Increase Direct Bookings & Maximise Revenue for Your Victoria Hotel with Digital Marketing Increase Direct Bookings
Victoria’s hotel industry in 2026 faces a competitive landscape shaped by evolving traveller expectations, the dominance of online travel agencies (OTAs), and a tourism market that is both seasonal and increasingly year-round. As British Columbia’s capital and one of Canada’s most visited destinations, Victoria attracts millions of travellers annually — but capturing their bookings before Expedia, Booking.com, and Airbnb do requires sophisticated digital marketing. Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is transforming travel discovery, with AI assistants now recommending hotels based on content depth, review sentiment, and structured property data rather than simply listing OTA results.
At Prism Digital Group, we understand the distinct dynamics of hospitality marketing in Victoria. The city’s tourism ecosystem is shaped by cruise ship arrivals, ferry traffic from Vancouver, seasonal whale-watching and garden tourism, and a growing digital nomad and remote worker demographic seeking extended stays. We build marketing strategies that capture demand across all these traveller segments while accounting for Victoria’s pronounced seasonal patterns — from the summer peak through the quieter winter months when shoulder-season marketing becomes essential for maintaining occupancy.
Our Victoria hotel clients consistently report significant increases in direct booking revenue, reduced OTA commission costs, and higher average daily rates after implementing our integrated digital strategies. By combining direct-booking-focused website optimisation with advanced SEO, precision paid advertising, and automated guest engagement workflows, we create a distribution strategy that prioritises your most profitable channel — your own website — while leveraging OTAs strategically rather than dependently.
Why hotels in Victoria struggle to grow
OTA Commission Erosion
Online travel agencies take 15–25% commission on every booking they facilitate. For Victoria hotels operating on already tight margins, this commission structure dramatically reduces profitability. Without a strong direct booking channel and digital strategy to drive traffic to your own website, you’re essentially paying OTAs a significant premium to sell your own rooms.
Seasonal Demand Concentration
Victoria’s tourism peaks dramatically during the June–September summer season, with occupancy rates dropping significantly during winter months. Hotels that rely solely on high-season demand face revenue volatility that makes staffing, maintenance, and investment planning extremely challenging without year-round digital marketing strategies to smooth demand.
Airbnb & Short-Term Rental Competition
Victoria’s Airbnb market has expanded significantly despite regulatory efforts, creating competition for both leisure and extended-stay guests. Hotels must communicate the value of professional hospitality — reliability, amenities, service quality, and consistency — through digital channels to justify pricing against the perceived savings of short-term rental alternatives.
Reputation Management at Scale
Victoria hotels are reviewed across dozens of platforms — Google, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia, and social media. A single unaddressed negative review can influence hundreds of booking decisions. Managing and responding to reviews across this fragmented landscape requires systematic processes and monitoring that most hotels handle reactively rather than proactively.
The Victoria Hotel Market in 2026
Victoria’s hospitality market is defined by its stunning natural setting, historic charm, and evolving tourism demographics. The Inner Harbour remains the iconic hub, attracting leisure tourists and cruise ship passengers, while areas like Oak Bay, Sidney, and the Saanich Peninsula offer boutique and resort experiences that command premium rates. Each micro-market attracts different traveller profiles and requires distinct digital positioning and targeting strategies.
The city’s growing reputation as a culinary destination, paired with year-round outdoor activities and a thriving arts scene, is attracting shoulder-season visitors who can be captured through targeted digital campaigns promoting off-peak experiences. The rise of remote work has also created a new extended-stay segment — digital nomads and remote workers seeking Victoria’s mild climate and high quality of life for month-long stays.
AI-powered travel planning is accelerating rapidly. Over 45% of leisure travellers now use AI tools during their trip research, and these tools increasingly recommend hotels based on structured content, review analysis, and demonstrated expertise in specific travel experiences. Hotels with GEO-optimised property and destination content are being surfaced as top recommendations in these AI-generated travel itineraries.
160+ Hotels & Inns
Victoria’s concentrated hospitality market means that strong digital differentiation, compelling direct booking incentives, and superior online visibility are essential for capturing revenue share.
4.2M Annual Visitors
Victoria’s substantial visitor volume represents enormous revenue potential for hotels that can capture direct bookings before OTAs intercept the traveller’s research journey.
15–25% OTA Commissions
Every OTA-facilitated booking surrenders a significant portion of room revenue in commission, making direct booking strategy the single highest-impact revenue improvement for Victoria hotels.
How we transform hotels in Victoria
A proven digital transformation package built specifically for hotels operating in the Victoria market.
Website Design & Development
We build visually immersive hotel websites with integrated booking engines, compelling property showcases, and conversion-optimised design that turns lookers into direct bookers. Every site is engineered to capture guests before they default to OTA platforms.
Local SEO & Generative Engine Optimisation
Our hotel SEO strategy ensures your property ranks in organic search results when travellers research Victoria accommodation. We build destination authority through structured content, optimise your Google Business Profile, and create GEO-ready property content that AI travel assistants trust and recommend.
Paid Advertising & Metasearch Management
Our paid campaigns for Victoria hotels span Google Ads, metasearch engines, and social platforms, targeting travellers at every stage of the booking journey from inspiration to final rate comparison. Every campaign is optimised to drive direct bookings at a cost well below OTA commission rates.
CRM & Marketing Automation
Maximise guest lifetime value with automated workflows that enhance the pre-arrival experience, encourage on-property upsells, request post-stay reviews, and nurture past guests into repeat visitors — building a direct relationship that bypasses OTAs entirely for return bookings.
