How Online Marketing Helps Hotels Increase Direct Bookings – Tips by Carolin Schuhmann from Online Birds
Hotel revenue management and online marketing are closely connected: while revenue management optimizes existing demand, online marketing helps hotels generate reach, create demand and drive direct bookings.
In her podcast interview with Veit Meier, Carolin Schuhmann, who has been with Online Birds for 12 years and now leads its education department, shares practical insights into hotel online marketing. Her key message: look at the entire guest journey from inspiration and research to booking and beyond.
The online marketing gap in hospitality
The annual Hotel Digital Score, analysing 13,000 German hotels across SEA, SEO, hotel websites, social media and email marketing, gives German hospitality an average score of just 34/100. Austria performs a bit better, with greater focus and budgets dedicated to online marketing, says Carolin Schuhmann.
The analysis also shows that many hotels have social media profiles but post rarely or not at all, while platforms such as TikTok remain largely underused.
What can online marketing achieve?
Hotel online marketing can help to:
- Generate direct bookings
- Increase online visibility for the hotel
- Build reputation and brand image
- Generate leads that can be converted into bookings later
The last point is often overlooked: not every marketing activity needs to generate an immediate booking.
Online marketing across the guest journey
Even though customer journeys in reality look different for each customer, it can help to think about how different stages can be tackled in online marketing, Carolin advises:
Inspiration: Instagram and TikTok can help hotels reach potential guests before they actively search for a property. According to a study Carolin quotes, 77 % of TikTok users alone let themselves be inspired by videos on that platform on where to travel to next.
Research: Hotel SEO and Google Ads capture existing search demand. SEO is a long-term investment, while Google Ads can deliver visibility much faster. Combining both can be effective.
Booking: A hotel website should be optimised for conversion, clearly communicate the best available price and provide all the information guests need to book with confidence.
During the stay: Hotels can engage with guests by resharing their social media posts and providing useful local recommendations through a blog on their website.
After the stay: Occasional, engaging newsletters can maintain the relationship, share hotel updates and bring back positive memories of the stay.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach, Carolin stresses. Each hotel needs to choose the channels and tactics that fit its positioning and target audience.
8 tips for successful hotel online marketing
When deciding their first or next steps in online marketing, Carolin advises hotel teams on the following:
- Define your hotel positioning, strengths, weaknesses and target group.
- Use social media to generate demand and inspire potential guests.
- Remember: Google captures existing demand, it doesn’t create it.
- Treat SEA as the sprint and SEO as the marathon.
- Optimise your hotel website for conversion and make the best price obvious.
- Use blogs to provide useful local and destination content.
- Send engaging, personal newsletters at a sensible frequency.
- Use AI for basic content, but keep authentic storytelling human – to yourself and the staff experiencing the happenings.
The goal of hotel online marketing isn’t simply greater online visibility. It’s turning the right demand into profitable direct bookings. Thank you for the insights, Carolin Schuhmann!
