered. Check out our handpicked articles to help you kick off 2025 on the right note!

The Path to Profitability in 2025: A Hotel Marketer's Guide

In today's dynamic hospitality landscape, understanding consumer behavior is crucial for hotel marketers to thrive. This guide will explore key strategies for navigating the evolving digital landscape, leveraging data and AI to drive guest satisfaction and loyalty, and ultimately achieving profitability in 2025.

Battling OTA’s for Direct Business

As hospitality digital marketing has progressed, so have the strategies and tactics used by hotels and OTA’s to win customers. The newest battlefield is hotel metasearch, and OTA’s have committed an outsized portion of their attention and budget to ensure they dominate the field. The response from hotels has been tragically tepid.

The Crucial Importance of Owning Your Website

Having a robust online presence is not just advantageous—it's essential. While social media platforms offer visibility and engagement, they shouldn't be your sole digital outpost. Instead, owning your website is paramount for establishing credibility, control, and long-term success online. Let's look at the top reasons why owning your website is crucial for your property.

Effective Strategies to Increase Your Hotel’s Direct Bookings

In the highly competitive hospitality industry, increasing direct bookings is crucial for hotels and other accommodation providers. Direct bookings not only help you reduce reliance on third-party online travel agencies (OTAs) but also allow you to establish a direct relationship with your guests, resulting in better customer satisfaction and increased profits. To help you maximize your direct bookings, we've compiled a list of effective strategies that can give your business a boost.

What Google’s Sunset of Commission Bid Strategies Means for Your Hotel Ads Campaigns

For hotels that want to run hotel ads campaigns, the ecosystem requires they use a 3rd party connection to access their rates and inventory feed via Google’s Hotel Center. This hotel center feed is then connected via third-party platforms or directly from a hotel’s CRS provider.

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Maximizing Revenue and Guest Satisfaction with Revinate Upsells

January 6, 2025 by Maddie Holifield

Personalizing the guest journey is no longer optional - it’s essential. Revinate, a GCommerce partner, offers a powerful way to enhance the guest experience and increase your property’s revenue through its Upsells feature.

What is the upsells feature?

By seamlessly integrating room upgrades, amenities, and unique experiences into automated email campaigns, Upsells offers an opportunity to generate incremental revenue while providing guests with tailored offerings.

The dual benefits of upselling

Upselling is a win-win for both hotels and your guests. It allows properties to unlock new revenue streams and provides personalized enhancements to elevate the guest experience.

For hotels, upsells deliver 100% profitable revenue with no commission fees, whether through room upgrades, exclusive amenities, or local activity offerings.

For guests, upsells cater to specific guest needs and preferences. From romantic add-ons for anniversaries to family-friendly offerings, this feature allows for more personalized experiences and increases the likelihood that guests will return. Upsells also serve as a gateway to curated local experiences, enriching the overall stay.

Upsells across the guest journey

To maximize the impact of upsells, it’s important to align offers with different stages of the guest journey.

Pre-arrival:

As guests plan their trips, they’re more likely to consider upgrades. Pre-arrival emails showcasing popular upsells save time at check-in while improving pre-trip engagement.

Post stay:

Gathering feedback on upsells in post-stay surveys, and emails provides valuable insights into guest preferences and helps refine future offerings. As a bonus, engaging with guests, post-stay strengthens relationships and encourages repeat bookings.

The revenue potential of upsells

Revinate customers are reaping significant benefits from their upsell initiatives. On average, properties generate $1,100 in monthly upsell revenue, with some earning as much as $10,00 per month in additional revenue.

Crafting effective upsells

Tapping into personalization is the cornerstone of successful upselling. By utilizing guest data, hotels can tailor offers based on past behaviors, preferences, or travel motivations. A study revealed that 36% of guests are willing to pay more for experiences tailored to their needs.

Timing is critical: pre-arrival campaigns sent 3-7 days before check-in yield a 61% average open rate and a 30% click-through rate. Subject lines featuring “upgrade” perform particularly well, boasting a 61% open rate.

Top performing amenity upsells include:

A small bouquet
Breakfast buffet
Airport pickup
Bottle of champagne

The long-term value of upsells

Beyond immediate revenue, upselling forages deeper guest relationships and improves guest loyalty. Personalized offers show that the property understands and anticipates guests’ needs, leading to higher satisfaction during and after a stay. Research shows that 91% of customers expect businesses to provide relevant, personalized recommendations, making upselling a powerful tool for meeting and exceeding guest expectations.

