A hotel's marketing is made of many pieces that affect each other: website, booking engine, OTAs, pricing, Google profile, reviews, advertising, newsletter. When something isn't working, it's hard to see where the problem is — especially if you're the one running everything every day.
A hotel marketing audit exists for exactly this: looking at everything with outside eyes and finding where bookings and margin are leaking. Let's look at what a good audit analyses, which problems it can uncover and what you should receive at the end.
What a complete audit analyses
1. Advertising
- active campaigns (Google, Meta, metasearch);
- booking tracking;
- cost per booking compared with OTA commissions;
- search terms and wasted budget.
2. Website and booking engine
- speed and usability on mobile;
- clarity of prices, conditions and direct-booking perks;
- booking journey and abandonment;
- technical SEO, content, languages;
- readiness for Google and AI assistants (GEO).
3. Branding and communication
- positioning and target guests;
- photos, copy, tone of voice;
- consistency of information across website, Google, OTAs and social.
4. Strategy and distribution
- channel mix and OTA dependency;
- rate parity and disparity;
- Google profile and free booking links;
- reviews and reputation.
5. Pricing and costs
- rate strategy and restrictions;
- comparison with comparable competitors;
- commissions, cost by channel, margins.
The problems that come up most often
In our experience, the most frequent problems at independent hotels are:
- direct price higher than the OTAs because of forgotten OTA discounts;
- booking engine not connected to Google (no free booking links);
- no booking tracking: nobody knows what works;
- a website that's slow or awkward on mobile;
- an incomplete Google profile, or one with wrong information;
- OTAs advertising on the hotel's name;
- stacked OTA promotions eroding margin;
- no collection of guest contacts to bring them back;
- accounts and data not in the hotel's name.
Many of these can be fixed at almost zero cost, with quick results.
What you should receive at the end
A good audit isn't an endless list of problems. It should give you:
- a clear diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses;
- priorities: what to do first, what later;
- estimates of impact, costs and timing;
- concrete next steps you can take yourself or with a partner.
How to prepare to get the most from it
The more data you bring, the more precise the analysis. Have to hand:
- revenue by channel and commissions for the last 12 months;
- occupancy and average rate by month;
- access (read-only is fine) to Google Analytics, Search Console, your Google profile and campaigns;
- your goals for next season;
- the problems you feel most ("too many OTAs", "empty midweek", "old website").
Free audit: what's the catch?
No catch — but it's fair to be clear: a free audit also helps the partner see whether they can be useful to you. A good rule: the audit should be valuable even if you don't buy anything afterwards. If at the end you only get a sales proposal with no diagnosis, it wasn't a real audit.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an audit take?
On your side, usually not much: a conversation and sharing some data and logins. The analysis takes a few days' work for whoever carries it out.
Do I need to share sensitive data?
Aggregated data (revenue by channel, occupancy) and read-only access to marketing tools are needed. Guests' personal data isn't.
Do I have to work with whoever does the audit?
No. A serious audit leaves you free to apply the recommendations yourself or with whoever you prefer.
Request your hotel's free audit
We're hoteliers in Rimini, Italy, and we built our method on our own hotels: Hotel Aldebaran, with revenue almost doubled in 2 years, and Hotel Dolce Vita, full from day two after reopening. With our free marketing audit we analyse your hotel's advertising, website, branding, strategy, pricing and costs and give you a report with priorities and next steps. Free, no strings attached.
