PPC for Luxury Hotels – 8 Key Strategies for Optimization

By: Frank DePino | May 20, 2022

The travel and tourism industries are growing, and as a result, the luxury hotels market is growing, too—but with great growth comes great competition. How is your luxury hotel going to stand out from the others in the digital landscape? One way to beat the competition and experience valuable growth is to invest in PPC for luxury hotels. 

What is PPC advertising? 

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a way of direct online advertising that entails companies paying each time their ad is clicked. You can run PPC ads on different platforms, such as search engines and social media platforms. You bid on which keywords you want your ad to show up for. 

A good PPC strategy will increase your online presence, number of leads, and bottom line. Keep reading to learn: 

• The importance of PPC advertising for luxury hotels
• How to create a successful PPC campaign 
• Common PPC mistakes 
• If PPC for luxury hotels is worth it 

Why PPC advertising is important for luxury hotel marketing

PPC advertising is important for luxury hotel marketing because it does the following:

• Builds brand awareness 
• Drives engaged traffic to your website or landing page 
• Provides a clearer way to measure advertisement engagement
• Allows you to retarget previous website visitors 

Statistics show that 65 percent of customers click on PPC ads and that paid advertisements have an impressive 200 percent return on investment. Instead of simply hoping online users see your luxury hotel ad, PPC advertising allows you to target your ad and increase your conversions. 

How much should you spend on PPC advertising?

If you’re wondering how much to spend on PPC for luxury hotels, the answer really depends on factors such as: 

• Your budget 
• Your goals (traffic goals, conversion goals, click goals, etc.) 
• Which keywords you want to target 
• How much revenue you’re aiming to earn 

If you have larger, more aggressive goals, it may make sense to spend more by bidding for top competitive keywords—and plenty of them. 

PPC can help you reach aggressive goals quicker compared to other online strategies, such as search engine optimization (SEO). Hotel SEO is still important, though, so it’s crucial to strike a balance between the two strategies. 

How to create a successful PPC campaign

Creating a successful PPC campaign is essential for your luxury hotel’s online advertising growth. Without a set plan, you risk losing valuable resources. Here are eight important steps to follow to create the best PPC strategy for luxury hotels. 

Step 1: Establish your PPC goals 

The first thing to do when creating a successful PPC campaign is establish your goals. Do you want to increase traffic, conversions, and revenue? If so, by how much? Your ideal growth goal—and how fast you wish to achieve it—sets the tone and pace for your PPC strategy. 

Step 2: Set your budget 

Be realistic with how much you can spend on your PPC campaign. Depending on which platforms you use and which keywords you target, you could be paying a couple of dollars per click. That adds up quicker than you think. 

Google Ads and Microsoft Ads (a.k.a. Bing Ads), two popular PPC platforms, allow you to set daily budgets for your campaigns. That way, you don’t overspend. 

Step 3: Perform keyword research 

Once you establish your goals and budget, the next step is to perform keyword research. This means you find the best keywords (terms and phrases people search online) to target and bid on for your campaign. These keywords are crucial for your PPC campaign, as they determine who will see your ad and what the intent of your ad should be. 

A good first step to take with keyword research is listing out search terms you think your target audience will look up. Look at the intent of the keyword as well. 

Ask yourself: are people looking to buy something when searching for the term, or are they looking for information on something when they search? Knowing the intent of the keyword will help you craft and optimize the page you’re linking your ad to. It will also help you craft your PPC ad message with relevant and actionable copy. 

Another viable step to take with keyword research is finding long tail keywords to target. Long tail keywords are longer search phrases that are more specific compared to general keywords. Here’s an example of how they differ from regular keywords: 

• “Luxury hotels” is a short and pretty broad keyword 
• “Luxury hotel packages Ireland”, “luxury hotels in New York City” and “pet–friendly luxury hotels” are longer and more specific keywords 

When implementing PPC ads, targeting long tail keywords can help your campaign get incredible results, as you’ll target your ad messages to more specific intents. The more niche you get with your messaging, the more it will resonate with users and influence them to take action. 

Step 4: Do competitor research 

You can’t expect to beat the competition if you don’t know what they’re doing in the first place. Research your competitors to see which keywords they bid on and see if you can bid on those same keywords. 

One tool you can use for this is SEMrush. Use the advertising dashboard on the platform, search your competitor’s website URL, click “advertising research”, and see what their top paid keywords are. The free version of SEMrush shows you 10 keywords, but if you have a paid subscription, you can see more.  

Once you identify their paid keywords, identify which ones you want to bid on. Take a look at the ads on that SERP and evaluate the following: 

• Message within the ad
• Ad design
• Call-to-action 

Once you have an idea of what the ad is conveying, see how you can deliver the message better. Then, brainstorm how you can provide a better user experience with your ad. This is where competitor research combines data and analysis with creativity. 

Step 5: Structure your campaign

Structuring your luxury hotel PPC campaign correctly is essential for its success. An incorrectly structured PPC campaign will waste your time and resources, and your ads won’t be nearly as successful. 

