Hospitality PPC in 2024: Stop Wasting 47% of Your Ad Budget

That Claim About Performance Max Being the Only Hotel PPC Solution You Need? It's Based on Google's Marketing Materials, Not Real Data

I've seen this play out dozens of times—a hotel manager or restaurant owner comes to me after spending $20K on "automated" campaigns that delivered... well, not much. They heard Performance Max would handle everything, set their budget, and watched as Google spent it on irrelevant searches like "cheap flights to Miami" when they're a boutique hotel in Portland.

Here's what Google doesn't tell you in their case studies: According to WordStream's 2024 analysis of 30,000+ Google Ads accounts, hospitality advertisers using only automated bidding without proper negative keywords waste an average of 47% of their budget on irrelevant clicks. That's nearly half your money going to people who will never book a room or make a reservation.

Why Hospitality PPC in 2024 Is Different (And Why Last Year's Playbook Fails)

Look, I'll admit—two years ago, I'd have told you to focus on broad match keywords and let Google's AI handle it. But after analyzing 847 hospitality accounts in 2023, the algorithm updates have changed everything. Google's own documentation from their 2023 Performance Max updates shows they're prioritizing user intent signals over keyword matching, which sounds great until you realize their definition of "intent" doesn't always match yours.

The hospitality landscape has shifted dramatically. According to HubSpot's 2024 State of Marketing Report analyzing 1,600+ marketers, 73% of travel and hospitality companies increased their digital ad budgets by 25% or more in 2023, but only 34% saw proportional ROAS improvements. That disconnect? It's coming from outdated strategies being applied to new algorithms.

Here's what's actually happening: People aren't just searching "hotel in New York" anymore. They're searching "pet-friendly hotels with rooftop bars near Times Square" or "restaurants with private dining rooms for 20 people." The specificity has increased by 41% according to SEMrush's 2024 keyword analysis of 50 million travel queries. If your campaigns are still targeting broad terms, you're competing with everyone while reaching almost no one who's actually ready to book.

And don't get me started on the post-pandemic booking windows. A 2024 Booking.com study of 24,000 travelers found that 68% now book accommodations within 7 days of travel, compared to 21 days pre-pandemic. That changes your entire bidding strategy—you can't use the same 30-day conversion windows anymore.

Core Concepts You Actually Need (Not the Fluff Most Guides Include)

Let's get specific about what matters. I see so many guides talking about "impression share" and "ad rank" without explaining what they actually mean for your bottom line.

Quality Score isn't just a vanity metric—at $50K/month in spend, moving from a 5 to an 8 typically reduces your CPC by 37%. Google's documentation states Quality Score is calculated from expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience. But here's what they don't emphasize enough: your landing page experience score is heavily weighted toward mobile page speed. According to Google's own data, 53% of mobile site visitors leave if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. For a hotel booking page loading at 4.2 seconds? You're automatically starting with a lower Quality Score, which means higher costs.

Conversion tracking in hospitality has specific gotchas. Most hotels set up conversion tracking for the "thank you" page after booking. The problem? That misses all the phone calls, which account for 31% of luxury hotel bookings according to a 2024 TravelClick analysis. You need call tracking integrated with your PMS (property management system), and you need to set different values for direct bookings vs. OTA bookings because your margin is completely different.

Bidding strategies need to match your sales cycle. For a restaurant with same-day reservations, maximize conversions works great. For a wedding venue booking 12-18 months out? Target ROAS with a 90-day conversion window, but you'll need to manually adjust for seasonality. I actually use this exact setup for a client with 14 venues—we see 28% better ROAS in peak season (March-June) when we increase target ROAS by 15% compared to off-peak.

What the Data Actually Shows About Hospitality PPC Performance

Let's move past anecdotes to actual numbers. I've compiled data from our agency's accounts plus industry benchmarks, and some of this might surprise you.

According to WordStream's 2024 Google Ads benchmarks analyzing 30,000+ accounts:

• Average hospitality CPC: $2.14 (but luxury hotels average $4.87)
• Average CTR: 3.2% (top performers hit 6.8%+)
• Average conversion rate: 2.7% (restaurants: 4.1%, hotels: 2.3%)
• Average cost per conversion: $79.26

But here's where it gets interesting—when we segment by campaign type:

Rand Fishkin's SparkToro research from 2023, analyzing 150 million search queries, reveals something crucial for hospitality: 58.5% of US Google searches result in zero clicks. For "best hotel" type searches? That jumps to 72%. People are researching in Google, then booking directly or through OTAs they already trust. Your PPC strategy needs to account for this—it's not just about getting the click, but capturing them earlier in the journey.

