Optimizing Paid Media to Drive Measurable Growth
Lotus Marketing | Illuminate Newsletter | October 14, 2025
Are you taking full advantage of your brand’s media platforms?
In this edition of Illuminate, we’re diving into how smarter paid media management for hotels and hospitality brands can unlock new revenue potential — especially when working within brand-owned platforms. Today, we take you behind the scenes of three hotels across different markets that partnered with Lotus Marketing to transform underperforming campaigns into high-impact revenue drivers.
Case study: the challenge
Despite steady investment in an enterprise-run platform that managed direct and OTA paid media, results had plateaued for this portfolio of three properties in three different states. Limited targeting, static creative, and a “set it and forget it” approach left performance stagnant.
To truly understand how hospitality paid media performance could be influenced, we eliminated the noise by focusing on hotels with no other active campaigns that might skew results. We analyzed performance with properties that had no paid search running, social media ads, or PR. Each property relied solely on the enterprise’s media platform to stay visible.
“The reality was that it wasn’t about blowing the media budget, the focus was on thoughtful investment,” explained Kenny Chouinard, Director of Marketing Services for Lotus. “It came down to being intentional — making small shifts, refining creative, targeting smarter, finding untapped opportunity and letting data guide optimization.”
Why does it matter?
Too often, brand platforms are treated as “set-it-and-forget-it” channels. But when hotels take ownership of optimization, they uncover real opportunities hiding in plain sight.
CASE STUDY: THE STRATEGY
When Lotus began paid media management for this portfolio of hotels in March 2025, our focus was simple: treat the platform like a performance channel, giving it the same focus and rigor as a high-investment media campaign.
Here’s how we did it:
- Aligned creative with traveler intent: Refreshed hero images and ad copy based on search behavior, validated through A/B testing.
- Activated demand windows: Targeted need periods and local demand drivers to capture incremental opportunity.
- Invested with intention: Adjust budgets to meet market demand.
- Optimized for outcomes: Reallocated spend from low-performing placements to high-converting audiences.
- Benchmarked continuously: Sustained a monthly GRE above the brand benchmark of 8:1.
This hands-on, iterative approach gave us control over the levers that directly impact results, allowing us to refine and scale performance in real time.
CASE STUDY: THE RESULTS
Each hotel achieved measurable growth within months:
- +65% average monthly revenue increase
- +100% average monthly growth in bookings
- +76% average monthly lift in room nights
Even as GRE shifted slightly from 13:1 to 9:1, total revenue and booking volume soared. This revealed greater opportunity for investment and brought new potential to light.
The success also gave our franchise management partner the rationale to present to stakeholders, securing a 100% increase in marketing investment for the portfolio.
CASE Study: THE IMPACT
With Lotus leading paid media strategy, both performance and profitability increased.
The outcomes:
- Smarter spend allocation
- Consistent visibility during key booking windows
- Scalable performance across multiple markets
Case STUDY: THE TAKEAWAY
Your brand platforms can be one of your best assets — you’re already paying those management fees, so why not make them work their hardest? When strategy, insight, and continuous optimization are in the driver’s seat, your investment can truly maximize. Read the full case study here.
Ready to elevate your hotel’s paid media performance?
Let’s talk about how Lotus Marketing helps hotels turn enterprise tools into business growth engines.
