3 Ways To Get More Traffic To Your Hotel Website
Let me guess, you want to drive more traffic to your hotel website. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?
There are many reasons why you might not be getting many eyes on your website right now. We all know The Big One, still lingering from last year and causing challenges. But what if you’re a brand-new hotel that no one knows about yet? What if you don’t have the power of a big chain brand loyalty program behind you?
Or what if you’re not new, but still find your traffic and bookings lagging way behind? What can you do?
The answer to this is kind of a two-parter and I’ll tell you why in a moment.
Right now, you want to know the actual strategies you can use to get more traffic to your hotel website! So I’m going to break it down into three categories, with examples, and explain the pros and cons of each.
Oh, and… I’m obviously partial to #3 😉 but in an ideal scenario, you should have a mix of all three approaches.
Why more traffic doesn’t always mean more bookings…
Before we go ANY further, I do need to put an important caveat on this subject: Traffic ≠ Bookings!
More traffic alone does NOT always mean more bookings.
If “get more website traffic” is your only goal, well, feel free to skip right ahead past this portion of the article because getting traffic is easy. Turning that traffic into revenue is the hard part.
But there’s also a valid reason why folks tend to focus on traffic.
The average hotel website conversion rate is 2% or less, according to various studies.
That number is based on the number of bookings made relative to the number of “sessions” or visits to your website.
So… you might be thinking: oh, it’s just a numbers game!
Say you have 1,000 visits this month… does that mean you’re guaranteed 20 bookings? What if you get 10,000 visits instead?
Well, no, not exactly.
Not everyone who visits your website is actually interested in booking. Or they might be interested, but still shopping around — certain information might help them make a decision either way.
Spoiler alert: Next week’s blog post is all about the metric you should be looking at instead. 👀
For now, I just want you to remember that not all traffic has the potential for bookings so your priority should be attracting the right traffic to your website — not just any traffic.
So without further ado, here are the three methods we’re going to cover in this article:
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Here are 3 different ways to drive traffic to your hotel website:
#1. Pay for it
Yep, right outta the gate, the easiest way to get traffic to your website is to pay for it.
Hoteliers also have a lot of different platform options for advertising these days, including:
Facebook ads (which can also be shown on Instagram)
Paid search (pay-per-click, auction-style text ads displayed at the top of a search engine results page, like Google AdWords or Bing Ads)
Metasearch
Display banner ads
YouTube ads
Boosted pins on Pinterest
Those last two are less common among hotels, but still worth noting.
With all these different platforms, it’s important to match CONTEXT and user intent with the CONTENT you choose to promote.
Advertising as a means to drive traffic has its pros and cons:
Pro: Advertising can provide a “quick win” — as long as the stars align, meaning, you’re targeting the right person with the right offer at the right time.
Con: Advertising requires a budget and most of the time, continuous testing. How do you find the “right person with the right offer at the right time?” You have to test, like, a lot. This means you need to have a pretty healthy hotel advertising budget to begin with.
Pro: Advertising is pretty easy to track. Use the Google UTM Campaign Builder to set up trackable links with the correct source and campaign ID.
Con: Did I mention that advertising requires a budget? Running ads is kinda like running a tap… sure, the water might flow as long it’s on — but the second you turn it off, the water stops. Advertising is not sustainable without a budget behind it.
Con: Advertising is not always worth it. There’s an added cost per booking when you’re paying for traffic, so you have to decide for yourself whether the ROI (return on investment) makes it worthwhile. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn’t.
To be clear, I don’t want you to think I’m discouraging you from running ads. Not at all!
In an ideal scenario, your hotel marketing plan will include a budget for advertising — it can be a powerful way to support a brand awareness objective, or specific offers/campaigns.
Advertising can be a very effective strategy to drive traffic, so it is worth considering.
What I don’t want you to do is rely ENTIRELY on ads alone to drive traffic to your hotel website. This is very short-term thinking. Remember: if you only rely on ads to drive traffic and bookings, you’re also relying on your own marketing budget. No more budget? Buh-bye bookings…
#2. EARN IT
The second way to drive traffic to your hotel website is to earn it.
Wait, what?
According to the content pros at HubSpot, “Earned media is any material written about you or your business that you haven't paid for or created yourself.”
Think: Publicity.
The Internet has totally changed the way brands “earn” media. Traditional TV advertisements and cable spots still exist, of course, but there’s been a biggggg shift online as these “earned” mentions can drive trackable traffic back to your brand website.
