Following its transition from a legacy brand to an independent management model, Beachside Resort needed to re-establish its direct digital pipeline. Meanwhile, peak Florida travel was approaching. To capture high-spending winter travelers, they partnered with O’Rourke to develop a direct-booking campaign strategy that could bypass third-party intermediaries and capture high-intent buyers directly, at an efficient cost.
For many travelers, Key West is an annual tradition. This makes it one of the most competitive and expensive advertising markets in the hospitality sector. Before partnering with O’Rourke, Beachside Resort’s paid media ads were managed by a provider who prioritized traffic over qualified visitors. This diluted budget efficiency and led to high CPAs.
To drive high-yielding direct bookings during peak season, the resort needed to completely restructure its campaigns and reorient toward net-new travelers who were ready to book.
O’Rourke’s media strategists deployed a top-to-bottom revamp of Beachside Resort’s digital marketing architecture. The campaign ran from January through March and centered on strict channel optimization among non-branded paid search, Google Performance Max, and experiential social ads on Meta.
Search campaigns deliberately avoided bidding on branded terms, enabling the entire budget to flow into competitive terms like “luxury key west suites.” Paired with Performance Max, the campaign was able to layer in audience intent into placements and impress on more people considering a stay.
Social ads sought to capture the experience of the stay: a place of relaxation, quality family time, and timeless cuisine. This stood out from other, more transactional creative, invited curiosity, and motivated viewers to consider a stay.
The campaign aimed to drive spend efficiency toward direct booking, and it exceeded expectations. Between January and March, Beachside Resort achieved a 7,700% increase in its overall conversion rate compared to the previous period, proving that the traffic arriving on Beachside’s website was indeed highly qualified. Individual channels drove double-digit ROAS, 21.5X in Performance Max, demonstrating strong targeting and relevant creative.
O’Rourke’s teams aligned channel, creative, and buyer into a winning campaign, while eliminating redundant spend. In doing so, we successfully funneled peak-season demand directly into the resort’s booking engine, and away from OTAs. Could a refined paid media strategy yield better margins for your hotel? Talk to our team about how we can find the best campaign architecture for your market and goals. Optimize your digital ad spend, isolate high-intent audiences, and capture more direct revenue.
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