Hotel Marketing

Digital Marketing for Hotels

More direct bookings. Lower commissions. A website with a booking engine, SEO & GEO, Google Hotel Ads, social media and AI automation, all designed around your hotel’s booking cycle, not around a generic package.

Free booking audit → Book a Meeting

Booking engine & channel manager Hotel Ads & Free Booking Links AI automation

Illustration of a hotel with a direct-booking flow

15–25%typical OTA commission per booking

26years of experience

Hotel marketing has one goal that is measured at the end of the month: how many bookings came from your own website and how many from channels that keep a commission. Every OTA booking typically costs you 15% to 25% of the room rate. The most profitable booking is the one the guest completes directly with you.

A "nice website" on its own does not fill rooms. A hotel needs a digital presence that sells rooms: a fast, multilingual site with a clear booking flow, proper visibility on Google, on the maps and in the AI engines, campaigns that appear at the moment the traveller is comparing prices, and a front desk that is not drowning in repetitive emails.

At Qbrains we have worked with hotel and tourism businesses since 2000, from Hilton Athens, The Met Hotel and Porto Palace to boutique properties such as Anmian Suites, Moderi and Lobelia Luxury Suites in Thassos. We know how the booking cycle works, what rate parity means in practice and where direct bookings are lost between the search and the checkout.

What does a direct booking mean in practice?

Let us look at the numbers, because that is how you see it on your statement. A room sold at 120 euros a night through an OTA with an 18% commission leaves you roughly 98 euros. The same booking from your own website leaves you the full 120, minus the card transaction fee, which is in the region of 1.5%. The difference per booking is about 20 euros. Multiplied by a season’s room nights, it becomes the budget for your entire marketing.

We are not telling you to leave the OTAs. Booking.com and Expedia are visibility channels in markets you would not reach on your own, and they work. We are telling you that the channel mix is your decision, and that for most Greek properties today it is not a decision, it is a habit. The "billboard effect" works in your favour: the traveller sees you on the OTA, searches your name on Google and, if they find a better rate or an extra benefit on your site, books there. Provided the site is ready to receive them.

Rate parity, the obligation not to display a lower public rate than the OTA’s, limits what you can do with price. It does not limit breakfast, free late check-out, flexible cancellation, a transfer or member-only rates. That is where "book direct" is built.

Illustrative arithmetic. Actual commissions depend on your contract with each OTA and on visibility programmes (Preferred, Genius, boosts).

What does hotel marketing include?

Seven pieces that work together. Each has its own page, because each is a separate job.

Hotel website development

Mobile-first, multilingual, fast, with rooms, gallery, amenities and the booking engine built into the flow, not in a third-party popup.

Booking engine & direct bookings

Booking engine and channel manager integration, a "book direct" strategy and measurement of the direct/OTA mix.

SEO & GEO for tourism

Destination searches ("hotel in Thassos"), Google Business Profile, maps and mentions in ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity.

Google Hotel Ads, Search & Meta

Your rate next to the OTAs on Google, Search campaigns with booking intent and Meta for the inspiration phase.

Social media & content

Instagram, TikTok and Facebook that sell the stay experience and the destination in the months when the traveller is dreaming.

Reviews & reputation

Google Business Profile, TripAdvisor and OTA reviews: systematic collection, replies and use on the site and in campaigns.

AI automation

24/7 answers in several languages, confirmations, upsell and review management without growing the front desk.

How does a traveller’s booking cycle work?

A traveller does not wake up one morning and book a room. They pass through six stages, and at each stage a different channel does the work. In inspiration they see a destination on Instagram or TikTok. In search they type "hotel Halkidiki with pool" into Google or ask ChatGPT. In comparison they open three tabs, one of them Booking.com, and compare rates on Google’s metasearch. In booking they decide which channel they will pay. During the stay they write a review, or they do not. On return they either remember you or start searching from scratch.

