Notes from our work · Marketing
What a Lagos hotel’s Google searches told us
For an independent hotel, the best ad clicks come from people who already know where they want to stay.
In 2026 we ran Google search ads for an independent hotel in Lagos. It competes with booking sites and big chains for the same searches. Over two campaigns, May and July, the ads drew 278 and then 656 clicks. The July campaign got its 656 clicks in just 12 days.
The overall click rate held at about 7.6%: of every 100 people who saw an ad, about 7 or 8 clicked. But the average hid the real story.
Two kinds of search did most of the work
- Searches for the hotel by name were clicked about 25% of the time. These people had already heard of the hotel and were looking for it.
- Searches about the airport were clicked about 17.6% of the time. Travellers landing late, or leaving early, want a room near the airport, and they decide fast.
What we changed
- Every room page on the new website got a WhatsApp booking button, with the room already named in the message.
- We added call, booking and page-view tracking. The next campaigns are judged on enquiries, not just clicks.
The lesson for any independent hotel
Bid on your own name. Find the one local reason people need you (here, the airport) and build ads around it. And measure bookings, not clicks.