This budget season, you’ll need to prove how much hotel revenue you brought in or risk losing your funds.
A successful hotel marketing budget not only requires the guts to ask for what you need, but the data to back it up.
We’re constantly pushing hotel marketers to attach numbers to their success and to keep track of hotel marketing metrics that matter, instead of simply touting website visitors, social media followers, ad impressions and email open rates.
Nowhere does data become more critical than during budget season.
Your owners care about bottom line results and hold your marketing team accountable for revenue just as much as they do with the sales team and revenue managers
Come budget season, you will be in a difficult position if you can’t prove how your marketing campaigns resulted in bookings.
Without numerical data, owners will be more apt to cut back on marketing expenses (and even staff!), believing that you can still achieve Instagram likes and social media engagement with less.
Here’s the solution: Have complete fluency in the KPIs that affect your hotel’s bottom line. This includes DRR (direct revenue ratio), MCPB (marketing cost per booking) and how your direct marketing expenses compared to the acquisition cost of OTA bookings.
For example, if you know last year’s marketing cost-per-sale (CPS), use that against future revenue targets to determine the budget required. Then say:
“Last year, we achieved a marketing CPS of X. To achieve next year’s budget, I need $_______ (or ‘this staff position’)
Data is your strongest ally when you need to ask for more marketing funds.
