Black Friday is no longer just about shopping. For travellers, it’s also an opportunity to secure their next holiday, discover new destinations, and book hotel stays at a better price.
And for hotels, it creates a valuable window to attract new guests, generate future bookings and compete for attention when travel promotions are everywhere.
Here’s how hotels can approach Black Friday and Travel Tuesday, and how the right advertising strategy can help turn seasonal interest into direct bookings.
Black Friday vs Travel Tuesday: Should hotels target both?
Although the two events are closely connected, they offer slightly different opportunities.
Black Friday (27 November 2026)
Black Friday is part of a much broader retail promotion period. Travellers are already exposed to offers across multiple industries, making it a good opportunity for hotels to introduce their promotions, build awareness and capture people actively researching their next trip.
Cyber Monday (30 November 2026)
Cyber Monday extends the promotional momentum. Hotels can continue their campaigns, refresh their messaging or highlight specific packages and booking incentives.
Travel Tuesday (1 December 2026)
Travel Tuesday puts travel back in the spotlight after the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping rush. It gives hotels another opportunity to reach travellers specifically considering holidays, flights and accommodation.
Rather than treating these as three separate campaigns, hotels can approach them as one coordinated advertising period, adjusting their messaging and offers as the week progresses.
The important thing is to maintain visibility throughout the promotional window instead of concentrating the entire budget on a single day.
5 ways to make your hotel’s paid ads work harder this Black Friday
Having an attractive offer is only one part of the equation. Hotels also need to make sure potential guests actually see it.
This is where paid advertising becomes particularly important.
1. Start building demand before Black Friday
One of the biggest mistakes hotels make is waiting until Black Friday to start advertising.
By then, competitors may already have launched their campaigns, audiences have seen multiple offers, and advertising costs can become more competitive.
Instead, start preparing your campaigns in advance.
Use the weeks leading up to Black Friday to build awareness, reach relevant audiences and introduce your property to travellers who may be considering their next holiday.
Google Ads can help capture people already searching for accommodation, destinations or specific hotel experiences. Meta Ads can introduce your offer to new audiences and help generate interest before they are ready to book.
When the promotional period begins, your hotel is no longer starting from scratch.
2. Make your offer stand out without relying on heavy discounts
A Black Friday promotion doesn’t necessarily have to mean offering the lowest room rate.
In fact, aggressive discounting can put unnecessary pressure on profitability, particularly for premium and independent hotels.
Consider alternatives that add value to the guest experience:
- Complimentary breakfast or dining credits.
- Room upgrades, subject to availability.
- Extended stays or a complimentary extra night.
- Spa treatments or other property experiences.
- Exclusive packages for direct bookings.
- Flexible booking conditions or added benefits.
Your advertising should communicate the value of the offer clearly. Rather than simply promoting a percentage discount, show potential guests what makes booking directly with your hotel worthwhile.
3. Use Google and Meta Ads together
Different advertising platforms serve different purposes, and a strong Black Friday strategy should take advantage of both.
Google Ads: Capture existing demand
Google Ads helps hotels reach travellers actively searching for accommodation. These searches can include hotel names, destinations, specific amenities and accommodation options for particular dates.
During Black Friday, make sure your campaigns reflect the promotional offer. Update ad copy, extensions and relevant landing pages to communicate the promotion clearly.
Brand campaigns are particularly important. When travellers search for your hotel after discovering your offer elsewhere, you want to make sure they can easily find and book directly through your website.
Meta Ads: Generate interest and stay visible
Meta Ads offer a different opportunity: reaching travellers who may not yet be actively searching for your property.
Use engaging hotel imagery, short videos and clear promotional messaging to introduce your offer to relevant audiences.
You can also use retargeting to reconnect with people who have previously visited your website or interacted with your advertising but haven’t completed a booking.
Combining Google and Meta allows hotels to reach potential guests at different stages of the decision-making process, from initial discovery to booking.
4. Don’t forget the travellers who already know your hotel
Not every potential guest is a completely new prospect.
People who have visited your website, explored room options or started a booking but left without completing it represent an important audience.
