Most hotel owners hire a marketing agency once, find it hard to tell whether it’s working, and either stay too long or leave without knowing why. The fix is to agree what good looks like before you sign. This guide covers what an agency should do for a hotel, the warning signs, twelve questions to ask, how the common fee models compare, and how to judge the first 90 days.
What should a hotel marketing agency actually do?
It should bring you more bookings, ideally more of them direct, and show you how. For a hotel, that usually means some mix of four kinds of work:
- Being found. Your website, Google Business Profile, listings and reviews, so search engines and AI assistants can find and recommend you.
- Being booked. A website and booking flow that works on a phone, quick replies on WhatsApp and Instagram, and a reason to book with you rather than an OTA.
- Building demand. Social media and content that make people want to visit your destination and stay with you.
- Capturing demand. Paid ads on Google, Instagram and Facebook, timed to your seasons and aimed at bookings.
Not every hotel needs all four at once. A good agency tells you which matters most for your property right now, and why. If the plan is the same for every client, it isn’t really a plan.
What are the red flags?
Watch for these before you sign:
- Guarantees. Google’s own guidance on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and that if someone guarantees first place, you should find someone else.[1] The same applies to AI recommendations and ad results.
- Secrecy. Google also warns against companies that are secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do.[1] You should know what’s being done to your website and your accounts.
- They want to own your accounts. If the agency creates your Instagram, ad account or Google profile in its own name, leaving becomes painful.
- Reports full of likes and followers. Reach matters, but a report that never mentions enquiries, bookings or revenue is avoiding the question.
- No starting point. Without a baseline, any number can be made to look like progress.
- Long lock-ins with vague scope. A long contract is easier to accept when you know exactly what you’ll get each month.
What questions should you ask before you sign?
Ask these in the first meeting, and get the important answers in writing:
| # | Question | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What will you do in the first month, and every month after? | A specific list, not “manage your marketing” |
| 2 | How will you measure success? | Enquiries, bookings, direct share and revenue, with reach as a supporting number |
| 3 | What’s our baseline, and when will you record it? | Before any work starts |
| 4 | Whose name will our accounts be in? | Yours, with the agency added as a user or partner |
| 5 | Who owns the content you create? | You, under clear terms |
| 6 | Who exactly will work on our account? | Named people, and who to call when something breaks |
| 7 | How do you get paid, and what’s the total cost at the bookings we expect? | A clear fee, worked through with your numbers |
| 8 | Which costs are extra? | Ad budgets, shoots, travel and software listed up front |
| 9 | What can’t you promise? | An honest answer about rankings, AI answers and ad results |
| 10 | How do you work with our staff and other agencies? | Clear roles, not “we’ll take over everything” |
| 11 | How do you handle guest data and reviews? | Consent for marketing, no fake or incentivised reviews |
| 12 | What happens if we stop working together? | Notice period, handover of content, removal of access |
Google suggests some similar questions when hiring an SEO, including what results to expect and in what timeframe, how success is measured, and whether the agency will share all the changes it makes to your site.[1]
Retainer, commission or performance fee: how do they compare?
Each model creates different incentives. None is right for every hotel.
| Model | How it works | Works well when | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed retainer | A set monthly fee for an agreed scope, often with a setup fee | You want a predictable cost and a clear list of work | Paying for activity without results; insist on a scope and monthly measures |
| Commission on bookings | A percentage of the bookings the agency is credited with | You want to pay only when bookings arrive | Costs grow as you grow; it’s hard to separate bookings the agency caused from ones that would have come anyway |
| Performance fee | A bonus or fee tied to agreed targets | Targets are clear and measured the same way by both sides | Disputes about attribution, and targets that reward the easy numbers |
| Hybrid | A smaller retainer plus a performance element | You want shared risk | Complexity; make sure you can calculate the total cost yourself |
Whatever the model, ask the agency to work through the total cost at the number of bookings you expect, with your own room rates. If a commission model would cost more than a retainer at your expected volume, you’ll see it straight away. Our OTA commission calculator uses the same kind of arithmetic for OTA commission.
Ad budgets are a separate question. They should be paid from ad accounts in your hotel’s name, so you can see every rupee the platforms charge.
How do you measure an agency in the first 90 days?
Agree the measures and the dates before work starts. A simple plan:
| When | What to check |
|---|---|
| Before day 1 | Baseline recorded: direct share of bookings, website conversion, enquiries, reviews, how AI and search describe you |
| Day 30 | Setup done as promised: access, tracking, fixes to the website and listings, first content |
| Day 60 | Early signals: website conversion, enquiry volume and reply times, reach to new audiences, first campaign results |
| Day 90 | First honest review against the baseline: what moved, what didn’t, and what changes next |
Some work, such as fixing a slow booking page or a wrong address on Google, can show results quickly. Search, AI visibility and social media usually take longer to build. Ads can bring bookings fast, but stop when the budget stops. A good agency tells you which is which before you start, rather than after.
At day 90, you should be able to answer three questions: what did the agency do, what changed against the baseline, and what will it do differently next quarter. If you can’t, ask. If the agency can’t answer either, that tells you something too.
What this means for hotel owners
- Write down your goal in bookings or revenue before you talk to anyone.
- Ask the twelve questions and compare answers side by side.
- Keep your accounts in your hotel’s name. Always.
- Insist on a baseline and a 90-day review.
- Work out the total cost of each fee model at the bookings you expect.
For where to put your budget once you’ve chosen, see how to split a hotel marketing budget, and for the most direct way to keep more of every booking, how to reduce OTA commission.
HostOS is a hotel marketing agency, so we have an interest here. Our four services, from AI Visibility Optimization to Performance Marketing, work on a one-time setup and a fixed monthly retainer, with no commission on bookings, and we start every engagement with a free AI visibility audit as the baseline. Whoever you choose, ask them the same questions.