LEVERAGING PAID SEARCH MARKETING FOR IMPROVED SALES PERFORMANCE OF HOTELS IN THAILAND

In our increasingly digital world where people spend large proportions of their lives online, paid search marketing has become a powerful tool for hotels in Thailand to enhance their online sales performance. With platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram and even OTA (Online Travel Agents) now offering robust advertising solutions, hotels can target future potential guests effectively and generate higher bookings by being in the conversion at the point of sale.

In this article, I will explore the role of paid search marketing and paid ads in boosting sales performance for hotels in Thailand and provide actionable strategies to optimize their campaigns.

Get in front of the people most likely to book

Paid search marketing and paid ads in general enable hotels to reach their target audience or niche with extreme precision based on how these people interact with the internet. With platforms like Google Ads, hotels can create highly targeted campaigns based on demographics, location, and most importantly search intent. By selecting relevant keywords related to their hotel and popular tourist destinations in Thailand, hotels can ensure their ads appear prominently when potential guests search for accommodation similar to their hotel.

Facebook Ads, on the other hand, allows hotels to target specific user interests, behaviors, and demographics, ensuring ads are shown to the most relevant audience. However, the difference between these 2 channels should be noted as one channel involves proactive search (Google ads) and the other involves reaction. The search intent and guest mindset is different and therefore the results may vary widely between channels.

Geotargeting & Being persistent with remarketing

Geotargeting is a powerful feature offered by most paid search advertising platforms that enables hotels to display their ads to users who are either in or searching for specific physical locations. Hotels in Thailand can use this feature to target potential guests in key markets or areas where they anticipate higher demand during the low season.

Remarketing is another powerful and effective strategy where hotels can retarget users who have shown interest in their website or have abandoned the booking process and may naturally have a higher rate of conversion as they are further along the buying cycle. By displaying personalized ads to these users, hotels can remind them of their offerings and increase the chances of conversion.

Add your Ad Extensions

Paid search platforms (most notably Google ads) provide various ad extensions that hotels can utilize to enhance their campaigns and provide more relevant information to potential guests. Location extensions can display the hotel’s address and direct contact information, making it easier for users to find and contact them. Sitelink extensions allow hotels to showcase specific pages on their website, such as room types, amenities, or special offers, increasing the chances of users finding what they are looking for and making a booking.

Call extensions enable users to directly call the hotel with a click, simplifying the booking process. All these extension options serve to make our ad text snippets more enticing and help convince users to click and engage with our ads. 

Optimize your landing page

Website Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) has long been an essential part of making a hotel website successful and as an SEO for almost 25 years and a designer of advanced booking systems for hotels, I am no stranger to this subject. When it comes to ads, to maximize the effectiveness of paid search campaigns, hotels must ensure their landing pages (the destination for the clicks) are properly optimized for conversions, otherwise there’s no point in sending lots of traffic to your site.

The landing page should provide a seamless and responsive and mobile friendly user experience, with a clear call-to-action and relevant information about the hotel, its amenities, and unique selling points.

It’s also worth noting that sometimes on landing pages, it’s as much about what you DON’T say as to what you DO say on the page. A visually appealing design, compelling copy, and high-quality images can instill confidence in potential guests, give your property credibility and encourage the guests to make a booking.

An ever increasing number of users are now booking hotels via smartphones, so this should also be factored into creating a successful landing page.

Create Ads, Track Performance, Optimize & repeat

All of the key Paid search or paid ad platforms offer robust tracking and analytics tools that enable hotels to measure the performance of their campaigns and make data-driven decisions to hone or improve the campaigns.

Hotels in Thailand can track key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per acquisition to evaluate the effectiveness of their ads and by regularly analyzing this data, hotels can identify underperforming campaigns or keywords and optimize them for better results. A/B testing or split testing different ad versions and landing page layouts can also help refine campaigns and improve sales performance.

Set your budget & stick to it

Paid search ad marketing allows hotels to have control over their advertising budgets and with analytics, advertisers are able to track with extreme precision, the direct ROI (Return on Investment). Hotels should allocate budgets strategically based on the demand and competition during the low season but monitor performance regularly and be ready to act.

By closely monitoring the performance of your campaigns and adjusting bids and budgets accordingly, hotels can optimize their spend and maximize their return on investment. It is important to regularly review and refine the campaigns to ensure they align with the hotel’s goals and target market and ensure that the ROAS (return on ad spend) is within acceptable margins versus competing channels. 

The Key Takeaways

Paid search marketing through platforms like Google and Facebook provide hotels in Thailand with a powerful means to improve their sales performance. By leveraging targeted advertising, geotargeting, remarketing, ad extensions, landing page optimization, and effective budget management, hotels can drive more direct traffic and ultimately bookings.

However, it’s important to choose the right channel based on the goals of your campaign, and realize that there is different search intent between Social ads channels and Search based ad channels.

If hotel guests are pro-actively searching for us via a platform like Google, they are naturally more likely to convert to a booking as they are looking for us, whereas on social channels guests may be just waiting for a bus when your ad shows, meaning their booking mindset is different. 

Booking a hotel is a complex decision making process, often involving multiple channels (social, websites, OTA, flight booking etc) and multiple people (friends, family etc.) in the conversion process and as hoteliers, we need to be aware of this and tailor our ad campaigns accordingly. 

At The Percentage Company, we have managed ad campaigns for hotels for more than 20 years. Get in touch with us to find out how we can help super-charge your ad campaigns today! 

Do you need help with marketing your hotel in Thailand? We have 20+ years of experience making hotels successful and have a range of very affordable packages available and even offers with no up-front or fixed fees at all. Get in touch with us to find out if we can help take your hotel to the next level!