A typical PPC account is structured by the following aspects: 

• Accounts
• Campaigns
• Ad groups 
• Keywords

It’s important to structure your campaigns properly so the right people see the right marketing messages in a relevant way. It also helps you successfully track key data. 

Here are some key tips to keep in mind when structuring your campaigns to see success and stay within budget: 

• Choose relevant topics for your campaigns
• Carefully attach your ad budget to campaigns 
• Make sure you don’t have too many ad groups in your campaigns 
• Target valuable and relevant keywords 

Step 6: Create your ad

Once you figure out the structure of your PPC campaign, it’s time to create the ad itself. A good PPC ad is direct, clear, engaging, and appeals to your target audience’s needs. You want users to look at the ad and say, “yes, that is 100% what I need right now”. 

If you’re writing a text ad, here are some tips for writing compelling copy: 

• Keep your audience in mind—Who are you advertising to, and why are they searching for the keyword you’re targeting? 
• Personalize as much as you can—Write like a person, not a luxury hotel. That way, users feel more compelled to click on your ad. 
• Mention how your products and services benefit users—Tell people what’s in it for them if they check out your luxury hotel’s ad. 
• Write eye-catching headlines—Studies show the average attention span for a human is eight seconds. That means you have eight seconds (or sometimes less) to grab someone’s attention with your PPC ad. One way to do that is to write an eye-catching headline that entices users to click. Use the keyword in the headline if you can, too. 
• Don’t sell something you don’t have—Stay honest with your ad copy. Users will be able to tell if you create clickbait copy, and you risk losing their trust by embellishing your copy. 

If you create PPC ads for social media, or display ads, you’ll need great imagery to capture your audience’s attention while conveying your message. Depending on who your campaign is targeting, you could include images of your luxury hotel, its amenities (like a spa or pool), or its great view. 

Step 7: Design a high-converting landing page 

Creating a good PPC ad is only half the battle. You also have to create a strategy for your landing page, which is a page specific to your marketing campaign that people land on after clicking your ad. 

Landing pages are crucial for conversions. Statistics show that the average conversion rate for landing pages is 9.7 percent, which is a good conversion benchmark to aim for. Keep these tips for creating an effective landing page in mind: 

• Keep your campaign goal in mind—Are you trying to get people to sign up for something specific, or encouraging them to book directly? Your PPC campaign goal will impact your landing page’s design and marketing copy. 
• Make the design simple—You don’t want to overwhelm your leads. Keep the design simple so they don’t get lost in the clutter. 
• Create a strong call to action—Having a strong and clear CTA draws in leads and encourages them to take the desired action on your landing page. 
• Add a video to the landing page—Video marketing is huge for lead generation. Having the right video on your landing page, paired with the right copy, can influence leads to take action. 
• Include testimonials and/or reviews—It’s easy for you to say you have the best luxury hotel, but you should let others do the talking for you. Putting testimonials and positive reviews on your landing page shows that your services can be trusted. 

Step 8: Launch your campaign and review performance 

Launching a PPC campaign is exciting, especially once you see the performance analytics come in. Review the campaign’s analytics and evaluate if you’re on track to meet your goals. If you aren’t getting the clicks or ROI you’re hoping for, adjust your strategy as needed. 

Common PPC campaign mistakes

If you’re new to PPC for luxury hotels, you may make a mistake or two along the way. If you aren’t careful, these mistakes could cost you valuable resources. Here are some common PPC campaign mistakes to avoid: 

• Launching a campaign without goals—If you don’t have PPC campaign goals, you won’t have anything to measure your campaign’s performance against. You won’t know if a campaign is successful or not, which could lead to you losing money. 
• Thinking one PPC ad works for all platforms—A PPC ad that works for search may not necessarily work for social and display, two other forms of PPC advertising. Each ad should be tailored for the platform it will be on. 
• Writing brand-centered copy: Your ad copy should be customer-centered, not brand-centered. Focus on what benefits the user. 
• Not tracking the right analytics—Tracking the wrong analytics will either give you inaccurate campaign results or not provide the complete picture of the campaign’s performance. Make sure you know which analytics you need to track and how to access them. 

Should I hire a PPC advertising agency for my luxury hotel brand? 

When it comes to paid advertising, you should hire a PPC advertising agency to run your campaigns and consult on your overall strategy. If you’re looking for an agency to work with, Mediaboom will work with you to create a digital advertising strategy that gets results and leaves a positive impression on users. 

From designing beautiful landing pages that convert to tracking key analytics, Mediaboom helps you find and track success throughout every stage of your luxury hotel PPC strategy. Get in touch with us today to get started with smart, effective, and engaging digital marketing services. 

Is PPC for luxury hotels worth it? 

Yes, investing in pay-per-click advertising for your luxury hotel is worth it. PPC advertising is an insanely accurate way to directly target your ideal audience. If you do it right, you will experience tremendous growth and ROI for your luxury hotel. 

By: Frank DePino

Frank DePino is Principal and Founder of Mediaboom. Since 2002, Frank has led Mediaboom’s award-winning staff of creative and technical professionals building the most effective marketing and advertising solutions for its clients.