How to Get More Customers as a Hotel in Brisbane

Introduction

Running a hotel in Brisbane means you're competing in one of Australia's fastest-growing tourism markets. Between the 2032 Olympics buzz, a booming domestic travel scene, and steady international recovery, there's no shortage of potential guests searching for somewhere to stay.

But here's the problem: most hotels in Brisbane still rely on OTA listings, word of mouth, and the occasional travel agent referral to fill rooms. That approach worked a decade ago. It doesn't cut it anymore.

In 2026, 97% of travellers search online before booking accommodation. They're typing "hotel in Brisbane CBD," reading Google reviews, scanning AI-generated recommendations, and making decisions before they ever pick up the phone or visit a booking page.

If your hotel doesn't show up in those critical moments, you're invisible. And invisible hotels don't fill rooms.

This guide walks you through exactly how to get more customers as a hotel in Brisbane — step by step, no fluff. We'll cover the strategies that actually move the needle: Google Business Profile optimisation, local SEO, review generation, content marketing, AI search visibility, and tracking. Whether you run a boutique hotel in Fortitude Valley or a family-friendly property near South Bank, these tactics apply to you.

The average hotel booking in Brisbane sits between $150 and $500 per night. Even a handful of extra direct bookings each month translates to thousands in additional revenue — revenue that doesn't get eaten up by OTA commissions.

Let's get into it.

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TL;DR

• This is a step-by-step guide to getting more customers as a hotel in Brisbane through digital marketing
• Covers Google Maps, reviews, website optimisation, content creation, and AI search
• Average hotel booking value: $150–$500 per night, making every new direct customer highly valuable
• Focuses on strategies that reduce OTA dependence and build long-term visibility
• Includes guidance on when to handle things yourself and when to bring in professionals

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Step 1: Claim and Optimise Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is the single most powerful free tool available to hotels in Brisbane. When someone searches "hotel near me" or "hotel in Brisbane CBD," Google pulls results from the Maps pack first — and that Maps pack is powered by GBP listings.

If you haven't claimed your profile yet, start there. Go to business.google.com, verify your property, and take ownership of your listing. If you claimed it years ago and haven't touched it since, now's the time to revisit.

Here's how to optimise it properly:

Complete every single field. Business name, address, phone number, website, check-in and check-out times, amenities, accessibility features — fill it all in. Google rewards completeness. Incomplete profiles get buried.

Choose the right primary category. "Hotel" is the obvious choice, but you can add secondary categories like "boutique hotel," "resort hotel," or "extended stay hotel" depending on your property type. These secondary categories help you appear in more specific searches.

Upload high-quality photos. Properties with 100+ photos receive 520% more calls than those with fewer than 10, according to Google's own data. Upload professional shots of rooms, common areas, the lobby, pool, restaurant, views, and the surrounding neighbourhood. Update them seasonally.

Write a compelling business description. Use natural language that includes your key services and location. Mention Brisbane, your suburb, nearby landmarks, and what makes your property different. Don't stuff keywords — write for humans.

Post weekly updates. Google Business Profile has a "posts" feature that most hotels ignore completely. Use it to share special offers, event packages, seasonal promotions, or local area guides. These posts signal to Google that your listing is active and relevant.

Enable messaging and booking links. Make it as easy as possible for potential guests to contact you directly through your profile. Every inquiry that comes through GBP instead of an OTA saves you commission fees.

Your GBP is often the first impression a potential guest has of your property. Treat it like a shopfront — because that's exactly what it is.

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Step 2: Get Your Website Ranking for Local Keywords

Your website is your direct booking engine. But it only works if people can actually find it. That means ranking on page one of Google for the search terms your potential guests are using.

Start with your primary keyword targets. "Hotel in Brisbane" is the big one, but the real wins often come from more specific, lower-competition terms:

• Hotel in Brisbane CBD
• Boutique hotel Fortitude Valley
• Family hotel South Bank Brisbane
• Pet-friendly hotel Brisbane
• Hotel near Brisbane airport
• Affordable hotel Brisbane

Build dedicated pages for each key service and suburb combination. Don't try to rank one homepage for everything. Create individual, well-written pages that target specific terms. A page targeting "boutique hotel Fortitude Valley" should include unique content about the Valley location, nearby attractions, transport options, and what makes your property a good fit for that area.

