Digital marketing budget: what actually matters

Most hotel marketing directors spend because they've always spent that way. They budget a round figure because that's what they did two years ago, or because head office demands it, or because it sounds reasonable. Then they're shocked when the numbers don't add up. This Hospitality Net resource cuts straight to the metrics that actually matter: customer acquisition cost, ROAS benchmarks, and the net comparison between direct bookings and OTA customers.

There's a mindset shift at play here. Stop thinking "how much do I spend on marketing" and start asking "how much does it cost me to bring a customer who actually leaves money in my till." It's the difference between a contacts budget and a results budget. ROAS isn't just a number to show in the board meeting. It's your compass. If you don't know what your expected return is per euro spent in each channel, you're flying blind.

What the analysis drives home is stark: a customer booking directly and a customer booking through an OTA don't generate the same net profitability, even if the room rate is identical. OTA commissions eat into your margin. The direct customer keeps it all. That means your acquisition budget needs to be different depending on where you want to pull them from, and so do your performance benchmarks. Spending the same on both channels is a textbook mistake.