Skip to main content
Adshotelshotel web marketing

Google Ads: How to use it to attract more direct bookings

Google Ads: how to use it to attract more direct bookings

 

When a traveller books your establishment via a third-party platform, you lose up to 25 % in commission and hand over the customer relationship to someone else. The solution seems simple: catch the visitor earlier, on Google, before they click on Booking or Expedia. Except that the competition is fierce. Your site needs to be visible, reassuring... and clickable. That's where campaignbut also backlinks. Because a paid campaign performs better when your natural referencing is solid: quality links to your site improve your quality score and lower your cost per click.

In this article (over 2,000 words), we will :

  • Deciphering current best practice and trends .

  • Draw up a list of really useful features.

  • Propose a step-by-step, accessible, jargon-free action plan.

  • Highlight Hotel Web Design's specialist solution and its resource pages.

Ready to take back control of your bookings?


Plan a call for your project
black Android smartphone showing google site on white surface

Why Google Ads has become essential for hoteliers

1.1 Figures that speak for themselves

  • According to Hotel Distribution Report 2024 of D-EDGE, 61 % of direct hotel advertising revenue comes from Google (Free Booking Links included). d-edge.com

  • More than 72 % of travellers use a comparator or Google search before booking. revfine.com

  • Since 20 February 2025, Google has abandoned the commission-per-stay (CPA) model: hoteliers must now manage their bids using CPC or CPS, which makes it even more important to control their campaigns. mews.com

Hotel Web Design is the web agency 100% dedicated to the hotel industryWe can help you with all aspects of digital communication for your accommodation: booking websites, natural referencing specialising in the hotel industry, Google Ads referencing and Google Hotel Ads, social networking campaigns, graphic charters and logos for hotels.
Make an appointment today for free advice on how to optimise the digital management of your accommodation. 

Key benefits

Profit Direct impact on your hotel
Immediate visibility You appear at the top of the page, in front of the OTAs.
Message control You choose the visuals, the prices and the offers.
Direct bookings Margins preserved, customer relations intact.
Accurate ROI measurement You can see exactly how much each click costs and earns.

Prerequisite: lay good foundations before paying for the click

Before launching Google Ads, make sure that :

  • Your site is fast and mobile-friendly (objective: page loads in less than 2 seconds).
  • Your booking engine is integrated seamlessly, with no unnecessary steps. If you don't already have one, find out more about Hotel Web Design's turnkey solution: booking engine + channel manager.
  • Conversion tracking (Google Analytics 4 + Google Ads tag) is installed.
  • Your backlinks are in place: a guest article on the tourist office blog, a link from a destination guide, etc. They improve the overall credibility of the domain, and therefore the performance of the ads.
  • Your Google Business Profile is complete (HD photos, description, lasting attributes).
google ads

Google Ads best practice in

Structuring your account

  • Brand campaign“ Protect your hotel name. Low cost per click, high conversions.

  • Destination + attribute“ campaign” These include «spa hotel Annecy» and «boutique hotel Bordeaux centre».

  • Google Hotel Ads campaign Real-time rates: displays your real-time rates in the hotel module.

  • Remarketing : relaunching web users who have visited a page without making a reservation.

Performance Max for Travel

Google has launched a version of Performance Max tailored to hotels: you supply photos, descriptions and rates, and the algorithm broadcasts them to Search, Maps, YouTube and Gmail. Advantages: broad reach, automatic bid optimisation.

Exploiting the benefits of Hotel Web Design

On the dedicated page Google Ads for hotels and restaurants, agency:

  • Set your Hotel Center feeds to activate Free Booking Links.

  • Configure CPC campaigns according to your seasonality.

  • Create responsive ads with 4K photos and integrated reviews.

Integrating two trends in

  • End of third-party cookies Collect your own data (Wi-Fi emails, contact forms) to create reliable first-party audiences.

  • Creations boosted by AI Google now generates variations of titles and images; test them out, but keep a human eye on them to stay true to your brand.