Email Marketing & Guest Retention
We build sophisticated email marketing programmes that keep your property top-of-mind with past guests, promote seasonal packages, and drive repeat direct bookings from your owned database — the most profitable acquisition channel in hospitality.
Actionable tips for hotels in Victoria
Practical steps you can start implementing today, whether you work with us or not.
Implement a Best-Rate Guarantee to Drive Direct Bookings
Display a prominent best-rate guarantee on your website that promises guests the lowest available rate when booking directly. Pair this with a small added incentive — free parking, a welcome amenity, or late checkout — to make the direct booking value proposition unambiguous. This strategy alone can shift 15–20% of your bookings from OTA channels to direct, immediately improving per-booking profitability.
Create Destination Experience Content to Capture Inspiration Searches
Travellers researching Victoria often search for experiences before searching for hotels. Create rich content pages around whale watching, Butchart Gardens, the Inner Harbour, cycling the Galloping Goose Trail, and Victoria’s food scene. This positions your property as the local authority and captures travellers early in their planning journey before they ever visit an OTA.
Build Shoulder-Season Packages to Smooth Revenue
Create and promote compelling off-peak packages that give travellers a reason to visit Victoria in October through April. Combine accommodation with experiences like storm watching, spa treatments, culinary tours, and holiday celebrations. Market these packages through email to past guests and through targeted ads to drive-market audiences in Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest.
Protect Your Brand Keywords from OTA Bidding
OTAs bid aggressively on your hotel name in Google Ads, intercepting guests who are actively searching for your property. Run branded search campaigns to defend your property name and ensure your direct booking website appears above OTA listings when travellers search specifically for your hotel. The cost is minimal, and the revenue protected is substantial.
Leverage Past Guest Email Lists for Repeat Direct Bookings
Your past guest database is your most valuable marketing asset. Segment it by travel type, season of visit, and geographic origin, then send targeted campaigns promoting seasonal packages and exclusive direct booking rates. Past guests who have already experienced your property convert at dramatically higher rates than cold prospects and nearly always book directly rather than through OTAs.
Optimise for AI Travel Planning with Structured Property Data
AI travel assistants are increasingly used to plan Victoria trips. Ensure your website includes structured data markup for your property type, room categories, amenities, location, and nearby attractions. Create comprehensive FAQ pages and detailed destination guides. AI tools prioritise well-structured, authoritative content when recommending hotels, and early adopters of GEO strategies capture a growing share of AI-influenced bookings.
What hotels in Victoria achieve with us
Based on aggregated client data. Individual results vary. View case studies.
Frequently asked questions
Everything hotels in Victoria ask us before getting started.
How long does it take to increase direct bookings for a Victoria hotel?
Most Victoria hotels see measurable increases in direct booking share within 6–10 weeks of implementing our strategy. Branded search protection campaigns show immediate results, while SEO and content strategies build over 3–6 months. Our combined approach ensures you are recapturing OTA-intercepted traffic from day one while building long-term organic direct booking channels.
What marketing budget should a Victoria hotel allocate?
We recommend Victoria hotels allocate 3–6% of total room revenue to digital marketing, with the goal of reducing overall distribution costs by shifting bookings from high-commission OTA channels to direct. The investment typically pays for itself within the first quarter as OTA commission savings exceed the marketing spend required to generate equivalent direct bookings.
Can you help us compete with Airbnb and vacation rentals?
Yes, our strategies highlight the unique advantages of professional hotel hospitality — consistent quality, on-site amenities, staff service, and reliability. We create content and campaigns that communicate this value proposition to travellers considering both options. For many segments, particularly business and celebratory travel, hotels win when they articulate their advantages clearly online.
How do you help reduce OTA commission costs?
We implement a comprehensive direct booking strategy that includes website optimisation, booking engine enhancements, best-rate guarantee positioning, branded search protection, past guest email marketing, and metasearch campaigns — all designed to shift bookings from 15–25% commission OTA channels to your direct website where acquisition costs are typically 5–10%.
Do you manage Google Hotel Ads and metasearch campaigns?
Yes, we manage Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor Business Advantage, and Trivago campaigns for Victoria hotels. These metasearch platforms display your direct rates alongside OTA rates at the moment of booking decision. When managed properly, they deliver direct bookings at a fraction of OTA commission costs, making them one of the most efficient direct booking channels available.
What is GEO and how does it affect hotel discovery?
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) ensures your property information appears when AI travel tools recommend Victoria accommodation. As more travellers use AI for trip planning, hotels with structured property data, strong reviews, and rich destination content will be recommended directly — bypassing OTAs entirely for AI-influenced bookings.
How do you help increase shoulder-season occupancy?
We create and promote compelling off-peak packages through targeted email campaigns to past guests, paid advertising to drive-market audiences, and SEO content around shoulder-season Victoria experiences. This approach consistently lifts October–April occupancy by targeting traveller segments who are motivated by experience rather than weather, such as foodies, wellness seekers, and remote workers.
How do you measure success for hotel digital marketing?
We track metrics that directly impact your hotel’s profitability: direct booking revenue, cost per direct booking, OTA-to-direct booking ratio, average daily rate, and total distribution cost as a percentage of room revenue. Monthly reports provide clear visibility into channel performance, enabling data-driven decisions about where to invest for maximum revenue impact.
““Since working with Prism Digital Group, our direct bookings have increased by over 30% and our OTA dependency has dropped from 65% to under 45%. Their shoulder-season campaigns generated the best October and November occupancy we’ve ever had. They genuinely understand hotel revenue management and the Victoria tourism market.””
Catherine Albright
General Manager, The Harbourview Inn, Victoria
Related pages for hotels in Victoria
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