Hotel marketing built around direct bookings and the quiet months.
An Irish hotel has two problems and neither is July. July sells itself. The problems are the shoulder months, and the share of bookings arriving through online travel agents at a commission of fifteen to twenty percent.
Those two are connected. A property heavily dependent on OTAs pays the most commission exactly when it is most desperate for occupancy, because the quiet months are when the platforms have the most leverage. Building direct demand is the only way out of that, and it has to be built before you need it.
Everything, from the ad to the booked call.
Direct booking campaigns
Aimed at people already considering you, with the rate advantage and the reason to book direct made obvious.
Shoulder season campaigns
Spring and autumn packages built around a reason to come rather than a discount on a room.
Brand defence on search
Your own name is searched by people about to book. If an OTA outranks you on it, you are paying commission for a customer who was looking for you.
Local market campaigns
Staycations, leisure breaks and the dining and spa business that does not depend on room nights at all.
The weekly report
Direct bookings, cost per booking and the commission avoided.
The form asks first, so your phone rings second.
Every campaign sends the click to a lead form that asks the qualifying questions before the enquiry reaches you. For hotels & guesthouses, that means:
- 01What dates are you considering?
- 02How many guests and rooms?
- 03Is this leisure or business?
- 04Are you interested in a package or room only?
Then one number every Friday: spend, leads, cost per lead and what we are changing next week.
qualified leads per month for a Dublin trades business
cost per lead on a live trades campaign
Every figure comes from a client we can put you in touch with. We do not name clients in ads or on this page. See more on the results page.
Defending your own name is the cheapest win available
Search your hotel by name and see who appears above you. If it is an OTA, then people specifically looking for your property are being routed through a platform that takes a cut of a booking you had already won.
Brand-term campaigns are inexpensive because nobody else is bidding hard on your name, and they recover the highest-intent traffic you will ever have.
Build shoulder demand before you need it
The instinct is to advertise when occupancy drops. By then you are competing with every other property doing the same thing, and the only lever left is price.
Campaigns run in advance of the quiet months, built around a reason to visit rather than a rate, produce bookings that do not erode your average room rate for the rest of the year.
€1,500 a month. Everything included.
Meta advertising fully managed, lead forms that qualify, social media fully run, all creative every month and the Friday report. Google Ads managed on top: €2,000 a month. No setup fee, no contract, month to month. Advertising spend is paid directly to the platforms and stays in your control.
Every county in Ireland.
Campaigns are built around the towns you actually cover, not a county name. Counties where we see the most demand for hotels & guesthouses:
Straight answers.
Can we really reduce OTA dependence?
Partly, and partly you should not want to — platforms genuinely bring discovery you cannot replicate. The realistic goal is shifting repeat and direct-intent guests, which is where the commission is pure loss.
Should we undercut the OTA rate?
Check your rate parity terms first. Where permitted, offering something rather than a lower price — breakfast, late checkout, a drink on arrival — usually works better and avoids the issue entirely.
What about the quiet months?
Advertise ahead of them with a reason to come, not during them with a discount. Discounting into a quiet month trains guests to wait.
Is the food and drink side worth advertising separately?
Frequently yes. It draws local custom that does not depend on occupancy and it fills the same quiet midweek periods.
What does it cost?
€1,500 a month with everything included, or €2,000 with Google Ads managed on top.
Find out what you're missing.
A free growth audit of your Google map results, reviews, website and the ads running in your county. Sent as a PDF within 24 hours. No call needed.