Essential features not to be overlooked

Function Why it's useful Where to activate it
Price extensions Show prices «from» in the SERP Advertising level
Call extensions Click-to-call on mobile Account level
Location extensions Direct link to Google Maps Google Business Profile
Offer counter Mild emergency («-10 % until Sunday») Promotional items
Advertising on the Display Network Reach travellers in the inspiration phase Display Campaign
Similar audience lists Find profiles close to your customers Audience Manager
a notepad with a pen on top of it
direct booking

Step-by-step guide: launching your first Google Ads campaign

Step 1: Define the objective

  • More direct bookings?

  • Spa package sales?

  • Increase the average basket?

Step 2: Set a test budget

Start with €20 per day for a fortnight. Adjust according to your target cost per acquisition (CPA).

Step 3: Choosing the right campaign

  • Score (exact match).

  • Destination (phrase match).

  • Hotel Ads (mandatory feed).

Step 4: Write your adverts

  • Title 1: «Hôtel Riviera Azur Officiel».

  • Title 2: «Book at the Best Price Guaranteed».

  • Description: benefits + call to action.

Step 5: Setting up monitoring

  • Google Ads tag + booking event validated.

  • Import GA4 if you prefer.

Stage 6: launch and observe

  • Don't touch the auctions for the first 5 days.

  • Analyse the “search terms” report: add your exact relevant keywords.

Step 7: Optimise

  • Cut out expensive, low-converting keywords.

  • Raise the bid on your hotel name if the OTAs try to outbid you.

Step 8: Expand with Performance Max

Once the basic campaigns are profitable, add Performance Max: you let the AI find new opportunities while controlling the target CPA.

Common mistakes to avoid

  1. Forget the exact match your ad is displayed on irrelevant searches.

  2. Send click to home page instead of the booking page.

  3. Neglecting negative reviews They may appear in your extensions.

  4. Letting OTAs bid on your name protect your brand!

  5. Using the term Google advertising One instance is all it takes to remain elegant.

Hotel Web Design is a Google partner with the Google Hotelsincluding our customers enjoy every day: information about your accommodation, availability and prices is sent continuously to the search engine, which displays booking links free from Google search, directly to your booking page. These free links represent around 15% of additional commission-free bookings for our customers in 2022! Read our article on free booking links from Google

Case in point: the Jardin Bleu Hotel

  • 45 rooms in Grenoble, OTA dependency: 70 %.

  • Set up by Hotel Web Design of :

    • Brand campaign (€1 average CPC).

    • Hotel Ads CPC with ROAS target 500 %.

    • Performance Max high season.

  • Results in 6 months :

    • OTA share: from 70 % to 48 %.

    • Average advertising cost: 9 % of direct revenue.

    • Google review: 4.2 → 4.5 thanks to qualified and satisfied traffic.

google ads

Two official resources to keep in mind

Ask for a quote

Conclusion: Google Ads + Hotel Web Design = winning duo

With campaign, You appear at exactly the right moment when the traveller is looking for a bed for tomorrow or next summer. With the expertise of’Hotel Web Design, You turn that click into a direct, measurable and profitable booking. By combining intelligent campaigns, quality backlinks, a fluid booking engine and accurate tracking, you can reduce your dependence on OTAs, increase your margins and strengthen your customer relationships.

Don't wait for the competition to take over: get started today and watch your direct bookings take off!

Booking / reservation website

–
Direct booking for your accommodation

  • Bespoke booking/conversion site delivered turnkey, with training on the administration interface on delivery
  • Adapted logo and graphic charter. Possibility of using your existing elements
  • Specific referencing for holiday lets
  • Integration of reservations module internal
  • or integration of an external booking engine (Reservit, D-EDGE, MisterbookingRoomcloud, etc)
  • Integration of specific HTML elements (review portals, customer reviews, weather, press, pop-ups, direct chat, etc.)
  • Secure SSL / HTTPS
  • Multilingual website & booking engine
  • Simple, intuitive user interface
  • High-availability hosting and domain name
  • Delivery usually within 30 days
REQUEST A QUOTE
Close Menu