Examples of upselling in pre-arrivals

Utilizing the upsells feature can improve guest satisfaction & increase revenue

Revinate Upsells offers an unparalleled opportunity to elevate the guest experience while driving revenue for a property. By integrating personalized offers into the various stages of the guest journey, properties can achieve greater guest satisfaction and enhance guest loyalty.

Ready to unlock the full potential of upselling at your property? Contact GCommerce Solutions today.

2024 Year in Review: GCommerce Solutions

December 19, 2024 by GCommerce Solutions

We are thrilled to express our deepest thanks for an incredible 2024! The GCommerce team achieved remarkable success this year, launching vibrant marketing campaigns, designing stunning websites, creating compelling educational content, and boosting our clients' metasearch optimization and direct bookings. 🏨

Here are our top highlights from 2024:

Welcomed 12 new GCommerce team members
Published 60 educational articles
Held 25 internal Equity & Advocacy team meetings
Welcomed 28 new wonderful hotel clients to the GCommerce family
Published six comprehensive E-Books

Here are our top client wins from 2024:

39% average email open rate
10 websites launched
Won 5 HSMAI Adrian Awards
Generated $1.57 million in revenue from a Facebook/Instagram ad campaign (and still counting!)
Generated $4.6 million in revenue from a single property paid search campaign
Generated $513,000 from a single email campaign

Here's what you liked best:

Based upon what you liked, Google was a hot topic this year. 🫣

Google Consent Mode updates

Blog summary: Google has updated it's consent mode tag setting that allows your website visitors' cookie preferences to be passed via their selections on your domain’s cookie banner/consent management platform to Google’s suite of ad products, such as Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform. You can learn more about the details of consent mode here.

Battling OTA’s for direct business

Blog summary: As hospitality digital marketing has progressed, so have the strategies and tactics used by hotels and OTA’s to win customers. The newest battlefield is hotel metasearch, and OTA’s have committed an outsized portion of their attention and budget to ensure they dominate the field. Learn how to battle the OTA’s for direct business here.

Google Marketing Live 2024: Key takeaways from the GCommerce team

Blog summary: Every year, the marketing industry eagerly awaits Google Marketing Live, Google’s annual event to showcase what’s new in the world of Google advertising. While this year seemed to focus on e-commerce and retail heavily, there were still a lot of announcements and features that got us excited about what’s to come. Discover our key takeaways from Google Marketing Live 2024 now.

What Google’s sunset of Commission Bid Strategies means for your hotel ads campaigns

Blog summary: Historically, Google Hotel Ads campaign types have had access to a few different bid strategies. Commission-based bid strategies are unique to hotel ad campaigns, and they allow hotels to set their bid optimization to be billed based on either pay-per-stay or pay-per-conversion. What does this mean for your Google Hotel Ads campaigns? Discover now.

How to maximize your Google hotel ad metasearch production

Blog summary: Your Google hotel ad strategy should involve optimizing your Google Business Profile, analyzing and reacting to key performance indicators like impression data, and an understanding of the variables that can impact your click-through and conversion rates. Learn more about these strategies here.

What are the most popular hotel offers?

Blog summary: We frequently get asked what are the most popular hotel offers. While we could have relied on educated guesses from client and team member feedback, we opted to dive into the data for concrete answers. Our analysis of rate plan categories across our entire portfolio revealed some fascinating insights. Learn more now.

Here's to an unforgettable 2024, made possible by our amazing clients and outstanding team! As we leap into 2024 with excitement, we're thrilled about the shared successes and memorable moments that lie ahead. A massive thank you for being such an essential part of our journey! ❤️

[Webinar Recording] SearchGPT Study for Hotels

December 11, 2024 by GCommerce Solutions

Learn why this emerging search experience is essential for your hotel’s marketing, ways to improve chances of visibility, and more.

In this webinar, we will cover:

💡 An intro to ChatGPT Search
🎯 Key findings from our study
✅ A review of the experience for branded and non-branded queries
❓ Answers to FAQs including:

- How does SearchGPT stack up against Google?

- What strategies can boost your hotel's visibility?

- How can you track website traffic from ChatGPT Search?

Download the recording below. ⬇️

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