Backlinks — or, links from other websites back to your own — also have a role to play in building brand authority and helping your hotel website rank higher on Google. (We’ll talk about SEO more in a moment…)
It’s not only about links, though.
“Word of mouth,” reviews, or mentions on social media can also drive traffic to your hotel website — though this can be harder to track directly without a link or @-tag.
As most hoteliers know, social proof in the form of online reviews or testimonials can be very powerful. In fact, I’d argue that post-COVID, social proof for hotels is more important than ever.
It can be hard to measure though.
One thing you can do is look for a lift in traffic from your “Direct” channel after a big press mention or viral story. While it’s not exact, this can indicate that some specific earned media may have given your traffic a boost!
Of course, there’s also a downside to this: You really can’t control what others say about you online.
You also can’t control external events or viral news stories related to your destination. Any hotelier who has dealt with a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or other crisis situation can relate.
(Sadly, I’ve experienced all three. 😔)
In those situations, it’s not uncommon to see a lift in website traffic as people look for information about the crisis or event itself. These folks often land on your website and leave soon after because, of course, they’re not actually looking to book.
Another case in point for why more traffic does not always mean more bookings.
Still, earned media through brand mentions or positive press should absolutely be part of your overall hotel marketing strategy. Keep in mind that social proof alone is a big way to earn credibility and trust from potential hotel guests — and that helps you get more bookings.
Here’s a free resource you may find helpful: Grab a free hotel marketing plan template below. ⤵
#3. OWN IT
Finally, we come to what I consider the most effective way to drive traffic to your hotel website: Focus on the channels you actually own.
There are just four things I want you to focus on within this, ranked in order of importance (in my humble opinion!):
Your website — as in, make it the very BEST it can possibly be.
Your SEO — this is sooo often overlooked, leading to bookings (and revenue) left on the table.
Your email marketing — have a plan and be consistent with it.
Your social media — see above!
Spoiler alert: Next week’s blog post is going to go into way more detail on making your hotel website a direct bookings machine, but here’s some recommended reading to get you started:
What Features Do You Really Need On Your Hotel Website?
Google's Algorithm Is Changing (Again): Is Your Hotel Website Ready?
In terms of hotel SEO, well, I also cover that topic a lot on this blog!
One thing all hoteliers should understand is that optimizing for search engines actually means optimizing for searchERs — as in, the people booking a room, meeting, spa service, table at your restaurant, etc.
When folks turn to Google looking for something that YOU have to offer (☝️ like the examples above), don’t you want to show up?
Unlike advertising, which interrupts the user when they aren’t looking for something, SEO meets the user where they are WHEN they’re looking to purchase or find useful information.
The other thing hotel marketers should love about SEO is its longevity.
While it can take some time to create high-ranking content, once it “pops” it can really take off — and much like interest, it compounds over time, growing and snowballing with little to no further investment in resources.
Another important traffic-driving channel that YOU own is your email list.
In fact, I rate it above social media for that reason: you own it fully, and you will always have your list of subscribers even if you decide to change service providers.
The key to hotel email marketing is consistency.
Make sure you have a method of building and growing your hotel’s email list — here’s the list-building strategy I recommend — and a plan for engaging those folks regularly.
Honestly, the same thing applies to social media. I call it an “owned” channel because, technically, you do have your own profile or business page to share your content… but I rate it lower because there are no guarantees that some bug in the system won’t suddenly shut down Instagram or Facebook or Twitter.
(We know this because it happens… often.)
Still, social media can be a good way to drive traffic by sharing interesting, engaging content that links back to your hotel website.
I tend to think “less is more” with social media marketing. Focus on the platforms your guests actually use and engage with them there. (You might also like this free class on hotel copywriting for social media, as I offer a few tips to help you connect the dots from casual scrolling to direct booking.)
Final Thoughts
Traffic is an important metric but remember: clicks don’t equal bookings.
A well-rounded marketing plan focuses on all three traffic-driving methods but the majority of your effort will likely go into the channels you actually own.
At the end of the day, what works for one hotel won’t necessarily work for yours, too.
It’s always a good idea to pay attention to your website analytics and look for patterns in traffic monthly, quarterly, and even yearly.
Where are you getting the most of your traffic? And even more importantly, which channel is responsible for the majority of your bookings?
If it’s overwhelmingly “Direct,” make sure you’re correctly tracking links that you share on social media, in paid ads, and even on local business listings so those channels get the appropriate credit. (You can use the Google UTM Campaign Builder to do it.)
Next week, I’ll show you some specific strategies for improving your hotel website — so all this increased traffic actually results in bookings and revenue. Stay tuned!