Online travel agencies solved a real problem for hotels. They aggregated demand, simplified discovery, and gave properties of all sizes access to a global audience that would have been impossible to reach independently. For many hotels, that trade-off still makes sense for a portion of their business. But the terms of that trade-off have shifted. Commission rates that settled in
Hotel marketing is the discipline of creating, capturing, and retaining profitable guest demand for a hotel. It connects positioning, search visibility, distribution, content, reputation, direct booking, and guest relationships so the right traveler finds your property, understands its value, and chooses to book. Key Takeaways: Hotel marketing connects demand creation, conversion, retention, and channel economics rather than treating every
TikTok GO is TikTok's in-app booking feature that lets users discover and book hotels, attractions, and tours without leaving the platform. For hotels, it is a new discovery surface, not a new distribution channel. Every reservation still routes through a partner OTA. That distinction should shape exactly how much you invest in it, and where. Key Takeaways: TikTok GO turns
MICE hotel marketing is the strategy hotels use to attract, convert, and retain meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions business. It is important because group buyers make most of their decisions before they ever speak to your sales team, using published specifications, photographs, and response speed to build a shortlist you either make or miss. Key Takeaways: MICE marketing should
Hotel generative engine optimization, or hotel GEO, is the practice of making a property's information easy for AI search systems to retrieve, understand, verify, cite, and recommend. It has gained importance because hotel discovery is shifting from keyword results toward synthesized answers that compare properties, summarize evidence, and guide the next booking step. Key Takeaways: Hotel GEO optimizes your property
Hotels build a corporate sales strategy by identifying companies with recurring room night demand, negotiating rates that maintain both volume and yield, and managing those accounts as a portfolio rather than a stack of one-off RFP responses. A hotel corporate sales strategy is the organized plan a property uses to win, price, and grow bookings from corporate travel programs.
Hotel marketing is key in helping you attract bookings and optimize revenue. For the most part, your marketing messages are how customers will become aware of your hotel and also how they will understand your values and unique selling proposition. Of course, to optimize your marketing, you need to be aware of the latest hotel marketing trends for 2026. In
Hotels drive more bookings from local partnerships by turning nearby businesses, employers, venues, and attractions into formal referral and distribution channels. A hotel local partnership is a commercial arrangement in which a local organization sends guests to your property in exchange for reciprocal value. Managed as a real channel, it produces direct demand no OTA can tax. Key Takeaways: Local
A hotel marketing budget is the annual amount a property commits to acquiring and retaining guests, typically between 4 and 8 percent of total revenue. The percentage matters less than what it buys. Every point you underspend on direct demand generation, you repay to intermediaries in commission, usually at a higher rate. Key Takeaways: The 4 to 8 percent
Direct hotel bookings give properties greater control over revenue, guest relationships, and long-term profitability. As travelers increasingly search and book on smartphones, hotels need websites that load quickly, rank well, and make reservations effortless on smaller screens. A mobile-first web design strategy, supported by technical SEO, can help properties reduce reliance on online travel agencies, improve organic visibility, and convert
Choosing the right channel manager is one of the more important technology decisions a growing vacation rental business will make. As soon as a property is listed on more than one booking platform, keeping calendars, rates, and availability aligned becomes a daily task, and the tool you rely on to do that has a direct effect on how smoothly your
AI agents for hotel marketing are systems that can plan, recommend, and execute defined marketing workflows within limits set by the hotel. They matter because agents now influence both sides of demand: the campaigns hotels run and the AI assistants travelers use before they ever reach a booking engine. Key Takeaways: AI agents for hotel marketing work best when they
Hotel sustainability is the practice of reducing a property's environmental impact across energy, water, waste, sourcing, and verified operating standards. It is becoming a profit strategy because its most reliable returns now appear in operating costs first, while revenue premiums apply mainly to upper-midscale, upscale, and luxury hotels. Key Takeaways: Sustainability delivers its clearest profit impact through lower utility, water,
ChatGPT hotel ads are sponsored placements that appear beneath ChatGPT's answers when travelers research trips and accommodation. OpenAI began piloting them in early 2026, which means a channel you could previously influence only through organic visibility now has a paid layer. Whether you buy in early or prepare first is a decision worth making deliberately. Key Takeaways: ChatGPT hotel ads
Hotel marketing budgets are under pressure from every direction. Google Ads cost more every quarter, OTA commissions keep climbing, and social media demands constant spend just to stay visible. So when budgets are tight, you'd expect hotel groups to double down on their cheapest, highest-performing channel: talking to guests who've already stayed. But most don't. Most pour 80% of their
Hotel marketing content used to mean a website page, a seasonal email, and maybe a blog post once a month. That's changed. Guests now expect fresh, relevant content across a dozen channels at once, and the old way of producing it just can't keep up. Here's what's driving the shift, and what you can do about it. What Changed in
Question for Hospitality Industry Expert Panel Which hotel operations are delivering measurable ROI from Agentic AI today, and how are hotels restructuring teams to manage accountability and trust these systems? (Question by Daniel Zelling) Our Hospitality Expert Panel Mariska van Heemskerk - Owner, Revenue Management Works Massimiliano Terzulli - International Business Developer, Franco
Question for Our Hotel Marketing Expert Panel What are the best practices for building and marketing experience-led campaigns versus rate-led ones? Our Marketing Expert Panel Michael J. Goldrich - Founder & Chief Advisor, Vivander Nicolas Fissendjidis - Founder, The Orange Studio Daniel Zelling - Managing Director & Founder, Opensmjle Stephanie Smith-Sparks -