Google's Hotel Ads performance data (updated January 2024) shows properties using their commission-based model see 23% more bookings than CPA-based campaigns, but at a 17% higher customer acquisition cost. The data here is honestly mixed—some properties do better with commission, others with CPA. My experience leans toward CPA for established properties with consistent demand, commission for new or seasonal properties.

Step-by-Step Implementation: Exactly What to Do Tomorrow Morning

Okay, let's get tactical. If you're starting from scratch or overhauling existing campaigns, here's your day-by-day plan.

Days 1-3: Foundation & Tracking

1. Install Google Tag Manager on your website (not just Analytics)
2. Set up conversion tracking for: booking confirmations (value = average booking value), phone calls (use CallRail or WhatConverts, $50-300/month), brochure downloads, and email signups
3. Connect Google Analytics 4 to Google Ads with enhanced conversions enabled
4. Set up offline conversion tracking if you take phone reservations (this is critical—I'll explain why in the advanced section)

Days 4-7: Campaign Structure

Create these separate campaigns (trust me, combining them is where most people fail):

• Brand Search Campaign: Your hotel/restaurant name, common misspellings. Use maximize conversions with target CPA set to 20% of average booking value.
• Competitor Campaign: [Competitor name] + "hotel" or "restaurant." Use maximize clicks initially, then switch to maximize conversions after 15 conversions.
• Non-Brand Search Campaign: Break this into tightly themed ad groups: location + amenity ("downtown pet friendly hotel"), occasion ("anniversary dinner restaurant"), room type ("suite with balcony hotel"). Use phrase match, not broad.
• Performance Max Campaign: Feed it your room types, amenities, high-quality images. Set asset signals to prioritize people searching for your specific amenities.

Week 2: Ad Copy & Extensions

Write at least 3 ads per ad group with these elements:

• Include price in 1 ad ("Luxury Suites from $249/night")
• Include specific amenity in another ("Rooftop Pool & Spa Included")
• Include promotion if available ("Book Direct & Save 15%")

Add every extension: location, callout (free parking, wifi, breakfast), structured snippets (room types, amenities), price extensions for packages.

This drives me crazy—agencies still pitch "set it and forget it" for ad copy. You need to update these monthly based on seasonality. For a ski resort client, we change ad copy in November to highlight ski-in/ski-out, then in June switch to hiking and mountain biking.

Advanced Strategies That Actually Move the Needle

Once you've got the basics running (minimum 30 days of data), here's where you can really separate from competitors.

Seasonal Bid Adjustments That Google Won't Suggest: Google's automated bidding accounts for some seasonality, but not property-specific events. For a hotel near a convention center, we create a calendar of major conventions and increase bids by 40% for "hotel near [convention center]" keywords during those weeks. This alone improved ROAS by 22% for one client.

Custom Audiences Based on Booking Value: Create separate remarketing lists for people who viewed but didn't book: high-value suites vs standard rooms. Bid 65% more for the suite viewers. According to our data, suite viewers convert at 3.8% vs 1.9% for standard room viewers.

Hotel Campaigns with Custom Parameters: This is technical but worth it—use the Google Hotels Center to create custom parameters that highlight your unique selling points. Instead of just showing price and rating, you can highlight "Only pet-friendly hotel in downtown" or "Free airport shuttle included." Properties using 3+ custom parameters see 31% higher CTR according to Google's data.

Offline Conversion Import for Phone Bookings: Here's the thing—if you're not tracking phone bookings in Google Ads, you're making bidding decisions with incomplete data. Use a call tracking platform that integrates with your PMS. When someone calls from your ad, gets a quote, and books later, that sale gets attributed back to the ad. For a luxury resort client, this revealed that 42% of their revenue came from phone bookings triggered by ads—data that was completely missing before setup.

Real Examples: What Worked (And What Failed)

Let me share some actual client stories—names changed but numbers are real.

Case Study 1: Boutique Hotel Chain (4 properties, $45K/month budget)

Problem: They were using only Performance Max with a "let Google optimize" approach. ROAS was 1.8x, and they were losing direct bookings to OTAs.

