The Alexander is a boutique hotel in downtown Indianapolis that recently entered a new chapter. Following a full property renovation, the hotel joined the Autograph Collection, positioning it among Marriott’s portfolio of distinctive, design-forward properties. Even as tracking systems were configured, the marketers at O’Rourke launched an early phase of marketing focused on traffic, engagement, and booking intent signals to support this relaunch. What followed was a sharp increase in visibility and high-intent traffic across paid channels.
The Alexander partnered with O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing during a period of transformation. The renovation refreshed the property’s design and guest experience, while the move to the Autograph Collection elevated the hotel’s brand positioning.
However, changes like these, even in well-located and established hotels can lose online visibility as branding, booking systems, and distribution channels change. Travelers searching for downtown Indianapolis accommodations were not yet fully aware of the hotel’s refreshed identity. At the same time, competition from OTAs and nearby properties continued, so any drop in rankings or visibility could cede valuable ground.
The hotel needed a paid media strategy that could rapidly increase visibility and bring qualified visitors to the website while the new brand presence gained traction.
During the transition period, The Alexander’s campaigns were generating limited scale.
In November 2025, paid media performance reflected a pre-optimization baseline. Traffic levels were modest across Google and social channels, and campaign structures were not fully aligned with the goal of maximizing awareness.
At the same time, as integrations and revenue attribution came online, optimization needed to focus on high-intent engagement metrics such as clicks and booking-link traffic. Our team needed to dramatically expand reach and drive more potential guests into the booking funnel while data systems caught up.
O’Rourke implemented a coordinated optimization strategy across paid search, paid social, and Google’s Performance Max platform. We structured campaigns to prioritize visibility and traffic growth while still targeting travelers with clear booking intent.
Paid search campaigns were optimized to maximize traffic from travelers actively searching for hotel stays in Indianapolis. Key changes included enabling AI Max features across campaigns, and switching bidding strategies to accelerate traffic growth. Custom audience segmentation targeted users showing purchase intent. And finally, image extensions with select experiences like weddings, dining rooms, and elevated placements.
Performance Max campaigns, meanwhile, were expanded to improve reach across Google’s network while maintaining strong engagement signals.
Social campaigns were optimized for awareness and website traffic. This included aligning campaign objective and optimization settings while consolidating audiences to focus budget. Our team was also able to build new lookalike audiences from The Alexander’s data and tailor them to fit the campaign.
These changes allowed Meta’s algorithm to find new potential travelers who were likely planning trips to Indianapolis.
The shift toward traffic and visibility produced dramatic growth across all channels.
Facebook and Instagram campaigns quickly expanded reach and drove more users into the booking funnel. Rapid growth followed, with a 16% increase in total clicks, 24% lower cost-per-click, and a 62% increase in booking link clicks. These campaigns generated significantly more high-intent visitors to the website while spending slightly less overall.
Google Paid search, meanwhile, delivered the most dramatic lift in visibility and traffic. Following campaign optimizations, total clicks increased 2,303%, clickthrough rate improved 73%, and booking link clicks increased 2,129%. Performance Max continued this push, showing its own 858% increase in booking link clicks at a 19% lower cost per click.
These results demonstrate how campaign restructuring and improved audience targeting can rapidly scale demand when a property is entering a new brand phase.
Brand transitions can inject new life into a hotel. It happened here. But without marketing visibility, those same new brands can take a hit. By restructuring paid campaigns around traffic growth, audience expansion, and AI-assisted targeting, O’Rourke quickly amplified the hotel’s digital presence.
The result was a surge in qualified website visitors and booking-intent traffic, laying the groundwork for stronger direct revenue performance as tracking systems come fully online.
Could a restructure of paid media help your hotel capture more direct bookings?
O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing helps both independent hotels and major brands increase visibility, attract qualified travelers, and convert more website visitors into guests. Let’s talk about how we can do the same for you.
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