The generic approach wastes budget because it speaks to everyone the same way. We build the plan stage by stage: social and content for inspiration, SEO and GEO for search, Hotel Ads and Free Booking Links for comparison, website and booking engine for booking, AI assistant and emails for the stay, newsletter and repeat offers for the return. That way every euro has a job to do.

The traveller decides which channel to pay at stage 4. All the work in stages 1–3 exists to bring them there ready to book with you.

How does the plan change with seasonality and property type?

City hotels, resorts, boutique properties, rooms to let, villas and apartment complexes: the logic is the same, the scale and the calendar change. A city hotel in Thessaloniki works all year round with a mix of business travel, conferences and city breaks, and a booking window of a few days. There the weight falls on search, Hotel Ads and the Google Business Profile, because the guest already knows where they are going and is asking "where do I stay".

A seasonal property on an island lives off inspiration. The traveller from Germany or Britain dreams in January, compares in February and March, books in April and stays in July. Social content, Meta campaigns and SEO for destination searches have to do their work in winter, when the property is closed and the hotelier has the time, not in June when they are running.

That is why the plan is written on a twelve-month calendar, with a different budget and a different message per period, and reviewed after every season against the real booking figures: occupancy, average daily rate (ADR) and RevPAR by channel.

The seasonal property wins the season in winter. The city hotel wins every week, in search.

AI automation

How does AI lighten the management of a hotel?

What everyone finds hard is not the advertising. It is the management: the same emails, the same questions, the same confirmations, every day, in three languages. With the help of AI and Qbrains’ specialised solutions, many of these processes can now be automated without growing the team.

Guest answers 24/7

An AI assistant on the site, on WhatsApp and on Messenger that answers in several languages about parking, check-in, breakfast, port transfers, pets and the cancellation policy, trained on your own information. Whatever it does not know, it hands to a person.

Bookings & confirmations

Automatic confirmation, pre-arrival email with access directions and times, a reminder before arrival, check-out instructions. Written once, personalised for every booking, in every language.

Review management

Reviews from Google, Booking.com and TripAdvisor gathered in one place, a draft reply in the property’s tone and an alert to the team for every negative one, so you reply the same day and not the following week.

Pre-arrival upsell

A few days before arrival, a personalised email with a room upgrade, breakfast, transfer, late check-out or excursion, depending on the booking profile. Extra revenue from guests you have already won.

Follow-up & repeat bookings

A thank-you email with an invitation to review, and next winter an offer "only for those who stayed". The guest who came through an OTA becomes your own customer for the next time.

Reports & rate checks

A weekly report with bookings by channel, cost per booking and an alert when an OTA shows a lower rate than your site, so you fix parity before losing the direct booking.

AI does not replace the front desk and does not decide on its own. It removes the repetitive work so that your people can look after the guest standing in front of them. Every automation is set up with your own texts, your own rules and a checkpoint for your team, and connects to the PMS, the booking engine and the email you already use. See how we work in our AI services for businesses.

Free for hotels & accommodation providers

Free direct-booking leak audit

Within 48 hours we send you where you are losing direct bookings: from the search for your name on Google to the last step of the booking engine.

What you get

Google Hotel Ads & Free Booking Links check: does your own rate appear next to the OTAs?
Rate parity check on Booking.com and Expedia for three typical dates
Test of the booking flow on mobile: steps, speed, drop-off points
Google Business Profile, reviews and what ChatGPT and Gemini say about you

How do we work with a hotel?

From the analysis of the booking mix to the season and the next one.

Mix analysis & goals

We record bookings by channel, commissions, ADR and occupancy by month, competitors in the destination and what the traveller sees when searching your name. We set a realistic direct-share target for the next season.

Website & booking engine

We design or rebuild a multilingual, fast site with the booking engine in the flow, connected to the channel manager and PMS, and with booking tracking in GA4 and Meta.

Visibility at the moment of decision

SEO and GEO for the destination, Google Business Profile, Hotel Ads and Free Booking Links with your own rate, Search and Meta campaigns timed to the booking window.

