Here’s How to Be the Hero of Hotel Marketing Budgets
When Q4 hits, hotel marketers and sales teams everywhere brace themselves for what can only be described as the “Game of Thrones” of the hospitality world: Budget Season.
Everyone’s tightening belts, cutting fat, and trying to squeeze ROI from every line item like it owes them rent.
That’s exactly why I invited Christine Malfair of Malfair Marketing to The InnSync Show, for the third time!
Christine’s known for her laser-focused, guest-first strategies on the leisure side, while I wanted to bring firepower from the group side.
Together, we dropped six smart, scrappy, and sanity-saving tips to help hotel marketers become the heroes of budget season — not the scapegoats.
1. Stop Marketing to AI – Start Marketing for Humans Using AI
Let’s start with a hot one: AI is everywhere. But that doesn’t mean you’re suddenly marketing to robots.
Christine says: “You’re still doing marketing for guests. For humans who happen to be using AI tools.”
So no, you don’t need to rewrite your entire strategy for ChatGPT.
But yes, you do need to think about how your content appears in AI-powered search results. Google’s diving headfirst into AI search, and if your hotel’s marketing content isn’t feeding the “visibility engine,” you’re toast.
Fix:
- Make guest reviews SEO gold: “Double down in review responses,” Christine says. Don’t just thank guests — repeat key benefits about your property. AI scrapes those twice.
- Update FAQs, blog content, and landing pages to match natural, conversational search terms.
2. Your Long RFP Form is a Lead Repellent
Over on the group side, I’m just going to tell you like it is… Your website is probably losing leads.
Why?
Because it’s hiding behind a bloated RFP form.
Even professional planners don’t want to fill out a 20-field form just to ask a question.
Amazon, Netflix, Venmo and Uber have trained us to expect instant gratification. That’s why the “submit a form and wait” model is dead.
Fix:
- Keep the RFP, but add a short form too — First Name, Email, and “How can we help?” Create an autoresponse that immediately answers the most common questions.
- It’s cheap, fast, and effective. “Some properties saw 50% more direct inquiries just from this one change,” Cory reported.
3. Stop Letting OTAs Own Your Guests
Christine says that if your CRM is full of Booking.com or Expedia email aliases, you’ve already lost the guest.
She calls it the ABCs of hotel marketing, but not the old-school “Always Be Closing.”
It’s: “Always Be Converting.”
Meaning: convert OTA guests into direct guests. Own the relationship. Own the data.
Fix:
- Prioritize CRM quality in your budget. Christine said she’s seen hotel CRMs where “40% of the emails are dead,” and Cory upped the ante: “60% of sales and catering data is useless.”
So before you chase new leads, clean up your own backyard.
4. Don’t Let Your Gold Rot in the Sales & Catering System
Legacy sales systems are filled with ghosts of groups past. Those definites, turndowns, and lost business contacts? They’re just sitting there.
They already know you. Why wouldn’t you re-engage them?
It’s not even about blasting cold sales emails. This is about warming the relationship.
Fix:
- Export the data.
- Clean it.
- Reimport it into a basic marketing platform (We recommend EngageBay, a super affordable, easy-to-use platform.)
- Send warm, helpful content. Not salesy spam.
Cost? Practically nothing. Impact? Big.
5. Stop Spreading Your Budget Like Peanut Butter
Christine dropped this gem: “A lot of hotel marketing budgets are just checking boxes. What you’re doing is peanut-buttering your dollars … spreading too thin.”
The result? Campaigns that are everywhere and nowhere at once.
If Google Ads isn’t working like it used to? Kill it. If Meta search is gaining traction? Shift budget. Don’t stay married to the past.
Fix:
- Be nimble. Audit performance regularly.
- Focus budget on what’s working now, not what “used to work.”
- Meta search is worth considering if you haven’t already — especially now that Google’s Hotel Booking Links are easier to tap into.
6. Traditional Prospecting is Dead. Long Live Turbo Prospecting.
It’s no secret, cold calling sucks.
I don’t like cold prospecting. I don’t like dialing for dollars. I don’t like circling back or checking in.
So, what’s a hotel sales team to do?
Turbo prospecting. That’s what.
Fix:
- Use tools like EngageBay to send warm emails.
- Track who opens, clicks, or visits your site.
- Only follow up with people who show interest — those breadcrumbs matter.
- Connect on LinkedIn if the intent is there. This a much less painful and more effective way to sell.
This isn’t just smart; it’s sales for the 2025 era.
Before You Finalize That Hotel Marketing Budget…
Christine says, “Just because you’ve done it in the past doesn’t mean we should continue.”
Especially in a year where AI is reshaping search, consumers are changing behaviors, and cost-cutting is a top-line directive from ownership.
Rethink what “must-haves” really are.
If you’re looking to trim fat?
Christine’s top cut: paid media that’s not converting. Wasted Google Ads and Meta spend with high bounce rates can tank your KPIs.
My top cut: third-party commissions. Add a short form. Own the guest. Stop paying for what you could have captured directly.
The Bottom Line
This year, marketing doesn’t need a bigger budget — it needs a smarter one.
Cut what’s not working. Own the guest relationship. Clean up your data. And please, for the love of conversions, stop hiding behind 20-field forms.
Budget season isn’t a curse — it’s your chance to be the revenue MVP.
Hotel Marketing Budget FAQs
1. What are the best hotel marketing strategies during budget season?
The smartest hotel marketing strategies during budget season focus on doing more with less. That means cleaning up your CRM, shifting ad dollars to high-performing channels like metasearch, making RFP forms more user-friendly, and using AI tools to streamline content creation without sacrificing personalization.
2. How can hotels get more direct bookings and reduce OTA commissions?
Hotels can boost direct bookings by adding simple inquiry forms to group and event pages, enhancing review responses for SEO, and prioritizing CRM data quality. The key is converting OTA guests into loyal direct bookers by owning the relationship from the first interaction.
3. Why should hotels stop relying only on long RFP forms on their website?
Long RFP forms are a major friction point, especially for event planners who just have a quick question. Hotels that add a short, easy-to-fill contact form alongside the RFP have seen up to 50% more inquiries — a simple fix with huge payoff.
4. What’s the best way for hotel sales teams to warm up cold leads?
Use “turbo prospecting” — send out light, value-packed emails using a CRM or marketing platform, then follow up only with contacts who open, click, or visit your site. Focus your outreach on people showing interest, not just a cold list.
5. How should hotels reallocate their marketing budgets for better ROI?
Instead of spreading your budget across every channel, double down on what’s actually working. If Google Ads are slipping, consider investing in metasearch or CRM-driven campaigns. A flexible, agile budget delivers stronger ROI than a “check-the-box” approach.
