Max Starkov: Impactful marketing strategies for independent hotels

In a recent interview, hospitality consultant and strategist Max Starkov addressed the question: What marketing strategies that hotels with limited marketing budgets can afford have the biggest impact?

Mr. Starkov's insights:

1. Although in 2023 OTAs spent $12 billion on marketing, that's only around $250 per hotel per month.

2. Even small independent hotels should be spending 4% of their room revenue on marketing monthly, so $250 should be doable.

3. Some things hotels can do for $250/month to increase their online visibility and get people to book directly:

• Ensure website is mobile-friendly, downloads in 2.5 seconds or less, has fresh content that truly represents your property, and is fully optimized for organic search.
• Take advantage of free opportunities: Google Business Profile, free Google Hotel Ads, directories, CVB listings, etc.
• Run a Google Ads campaign with the goal of owning 100% share-of-voice for your property's brand name and other branded keywords. Budget enough for clicks that your ads are showing 100% of the time. Because OTAs are already bidding on your hotel's name.
• Invest in content marketing to engage consumers in the Dreaming and Planning stages of trip planning - along with intermediaries like group tour organizers and wedding planners - priming them to have your hotel top-of-mind when they're ready to book.
• Use B2B content marketing to reach corporate travel managers and group planners, corporate executives, and meeting and convention organizers.

Comment: If you were to spend $250/month on Google Ads, that would be a pretty small click budget to keep ads running 24/7. You cannot afford to buy wasted clicks on too-broad keywords. Run ads that draw clicks only on searches for your unique, branded keywords.