Experience, reputation & automation

Social content, review management and an AI assistant for questions, confirmations and upsell, so the front desk answers people and not repetitions.

Measurement & next season

We track direct bookings, cost per booking and channel share, and rewrite the plan after every season with real numbers, not impressions.

Fill your rooms with direct bookings

Request a tailored marketing proposal for your hotel, based on your own booking mix.

Request a Proposal →

Frequently asked questions about hotel marketing

What hoteliers ask before we start.

What does hotel marketing include?

The website with an integrated booking engine, SEO and GEO for destination searches, campaigns on Google Hotel Ads, Search and Meta, social media and content, reputation management (Google Business Profile, reviews) and, increasingly, the automation of repetitive processes with AI. You do not have to take everything at once: we start where you are losing the most money, which is usually OTA commissions.

How do I reduce my dependence on Booking.com and Expedia?

With a combination of actions, not a single trick. You need a website that completes a booking in three steps, a clear benefit for guests who book direct (rate, breakfast, flexible cancellation), presence on Google Hotel Ads and Free Booking Links with your own rate, and consistent review management. OTAs stay in the mix as a visibility channel. The mix simply becomes your decision.

Can you connect the booking engine I already use?

Yes. We integrate the booking engines and channel managers widely used in the Greek market so that the visitor completes the booking directly on your page, with availability and rates synchronised with the OTAs. If you do not have a booking engine, we recommend a solution based on your size and your PMS.

Will the website be multilingual?

Of course. We build a multilingual structure (Greek, English and whichever target market you have, e.g. German or Italian) with separate URLs, hreflang and SEO per language, so that each market finds its own version on Google.

What exactly does AI automate in a hotel?

The processes that eat the front desk’s time without requiring judgement: answers to frequent guest questions 24/7 in several languages, confirmations and pre-arrival emails, upsell suggestions before arrival, draft replies to reviews, reminders and follow-up after the stay. Your team approves and steps in where needed. See our AI services in detail.

Do you work with small properties and outside Thessaloniki?

Yes. We work with boutique properties, rooms to let, villas and resorts across Greece, from Thassos and Halkidiki to the Aegean islands. Collaboration is remote, with regular video calls and reports, and we adapt the solution and the budget to the size of the property.

How quickly will I see more direct bookings?

Hotel Ads and Search campaigns bring bookings within the first weeks, provided the website and the booking engine are ready. SEO and GEO are built over months and pay off mainly from the following season. That is why we recommend starting the work in winter, when travellers are planning and you have the time.

What our clients say

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Η συνεργασία μας με την Qbrains (και προσωπικά με τον Ηρακλή) αποτελεί καθοριστικό παράγοντα για την άρτια λειτουργία του ηλεκτρονικού μας καταστήματος. Ως επιχείρηση που λειτουργεί με γνώμονα τη διαχρονικότητα και τον απόλυτο έλεγχο ποιότητας από το 1966, αναζητούμε το ίδιο επίπεδο ακρίβειας και από τους συνεργάτες μας. Η ομάδα της Qbrains παρέχει εξαιρετική τεχνική υποστήριξη, ταχύτατη ανταπόκριση και κορυφαία τεχνογνωσία. Ένας πραγματικά στρατηγικός συνεργάτης που συνιστούμε ανεπιφύλακτα.

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Αυτο το team εργάζεται σε ένα άλλο επίπεδο ! Φιλική προσέγγιση ,κατανόηση των αναγκών του πελάτη ,άμεση επίλυση των προβλημάτων που προκύπτουν και πολύ καλές τιμές . Συγχαρητήρια τους συστήνω ανεπιφύλακτα !

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Άψογη και ταχύτατη εξυπηρέτηση 24/7 ακόμα και μέσα στην καρδιά του καλοκαιριού. Η συνεργασία μας κρατάει σχεδόν 10 χρόνια και ελπίζω για ακόμα περισσότερα.

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