Online booking has become a traveler’s habit, and Facebook ads for hotels are the key to driving guests straight to the booking page instead of through intermediaries. Facebook Ads allow hotels to reach the right people with demand, maintain streamlined budget control, and still build long-term brand equity. The issue is that many hotels run ads but spend money with results that don’t meet expectations.
Today, many hotels are facing a dual challenge: the rising commission fees of OTAs (Online Travel Agents) and the increasingly fierce competition for attention on social media. Running Facebook advertising isn’t just an expense; it’s a direct strategy to reclaim customer control and maximize profit. However, without the right approach, Facebook advertising can turn into a budget black hole. So, what’s the best solution for this problem? This article will guide you on how to set up, optimize, and cut ad costs, helping hotels both increase booking volume and avoid “burning” the budget needlessly.
Facebook Ads – The hotel’s weapon
In the race for guests, hotels not only compete with each other but also have to “share profit” with intermediary booking platforms like OTAs (Booking, Agoda, Traveloka…). This increases costs and reduces profit. This is precisely when Facebook Ads becomes a discrete weapon, helping hotels proactively drive bookings, save costs, and build brand equity. If leveraged correctly, Facebook advertising goes beyond simply displaying a few nice photos and can become a powerful tool for hotels to quickly close sales.
Driving Direct Bookings
One of the strongest advantages of Facebook Ads is the ability to drive customers to book directly on the hotel’s Fanpage or website. Instead of letting guests browse and then switch to an OTA, you can target ads precisely to the right group of people with travel intent, who are searching for rooms in the area, or have just searched for keywords related to “resort,” “homestay,” or “hotel”…
Thanks to Facebook’s detailed targeting feature, hotels can effectively reach specific customer segments, such as international travelers who love the beach, business travelers in the city, or couples seeking a weekend retreat. By directing them to the direct booking page, you can secure commission-free bookings and easily upsell additional services, such as breakfast, small tours, or higher room categories.
Reducing reliance on OTAs
Many small and medium-sized hotels often “rely on” OTAs because they provide easy customer access, but the more dependent they become, the more they lose profit margin. Facebook Ads is the solution to gradually reduce dependence on intermediary channels because you can completely build your own customer file.
For example, when running ads and acquiring a list of previously interested customers, the hotel can continually remarket with special promotional campaigns: “15% off for direct booking on the Fanpage,” “Free spa voucher when booking on the website.” These offers encourage direct booking while building a habit for guests to remember the hotel before browsing OTAs.
This not only helps increase profit but also allows you to control customer data, from email and phone number to booking habits – information that OTAs often withhold from you.
Pushing the hotel brand to the top
Beyond driving bookings, Facebook advertising is also an extremely fast way to elevate the hotel’s brand image in the eyes of customers. An ad campaign with an investment in beautiful visuals and short, engaging videos will make guests easily remember the hotel’s name even if they haven’t booked yet.
Instead of only focusing on selling rooms, a hotel can run branding campaigns concurrently: telling the story of the stay experience, sharing feedback from past guests, or showcasing fun activities around the hotel area. This content makes the brand relatable, trustworthy, and “lodged” in the customer’s mind.
Specifically, Facebook also allows hotels to build a loyal customer file. When guests have stayed and followed the Fanpage, subsequent remarketing efforts will be much more effective. This is the foundation for your brand to always be at the top – guests think of your hotel first when they need to book a room.
The “Golden” formula for effective hotel Facebook Ads
Unlike retail product advertising, hotels must consider many factors such as seasonality, booking demand, customer segments, and user experience. By running smart campaigns, you can not only increase direct booking volume but also reduce reliance on OTAs, while simultaneously elevating the brand image in the eyes of customers.
Accurately defining the customer persona
Before starting any campaign, defining the target audience is extremely important. Hotels can have many types of guests: business travelers, tourists, families, or couples. Each group will have different behaviors and needs. This detailed segmentation helps you target ads to the right person at the right time, avoiding wasted budget. For example, business travelers usually book mid-week and prioritize amenities, while tourists focus on aesthetic visuals, central location, and reasonable pricing. Facebook Ads allows you to create customer files based on age, gender, location, interests, and behavior – when used correctly, your campaign will be extremely accurate and effective.