Black Friday gives hotels a relevant reason to reconnect with these potential guests.
Consider creating dedicated remarketing campaigns that highlight your limited-time offer, communicate the benefits of booking directly and encourage previous website visitors to return.
Your messaging can be adapted to the audience. Someone who viewed a particular room type, for example, may respond better to a relevant offer than to a generic hotel advertisement.
The goal is to bring interested travellers back to your website and make completing their booking as straightforward as possible.
5. Monitor performance and optimise throughout the campaign
A successful campaign doesn’t end when the ads go live.
Black Friday is a competitive period, and performance can change quickly as demand, budgets and promotional activity evolve.
Hotels should monitor more than impressions and clicks. The metrics that really matter include:
- Direct bookings generated through advertising.
- Cost per booking.
- Conversion rate.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Revenue generated.
- Performance by advertising channel and target market.
Use this information to identify which campaigns, audiences and markets are generating valuable bookings.
If one market is converting particularly well, budget allocation may need to reflect that. If certain search terms are generating clicks without bookings, they may need to be reviewed or excluded.
The ability to make these adjustments throughout the promotional period can help prevent wasted spend and make better use of the available budget.
How AdsPlus helps hotels get more from Black Friday advertising
Managing paid advertising during one of the busiest promotional periods of the year requires more than simply increasing budgets and updating ad copy.
Hotels need campaigns that reflect their commercial objectives, reach the right travellers and respond to changing booking behaviour.
This is exactly where AdsPlus comes in.
AdsPlus combines AI-powered campaign management with the expertise of a dedicated advertising team to help independent hotels and hotel groups get more from their paid advertising.
Rather than relying on generic campaign settings, AdsPlus uses hotel-specific data and insights to inform advertising decisions. This includes booking data, historical performance, seasonality, market demand and guest booking behaviour.
During Black Friday and Travel Tuesday, this approach helps hotels:
Make smarter budget decisions
Campaign budgets can be informed by property performance, demand patterns and commercial priorities, helping avoid unnecessary spend.
Reach the right audiences
AdsPlus supports advertising across Google, Meta, Bing and TikTok, helping hotels connect with potential guests across relevant platforms and markets.
Adapt to changing demand
AI analyses relevant performance and booking signals, while advertising specialists bring the hospitality knowledge needed to interpret those insights and make informed decisions.
Reduce wasted advertising spend
Search term analysis and campaign optimisation help identify opportunities to improve efficiency and avoid spending on irrelevant searches.
Save time without compromising on expertise
AdsPlus is a fully managed solution. Hotels benefit from AI-powered insights and experienced advertising specialists without having to manage every campaign themselves.
The result is a more considered approach to paid advertising, designed around each hotel’s performance and booking objectives.
See how AdsPlus helped Hôtel Boeuf Couronne achieve a 56.4x ROAS through its Google Ads.
Your Black Friday advertising checklist
Before launching your campaign, make sure the essentials are in place:
Define your campaign objectives and target booking dates.
Choose an offer that supports your hotel’s revenue strategy.
Identify the markets and audiences you want to reach.
Prepare dedicated landing pages for your promotion.
Update your Google and Meta ad creatives and messaging.
Set up tracking for bookings, revenue and ROAS.
Review campaign budgets and performance regularly.
Plan your messaging for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday.
Make sure your booking engine provides a smooth direct booking experience.
Make this Black Friday count
Black Friday and Travel Tuesday offer hotels more than a short-term promotional opportunity. They provide a chance to attract new audiences, capture future travel demand and strengthen the direct booking channel.
But in an increasingly competitive advertising environment, visibility alone isn’t enough. Hotels need the right strategy, relevant targeting and ongoing optimisation to turn advertising spend into actual bookings.
With the combination of AI-powered insights and hospitality advertising expertise, AdsPlus helps hotels make smarter paid advertising decisions and get more from every campaign.
Planning your hotel’s Black Friday advertising strategy?
Discover how AdsPlus can help you reach more travellers, optimise your ad spend and drive more direct bookings.
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