Nail your on-page SEO fundamentals. Every page needs a clear title tag (under 60 characters), a compelling meta description (under 155 characters), a single H1 heading, and structured subheadings. Include your target keyword naturally in the first 100 words and throughout the body content.

Optimise for mobile. Over 65% of hotel searches in Australia happen on mobile devices. If your website loads slowly, displays poorly on phones, or makes it difficult to book on a small screen, you're losing guests. Run your site through Google's PageSpeed Insights tool and fix whatever it flags.

Add schema markup. Hotel schema (structured data) helps Google understand your property details — star rating, price range, amenities, location coordinates — and can earn you rich snippets in search results. Rich snippets mean more visibility and higher click-through rates.

Internal linking matters. Link your suburb pages to your main hotel page, link blog posts to relevant service pages, and make sure Google can crawl your entire site easily. A well-linked site performs better than a collection of orphaned pages.

If you want a deeper dive into the technical side, check out our SEO for hotels in Brisbane guide where we break down the full strategy.

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Step 3: Build a Review Generation System

Reviews are the digital equivalent of a personal recommendation. For hotels, they're arguably even more important than for other industries — because travellers are spending significant money on an experience they can't preview in person.

Hotels with 50+ Google reviews and a 4.5+ star rating consistently outperform competitors in local search rankings and conversion rates. The data is clear: more reviews equals more bookings.

But reviews don't just happen. You need a system.

Ask at the right moment. The best time to request a review is during checkout or within 24 hours of departure, while the experience is fresh. Train your front desk staff to mention it in person: "We'd really appreciate a Google review if you enjoyed your stay — it helps other travellers find us."

Follow up by email. Send a short, friendly post-stay email with a direct link to your Google review page. Don't make guests hunt for it. One click should take them straight to the review form.

Use a simple template:

"Hi [Guest Name], thank you for staying with us at [Hotel Name]. We hope you had a wonderful time in Brisbane. If you have a moment, we'd love to hear about your experience — your feedback helps future guests and means the world to our team. [Direct Google Review Link]"

Respond to every review. Positive reviews deserve a genuine thank-you. Negative reviews deserve a calm, professional response that acknowledges the concern and offers to make it right. Potential guests read your responses just as carefully as they read the reviews themselves.

Never offer incentives for reviews. It violates Google's terms and puts your entire listing at risk. The ask alone, delivered at the right moment, is enough to generate a steady stream of honest feedback.

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Step 4: Create Content That Attracts Customers

Content marketing for hotels isn't about churning out generic blog posts. It's about creating genuinely useful resources that answer the questions your potential guests are already asking — and ranking for those queries in Google.

Think about what someone planning a Brisbane trip actually searches for:

• "Best areas to stay in Brisbane"
• "Things to do near South Bank Brisbane"
• "Brisbane hotel with pool"
• "Is Fortitude Valley safe for tourists?"
• "Brisbane weekend getaway ideas"

Every one of those queries is an opportunity to get your hotel in front of a potential guest before they've even started comparing properties.

Write neighbourhood guides. If your hotel is in the CBD, create a detailed guide to the best restaurants, bars, and attractions within walking distance. These guides rank well, attract organic traffic, and position your property as the obvious accommodation choice.

Create FAQ pages. Answer common guest questions: parking options, public transport access, check-in times, pet policies, nearby hospitals. FAQ content ranks well for long-tail searches and reduces the workload on your front desk team.

Publish seasonal content. "Where to stay during Brisbane Festival," "Best Brisbane hotels for New Year's Eve," "Schoolies accommodation Brisbane." Seasonal content captures high-intent traffic at peak booking times.

Don't forget internal linking. Every blog post should link back to your main booking page or relevant room category pages. Content that doesn't connect to your core offering is a missed opportunity.

For a deeper look at content strategy combined with local SEO for hotels in Brisbane, read our dedicated guide.

