Marketing for luxury hotels, experiences and private estates has a vocabulary of its own. Some words sound technical, others are used loosely. Here we define them simply and neutrally, grouped by the moment they come into play. This hotel marketing glossary is the language we use when we work together, so every choice is clear from the start. For the full picture of the method, the home page and the insights are the place to begin.
Creating demand and recognition
Lead generation
The set of activities that turn interested people into qualified contacts for a property: an availability request, a booked call, a sign-up. The work sits at the heart of what we do, bringing direct guests into the booking system at a sustainable cost.
Brand awareness
How well known and recognisable a property is among the right audience. For a luxury property it is the foundation that makes direct booking possible, because people will only book directly what they already trust.
Top of mind
The property a traveller names first when they think of a particular destination or experience. Being the first name that comes to mind, before any search begins, is the highest goal of brand awareness.
Prospecting
The stage of the funnel where you reach people who do not yet know the property but match the ideal guest profile. The point is to create new demand, not to collect demand that is already there.
The funnel and its stages
Full-funnel
The path that takes a person from not knowing a property at all to making a booking, in successive stages. A full-funnel approach looks after each of them, from discovery to conversion, instead of betting only on the last click. That logic drives our campaigns for luxury hotels and luxury experiences.
Retargeting
Showing messages to people who have already engaged with the property, such as those who visited the website without booking. It brings back already-interested guests at the moment they are closest to deciding.
Influencer marketing
Working with creators and trusted voices to introduce the property to their audience. In luxury, affinity and the quality of the following matter more than the sheer number of followers.
Costs and return
| Acronym | What it measures | What it answers |
|---|---|---|
| CAC | Customer acquisition cost | What a guest who books costs me |
| CPL | Cost per qualified contact | What a valid contact costs me |
| CPC | Cost per click | What a single click costs me |
| ROAS | Return on ad spend | How much each unit invested returns |
CAC (customer acquisition cost)
How much it costs, on average, to acquire a new guest who books, once all marketing spend is counted. The metric tells you whether acquiring direct guests is genuinely sustainable.
CPL (cost per lead)
How much it costs to generate a single qualified contact. Unlike CAC, it measures the contact rather than the completed booking. In our method the cost per contact is defined during strategy, not promised at random.
CPC (cost per click)
How much you pay, on average, for each click on an advert. Cost per click is a useful early signal, but it says nothing about whether the click becomes a qualified contact or a booking.
ROAS (return on ad spend)
The ratio between the value generated and the amount spent on advertising. ROAS shows how much each unit invested in campaigns returns, though it should always be read alongside real margin, never on its own.
Direct bookings and channels
Direct bookings
Bookings a guest makes on the property’s own website or channels, without going through platforms like Booking and Airbnb. They leave no commission to an intermediary and are worth more at the same nightly rate. We cover this in depth in our guide to direct bookings.
Disintermediation
Reducing dependence on booking platforms by building a solid direct channel. It does not mean abandoning the platforms, but rebalancing the weight between intermediated and direct bookings.
Metasearch
Comparison engines that show a property’s rates across different channels side by side, such as Google Hotel Ads, Trivago or Kayak. Appearing there with a competitive direct rate can win the booking before the guest reaches a platform.
Technology and operations
Channel manager
The tool that synchronises calendar, rates and availability across the different platforms, preventing double sales. A channel manager looks after external channels but does not, in itself, generate direct demand.
Booking engine
The reservation engine installed on the property’s website, which lets the guest choose dates, confirm and pay directly. It is the infrastructure that direct bookings rest on.
PMS (property management system)
The system that runs the operational side of a property: a single calendar, guest communications, housekeeping, check-in and accounting. Channel manager and booking engine connect to this hub.
Revenue management
The strategic management of rates and availability to maximise revenue over time, with prices adjusted to demand, seasonality and channel. Revenue management decides how much to charge, when and to whom.
Hospitality metrics
RevPAR (revenue per available room)
The average revenue per available room, whether occupied or not. Occupancy and rate combine into a single number, useful for measuring the economic health of a hotel.
ADR (average daily rate)
The average daily rate actually earned per occupied room. ADR measures the value of each night sold, regardless of how many rooms were filled.
Occupancy rate
The share of available rooms that are sold over a given period. On its own the figure can mislead. A full hotel at a discounted rate may earn less than a half-full one priced well, which is why occupancy is read alongside ADR and RevPAR.
Cultivating the relationship over time
Marketing automation
The use of automated flows to accompany a contact over time: welcome emails, reminders, post-stay communications. A property can then look after many guests without losing the personal touch.
Nurturing
Staying in touch with a contact who is not yet ready to book, through relevant content and communications, until the decision matures. Nurturing is what makes a direct channel profitable in the long run.
Search and AI discovery
SEO (search engine optimisation)
The work of making a property findable in search engines for the terms its ideal guests actually use. It builds an asset that keeps drawing direct demand long after a campaign ends.
GEO / AEO
Generative engine optimisation and answer engine optimisation, two ways of making a brand visible and citable inside AI assistants and answer engines, not only in classic search. Increasingly, guests ask an assistant before they open a search bar.
If one of these hospitality marketing terms has turned up in a proposal you have received and you want to understand what it means for your property, we are glad to talk it through: book a free one-hour call, with no obligation.
