Is your hotel marketing budget built to move?

How to build one that actually drives revenue

If the only question you’re hearing is “What’s your budget?” it’s time to change who’s asking.

Too many marketing agencies are still advising their clients around outdated assumptions: flat spend, fixed pacing, predictable demand. Then reality hits, and the whole plan falls apart.

If a budget can’t adapt, it can’t perform. And if your agency isn’t helping you adapt, they’re not managing your budget. They’re just spending it.

At Acronym Travel, we don’t treat budgets like directions to be followed. They’re steering wheels that help you maneuver. We know this because we come from your world. We’ve managed hotel ops, served guests, kept rooms booked. That’s how we get hotels the results they need.

Budget season can suck. Yours doesn’t have to. Here’s how

Start with the outcome you want

Working from a spend cap makes for a tidy spreadsheet but a weak plan. The best place to start is where you want to land: your topline revenue goal.

If you’re targeting $15 million in total revenue and want 20% to come from your direct channel, your .com target is $3 million. From there, ask:

• What’s the maximum acquisition cost we can accept?
• What return do we need to justify that spend?
• What tactics can actually influence performance at each stage?

Putting outcomes first makes it easier to focus on the tactics that matter—and make the case for every dollar.

Don’t just “Divide by 12” for your annual budget 

Spreading your budget evenly across the year is clean, but it’s almost never effective.

Travel demand isn’t consistent. Booking behavior doesn’t follow a calendar. Compression doesn’t wait for your monthly pacing.

When you flatten your budget, you risk:

• Overspending during soft periods
• Underspending when compression drives rates
• Ignoring short booking windows that demand agile response

Instead, build your plan to move with the market:

• Use STR and Demand360 data as live inputs, not static snapshots 
• Align spend with real booking curves, not calendar months 
• Invest ahead of compression, not after signals have already peaked 

It’s easy to explain a flat budget. It’s smarter to build one that moves with the market.

Choose a model that fits your market

Once you’ve assessed historical performance, reviewed demand trends, and defined your revenue goals, it’s time to choose a budgeting framework that supports your strategy. These three models are ones we use frequently with clients:

The baseline benchmark: 1–3% of total revenue

A quick gut-check for stabilized properties: if your hotel is forecasting $10 million in revenue, a 2% digital marketing budget puts you at $200K. It’s not aggressive, but it maintains visibility and consistency—especially in lower-risk markets.

The balanced mix: 6–8% of total revenue, with 40% to digital

For an $8 million revenue goal, an 8% budget allocates $640K, with $256K directed toward digital. It’s ideal for hotels balancing brand equity with performance goals, and ensures digital gets its proper share.

The direct channel driver: .com contribution goal-based budgeting

Start with your most profitable channel and work backward.

If your direct booking goal is 20% of a $12 million target ($2.4M), and you’re willing to spend up to 10% to acquire it, your digital budget should land at $240K. This approach is especially effective for properties aggressively focused on growing .com contribution.

Don’t leave outlets out of the plan

Hotel budgets are often overly room-focused. That’s a missed opportunity. Your spa, rooftop, restaurant, and event space aren’t just amenities, they’re performance channels that convert faster, cost less to acquire, and respond well to focused campaigns.

We’ve helped hotels:

• Generate $50K+ in spa bookings through geo-targeted weekday offers
• Fill shoulder-season event space with group-targeted outreach
• Grow restaurant traffic by reallocating spend from broad SEM to high-intent local social

If it drives revenue, it belongs in the budget. Don’t let your highest-margin outlets get left behind.

Expect more from your agency

An agency that only manages your spend isn’t managing your strategy. The right partner should help you

• Build and test direct channel contribution models 
• Reallocate budget dynamically as market signals shift 
• Optimize outlet-specific campaigns—not just room nights 
• Benchmark your budget against the comp set and market trends 

If they’re not asking the right questions, you’re definitely getting the wrong answers.

Our budgets reflect real-world volatility:

• Seasonality and compression
• Booking curve variability
• Outlet-level contribution
• ROI thresholds tied to revenue goals

Sometimes that means adjusting in real time. Sometimes it means pushing for more. Make your budget work as hard as your team does.

Let’s talk numbers—on us

We’re offering a complimentary digital marketing budget recommendation built around your goals, your demand profile, and your comp set. No pitch. No pressure.

We’ll help you evaluate:

• Your current spend and direct channel contribution
• Missed opportunities across outlets and booking windows
• What your top competitors are doing right now
• How to make a stronger case for the budget you actually need

A budget is more than numbers. It’s a performance plan—and it should move with the market.