Google Ads, CRO and SEO for short-term rentals and boutique hotels

Where it leaks. A past guest, or someone who saw your listing, searches your name, and the first results can be your Airbnb and Vrbo listings, where the platform takes its cut. Meanwhile a broad campaign for “cabins near Austin” spends the same whether next weekend is open or sold out.

What we change. A small campaign on your own name, separate campaigns by destination and property type, negative keywords for jobs, long-term leases and homes for sale, and budgets that move toward the dates you still have open and away from the ones you’ve sold.

Where it leaks. Travelers compare places inside Google’s hotel and vacation rental results, and the booking links there come from partners sending Google prices and availability. If your software isn’t connected, the choice to book on your own site may never appear beside the platforms.

What we change. We check whether your reservation software or booking engine connects to Google, turn on free booking links, which cost nothing per click, and tag them so they’re reported apart from paid clicks. Prices have to stay accurate, since Google weighs price accuracy when it ranks those links.

Where it leaks. The ad and page lead with a nightly rate, and the cleaning and service fees appear only at checkout. Guests who feel tricked go back to compare, and under the FTC’s fee rule a price that leaves out mandatory fees is a legal problem as well as a sales one.

What we change. A date picker on the first screen, a total price that includes every mandatory fee, real photos of each room, the rules a guest will actually care about (pets, parking, minimum stay), and your license or permit number where your city requires it.

Where it leaks. Many booking engines run on their own domain. The guest sees a different look and a long form on a phone, and without cross-domain setup, analytics splits one person into two visitors, so the ad that started the booking gets no credit.

What we change. A checkout with your name and colors on it, tested on a phone with real dates, and cross-domain measurement so the visit stays one session from ad to confirmation. The confirmation page fires the booking with its value, which is what Google recommends for travel campaigns.

Where it leaks. A guest who booked direct and loved the place hears nothing until they’ve booked somewhere else next year. Platform guests are a different case: Airbnb bars links in listings and messages that steer a guest to another way of booking, so copying those guests into a list puts the listing at risk.

What we change. An opt-in at direct checkout, one note before each season with the dates still open, and a review request after every stay with nothing offered for a good rating. For platform guests, the honest route is a memorable name and a site that ranks for it, so anyone who looks you up can find you.

Where it leaks. A one-night stay and a two-week stay count as one conversion each, so campaigns chase cheap short stays. And the owner sees gross revenue by platform, not what’s left after commission, processing and ad spend, so nobody can say whether direct is actually winning.

What we change. Booking value and nights from your booking engine sent into Google Ads and Meta, and a monthly view of what each channel keeps after its costs: platform commission on one side, card processing and ad spend on the other.