Franchise marketing for hotels delivers more direct bookings per hotel, less dependence on booking platforms and a strong position in Google Maps and AI travel assistants. We carry it out for every hotel in your franchise brand, so your marketing team keeps room for brand and strategy.
What makes marketing for hotel chains different?
Hotel guests search by destination, date and price, often via booking platforms and Google. A hotel that ranks strongly in Google Maps, has good reviews and makes direct booking easy wins bookings without paying commission.
That combination of brand and local choice calls for a different approach from marketing a single business with a single address.
How do guests search for hotels?
These are searches we see time and again in this sector, along with what the location needs in order to be chosen.
| Search | What the location needs in order to be chosen |
|---|---|
| hotel [town] city centre | Profile with location, photos and direct booking |
| hotel with parking [town] | Facilities as attributes |
| business hotel meeting room | Business page per hotel |
| hotel weekend package | Packages per hotel |
This is how the same question sounds in an AI assistant
In ChatGPT, Gemini or Google AI Overviews, guests ask longer questions, for example: "Which hotel in the city centre has free parking and breakfast, for this coming weekend?" An AI can only recommend a hotel if those details appear literally in the profile, reviews and location page. That is why we combine local visibility with outsourced local SEO for retail chains.
What goes wrong at hotel chains?
When we carry out a baseline measurement for hotel chains, we keep seeing the same patterns. They can be solved, but they take time and specialist knowledge.
Dependent on platforms
Guests book via platforms that charge commission, even when they already knew the hotel.
Incomplete facilities
Parking, breakfast and pets are missing from the profile.
Reviews on many platforms
Responses are missing or differ from platform to platform.
Business market overlooked
Meeting facilities cannot be found.
Our approach for hotels
This is the starting point for hotel chains. After the pilot, we adjust based on what the data per location shows.
| Channel | Use for hotels |
|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Hotel attributes, photos per room type, direct booking link |
| Hotel pages | Location, facilities, packages and business offering |
| Review management | Responses to reviews on Google and other platforms |
| Google Ads | Campaigns on brand name and destination for direct bookings |
| Winning back guests with direct offers |
No time or expertise in-house? Leave your franchise marketing to us.
Rules and points of attention for hotels
Prices in ads must include mandatory charges, such as tourist tax where it applies. Reviews must not be bought or requested selectively.
This is not legal advice; if in doubt, we consult your franchise brand's lawyer or trade association.
What does better visibility deliver for hotel chains?
The NFV service sector, under which we classify hotels, counted 375 franchise brands with 9,721 locations and €4.7 billion in revenue in 2025. That is an average of around €483,000 in revenue per location per year. The worked example below shows the revenue effect at which the Growth package pays for itself.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Average revenue per location per year | €483,489 |
| Per month | €40,291 |
| 1% extra revenue per year | €4,835 |
| Cost of the Growth package per year | €3,000 |
| Break-even point: required revenue growth | 0.62% |
Which KPIs matter for hotel chains?
In addition to the standard KPIs in our monthly report (visibility, customer actions, reviews and position in Maps), in this sector we also look at:
| KPI | Why |
|---|---|
| Direct bookings per hotel | Less commission |
| Review score across platforms | A deciding factor |
| Cost per direct booking | Campaign return |
When should you plan marketing for hotels?
Peaks differ by destination: city breaks in spring and autumn, the coast in summer, business travel in autumn and spring. We put these peaks in the content calendar, so profiles, ads and social media are ready in time.
How do we get started with franchise marketing for hotels?
We start small and measurable. First a baseline measurement, then a pilot with ten to fifteen locations, and only after that the entire franchise brand. That way, after one quarter you can see what franchise marketing for hotels delivers, with real figures per location.
| Period | What we do |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1-2 | Baseline measurement at three locations for searches such as hotel [town] city centre and hotel with parking [town], plus an AI test with fixed questions |
| Weeks 3-4 | Google Business Profile: hotel attributes, photos per room type, direct booking link |
| Month 2 | Hotel pages and review management: responses to reviews on Google and other platforms |
| Month 3 | Google Ads live and the first monthly report with direct bookings per hotel and review score across platforms |
Checklist: is your hotel franchise brand in good shape online?
- Profile with location, photos and direct booking
- Facilities as attributes
- Business page per hotel
- Packages per hotel
- Email: winning back guests with direct offers
Can you not tick off every point for every location? Then the free scan shows exactly where the gains are.
Who works on franchise marketing for hotels?
Behind every location of your franchise brand is the same team, using the same way of working: Gijs Bodenstaff for strategy and client contact, Angela for analysis and content, Elisabeth for local Google Ads, Peter for local authority and ten trained freelancers for day-to-day execution. Every week we train on changes at Google. See the people behind this agency.
Related sectors and services for hotels
This page belongs to marketing for service franchise brands. Similar sectors are franchise marketing for holiday parks and campsites and franchise marketing for handyman businesses. For hotels we focus mainly on review management for franchise brands and search advertising for franchises. You can read about the costs under why outsourcing pays off; you can start with our process from pilot to roll-out.
Frequently asked questions about franchise marketing for hotels
Can we become less dependent on booking platforms?
Do you also manage reviews on other platforms?
Hotels: can customers find our locations through AI assistants?
How quickly do hotel chains see results?
Hotels: do you sign the contract with head office or with each location?
Hotels: what if one location is already doing well on its own?
Which facilities should be listed in the Google Business Profile of every hotel in a chain?
How does a hotel chain make its business market and meeting rooms easy to find?
When should a hotel chain plan its marketing for each hotel?
Which rules apply to prices and reviews in hotel marketing?
Sources
Gijs Bodenstaff
Franchise marketer, local SEO and GEO specialist, author
Curious how the locations of your hotel franchise brand are doing? Request the free scan of three locations.