Writing concise, need-driven content
Ad copy is the “window” through which customers see your service. For hotels, the content should focus on specific benefits: good price, beautiful rooms, full amenities, convenient location… But most importantly, it must be concise, easy to read, and create an instant “must-have” feeling for the viewer. A strong headline, coupled with a clear message and a call-to-action (“Book Now,” “View Rooms Today”) will help increase the click-through rate and bookings. Also, don’t forget to A/B test multiple content versions to see which ones customers respond to best – this is the smart way to run hotel ads, without guesswork.
Investing in eye-catching images and videos
Facebook users are “visual” – they are attracted by images and videos before reading the content. Therefore, investing in sharp images and short videos showcasing rooms, amenities, hotel views, or exciting experiences is extremely important. A 15–30 second video with scenes of beautiful rooms, the pool, restaurant, or bar will make a strong impression and encourage viewers to click through to the booking page. Furthermore, images should be realistic, avoiding excessive photoshopping to maintain credibility and prevent customer disappointment upon check-in. Combine real images with dynamic video to make your hotel ad campaign both attractive and trustworthy.
How to make hotel Facebook ads more cost-effective?
Facebook advertising for hotels can consume a lot of budget if you lack a clear strategy. Instead of wasting money without seeing results, you can completely optimize costs while still increasing booking volume by implementing the following steps. Saving money not only helps reduce direct costs but also increases the campaign’s ROI, helping the hotel achieve sustainable growth.
Leveraging remarketing at the right time
Remarketing is an extremely powerful tool to “re-engage” customers who showed interest but didn’t book. For example, if someone visited the hotel website, viewed a room, or checked prices but hasn’t booked, you can run an ad reminding them with an attractive offer or information about room availability. The secret is to time it appropriately: for instance, within 3–7 days of the visit, while the customer is still considering options. If the ad runs too late, chances are they’ve booked elsewhere; if too soon, it’s easily dismissed. Remarketing at the right time helps keep the cost per conversion much lower than advertising directed at a completely new audience.
Continuously monitor and optimize the budget
Running ads is not a “set it and forget it” activity. Even when the campaign is live, you need to continuously monitor key metrics such as CTR, CPC, conversion rate, and cost per booking. When you see an ad performing better, increase the budget for it; for underperforming ads, reduce or pause them. Furthermore, A/B testing between different content, visuals, and headlines is an extremely effective way to optimize costs. A closely monitored campaign will help you both conserve the budget and increase booking results.
Improving the booking page experience
A frequently overlooked but extremely important factor is the landing page – the place where guests book the room. If the page loads slowly, the interface is cluttered, or the steps to complete the booking are excessive, guests will abandon the process halfway, despite the money you paid for the ad. Invest in improving the booking page experience: clear interface, easily visible booking button, transparent room information, and clearly displayed offers. An optimized booking page helps increase the conversion rate from the ad, meaning you will have to spend less money to achieve the same number of bookings.
Renting a quality ad account
Renting a quality ad account from Optimal for a hotel is a solution that helps the hotel owner reach potential customers faster, save costs, and limit the risk of account suspension. With a verified account, a high spending limit, and stable operation, the hotel can easily deploy campaigns promoting accommodation services, resort packages, or booking offers. This service not only ensures security but also helps optimize ad effectiveness, increase the booking rate, and enhance the hotel’s brand image in the market.
Optimal Agency currently provides a reputable ad account rental service, specifically for businesses and individuals who want to run stable ads and limit the risk of account suspension. With a system of high-quality, optimized, and verified accounts, customers can confidently deploy ad campaigns on Facebook and Google smoothly, without interruption.
Optimal Agency commits to clean accounts and high spending limits, helping to optimize the advertising budget and increase the reach to target customers. Additionally, the 24/7 support team is always ready to assist with any issues that arise, ensuring the campaign schedule is not affected. Optimal Agency also provides strategy consultation and setup guidance to help businesses maximize the value of every dollar spent. This is the suitable choice for those who need a fast, time-saving advertising solution and want to minimize risks in an increasingly competitive environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Remarketing is most effective with customers who have shown interest in specific room types. Premium rooms often have a higher average order value, so the ROI is more apparent, but for standard rooms, remarketing still increases the likelihood of booking if you adjust the offer appropriately and optimize the message for each customer segment.
You can run them simultaneously, but you need to allocate the budget logically. Remarketing generally delivers a higher ROI, so a larger share of the budget should be prioritized for this audience. Conversely, the budget for new customers should be just enough to A/B test new target audiences, avoiding “crowding out” the remarketing budget, while also ensuring data analysis for campaign optimization.