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Step 5: Optimise for AI Search (GEO)

AI search is no longer a future trend — it's happening right now. Travellers are using ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews, and other AI tools to research and plan trips. When someone asks an AI assistant "What's the best boutique hotel in Brisbane?", you want your property in that answer.

This is called Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), and it's the next frontier of hotel marketing.

AI models pull their recommendations from well-structured, authoritative web content. To increase your chances of being cited:

Be specific and factual on your website. Include concrete details: room counts, price ranges, star ratings, exact location, unique selling points. AI tools prefer citing specific, verifiable information over vague marketing language.

Get mentioned on third-party sites. AI models weigh mentions across multiple sources. Earn coverage in Brisbane travel blogs, local media, tourism directories, and industry publications. The more places your hotel name appears in relevant, high-quality contexts, the more likely AI tools are to recommend you.

Structure your content clearly. Use headings, bullet points, and concise paragraphs. AI tools parse well-structured content more effectively than walls of text.

We cover this in detail in our GEO for hotels in Brisbane guide — it's worth reading if you want to stay ahead of competitors who haven't caught on yet.

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Step 6: Track Your Results

Marketing without measurement is guesswork. You need to know what's working, what isn't, and where to double down.

Track calls and form submissions. Use call tracking numbers on your Google Business Profile and website so you can attribute inbound enquiries to specific channels. Tools like CallRail or even Google's built-in call tracking make this straightforward.

Monitor your Google Business Profile insights. GBP shows you how many people viewed your listing, clicked for directions, visited your website, or called you directly. Review these numbers monthly and look for trends.

Check your keyword rankings. Track where you rank for your target terms — "hotel in Brisbane CBD," "boutique hotel Fortitude Valley," and so on. Tools like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or even free options like Google Search Console give you this data.

Measure direct bookings versus OTA bookings. The whole point of this strategy is to increase the percentage of revenue that comes through your own channels. If your direct booking ratio is climbing, your marketing is working.

Set benchmarks. Know your numbers before you start so you can measure improvement. Baseline your monthly website traffic, call volume, review count, and Google Maps impressions. Then compare quarterly.

If you're not tracking, you're guessing. And guessing is expensive when each lost booking costs you $150–$500.

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When to Hire a Professional

Every step in this guide is something you can do yourself. But the honest question is: will you? Hotel managers and owners are already stretched thin running day-to-day operations. Marketing often falls to the bottom of the priority list — and inconsistent execution delivers inconsistent results.

Consider DIY if: you have a dedicated marketing person on staff, you're comfortable with basic SEO and content creation, and you have time to commit at least 5–10 hours per week to digital marketing.

Consider hiring a professional if: you don't have marketing staff, you've tried DIY without seeing results, or you want to accelerate growth faster than organic efforts alone can deliver.

At Searchmaxxed, we work specifically with local service businesses — including hotels across Brisbane. Our packages range from $500 to $2,000 per month depending on the scope, covering everything from Google Business Profile management and local SEO to content creation, review strategy, and GEO optimisation.

We know the Brisbane market. We know what works for hospitality. And we track every lead so you can see exactly what your investment returns.

[Get in touch with us today for a free strategy call →]

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Frequently Asked Questions

How can hotels get more customers online?

Optimise your Google Business Profile, rank your website for local keywords, generate consistent reviews, and create useful content that attracts travellers during their research phase.

What's the fastest way to get more calls as a hotel?

Claim and fully optimise your Google Business Profile. Hotels that complete their profile and add photos typically see a significant increase in calls within 30 days.

How much should I spend on marketing as a hotel?

Most Brisbane hotels benefit from investing $500–$2,000 per month in digital marketing. The ROI is strong when even a few extra direct bookings cover the entire cost.

Is Google Ads or SEO better for hotels?

SEO delivers better long-term value and lower cost per acquisition. Google Ads can supplement during peak seasons or for last-minute inventory, but SEO should be your foundation.

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Ready to fill more rooms without handing over commissions to OTAs? [Talk to the Searchmaxxed team about your hotel's growth strategy →]