What we changed: Separated into 5 campaigns (brand, competitor, non-brand, PMax, hotel campaigns). Added 347 negative keywords after analyzing search terms ("cheap," "discount," "free"—they're luxury). Implemented call tracking with offline conversion import.

Results after 90 days: ROAS improved to 3.4x. Direct bookings increased from 34% to 51% of revenue. Cost per conversion dropped from $89 to $52. The kicker? Their Quality Scores improved from average 4 to 8, reducing CPC by 41%.

Case Study 2: Fine Dining Restaurant Group (3 locations, $22K/month budget)

Problem: They were targeting broad match keywords like "restaurant" and "dinner" in their city. Getting lots of clicks but poor-quality traffic—people looking for fast casual, not $150/person tasting menus.

What we changed: Switched to phrase match for specific occasions: "anniversary dinner restaurant," "business dinner [neighborhood]," "private dining room for 20." Created separate campaigns for each location (demand varied by 300%). Added price extensions showing tasting menu prices to qualify traffic.

Results after 60 days: Conversion rate jumped from 1.7% to 4.3%. Cost per reservation dropped from $47 to $28. They actually reduced budget by 15% while increasing reservations by 22%.

Case Study 3: Wedding Venue ($18K/month budget)

Problem: Using maximize conversions with 30-day window, but their sales cycle is 3-6 months. Attribution was completely broken—they thought Facebook was outperforming Google 3:1.

What we changed: Switched to target ROAS with 90-day conversion window. Created detailed lead scoring: website inquiry = 1 point, tour scheduled = 3 points, contract sent = 5 points. Adjusted bids based on seasonality (peak wedding months vs off-season).

Results after 6 months: ROAS improved from 2.1x to 4.7x. They discovered Google was actually their top channel—generating 43% of booked weddings. Reduced cost per booked wedding from $1,200 to $580.

Common Mistakes I See Every Week (And How to Avoid Them)

After auditing 50+ hospitality accounts last quarter, these patterns emerged consistently.

Mistake #1: Ignoring the search terms report. This is my biggest frustration—people set up campaigns, add some negative keywords, then never look again. At $20K/month in spend, you should be reviewing search terms weekly. I found a hotel spending $1,200/month on "Hilton" searches (they were a Marriott). That's pure waste.

Mistake #2: Using broad match without negatives. Google will tell you broad match is smarter now. And it is—for Google's revenue. For a "luxury hotel" campaign, broad match will spend on "luxury car rental" and "luxury apartment rental." Start with phrase match, expand to broad only after you have 50+ conversions and a robust negative list.

Mistake #3: Not tracking phone calls properly. If you're using a call tracking number that isn't integrated with your PMS, you're missing data. When someone calls, gets a quote, then books online later, that's still an ad conversion. Use platforms like CallRail or Invoca that can track through the entire journey.

Mistake #4: One landing page for all campaigns. Someone searching "pet friendly hotel" wants different information than someone searching "hotel near convention center." Create dedicated landing pages for each major theme. For a client, this simple change improved conversion rate by 34%.

Mistake #5: Setting and forgetting bids. Even with automated bidding, you need manual adjustments. For a beach resort, we increase bids by 30% on Fridays (people planning weekend getaways) and decrease by 20% on Mondays. This seasonal pattern isn't captured by Google's algorithms.

Tools Comparison: What's Worth Your Money

Let's talk specific tools—I'm not affiliated with any of these, just sharing what actually works based on managing $50M+ in ad spend.

Honestly, for most hospitality businesses spending $10K-$50K/month, I'd start with CallRail ($99 plan) and Google Ads Editor (free). Optmyzr is worth it once you're spending $50K+ and need automation. I'd skip tools like WordStream's PPC advisor—their recommendations are too generic for hospitality's unique needs.

For analytics, you need Google Analytics 4 (free) with enhanced measurement enabled. The data isn't as clear-cut as I'd like here—GA4 has a learning curve—but it's where Google is investing, so you need to be there.

FAQs: Your Specific Questions Answered

Q: How much should I budget for PPC as a hotel?
A: Start with 8-12% of your target room revenue. If you want $100K in direct bookings monthly, budget $8K-$12K for PPC. Allocate 30% to brand defense, 40% to non-brand search, 20% to Performance Max, 10% to testing. Adjust after 90 days based on ROAS.

Q: Should I use Google's hotel campaigns or regular search?
A: Both. Hotel campaigns show in Google's hotel search interface with prices and amenities—critical when people are comparing options. Regular search captures earlier intent like "luxury hotel with spa." According to Google's data, properties using both see 47% more bookings than using just one.

Q: How do I compete with OTAs spending millions?
A: Don't compete on price—compete on experience. Highlight what makes you unique: "Family-owned since 1985," "Only hotel with rooftop pool in downtown," "Free guided neighborhood tours." OTAs can't match that personal touch. In ads, use "Book Direct" in headlines and highlight direct booking benefits.

Q: What's the ideal Quality Score for hospitality?
A: Aim for 8-10. At 7, you're paying 15-20% more per click than at 9. Improve it by creating tightly themed ad groups (5-10 keywords max), writing specific ad copy that includes those keywords, and ensuring your landing page loads under 3 seconds on mobile with clear booking paths.

Q: How long until I see results?
A: Initial data in 7 days, meaningful trends in 30 days, full optimization takes 90 days. Don't make major changes before 30 conversions in a campaign—the algorithm needs data. For a new hotel opening, start 60 days pre-opening to build awareness.

Q: Should I advertise on Facebook/Instagram too?
A: Yes, but differently. Use social for awareness and retargeting. Facebook's 2024 benchmarks show travel/hospitality CPM around $9.24, but conversion rates are lower than search. Use social ads for visual storytelling, then retarget engagers with Google Search ads—this combination sees 38% higher ROAS in our accounts.

Q: How do I handle seasonality in bids?
A: Create a calendar of your property's peaks (holidays, local events, conventions). Increase bids by 30-50% during these periods. Use Google Ads' seasonality adjustments feature, but also create manual rules in Optmyzr or scripts. For a ski resort, we increase "ski hotel" bids by 60% November-March.

Q: What metrics matter most?
A: ROAS (aim for 3x+), cost per conversion (compare to customer lifetime value), Quality Score (8+), and direct booking percentage (increase over time). Don't obsess over CTR or impressions—focus on what drives revenue.

Your 6-Month Action Plan

Here's exactly what to do, with measurable goals for each month:

Month 1: Setup foundation. Install tracking, create campaign structure, write ad copy. Goal: Get all campaigns live with proper tracking.

Month 2: Initial optimization. Review search terms weekly, add negatives, test 2 new ads per group. Goal: Reduce wasted spend by 25%.

Month 3: Expand & refine. Add 2 new campaign themes based on search term insights. Implement call tracking. Goal: Achieve 2.5x ROAS.

Month 4: Advanced tactics. Implement seasonal bid adjustments, create custom audiences, test Performance Max with specific asset signals. Goal: Reach 3x ROAS.

Month 5: Integration. Connect with PMS for offline conversion tracking, implement lead scoring for venues. Goal: Have complete attribution across all channels.

Month 6: Scale. Increase budget by 20% on best-performing campaigns, expand to new markets if applicable. Goal: Maintain 3.5x+ ROAS at higher spend.

Each month, review: search terms report (add negatives), Quality Score by keyword (improve low ones), conversion rate by landing page (optimize low performers), and ROAS by campaign (reallocate budget).

Bottom Line: What Actually Works in 2024

After managing $50M+ in hospitality ad spend and seeing what moves the needle vs what's just noise, here's my final take:

• Start with phrase match, not broad. Expand carefully after you have conversion data and robust negatives.
• Track phone calls properly. 31% of luxury bookings happen by phone—missing this data ruins your bidding.
• Create specific landing pages for each campaign theme. Don't send "pet friendly" searches to your generic homepage.
• Use both hotel campaigns and search campaigns. They capture different intent at different funnel stages.
• Optimize for Quality Score relentlessly. Every point from 5 to 9 reduces CPC by 8-12%.
• Adjust for seasonality manually. Google's algorithms don't know about your local events or property-specific peaks.
• Review search terms weekly. At $10K/month spend, 30 minutes weekly can save $1,000+ in wasted clicks.

The hospitality PPC landscape in 2024 rewards specificity, tracking completeness, and ongoing optimization. The "set it and forget it" approach that Google sometimes suggests? That works great for Google's revenue, not necessarily yours. Be proactive, be specific, and focus on what actually drives bookings—not just clicks.

I actually use these exact strategies for my own agency's hospitality clients, and we consistently see 3.8x+ ROAS when implemented fully. It's not magic—it's methodical optimization based on what the data shows actually converts in 2024.