Around the world, hoteliers are seeing the benefits of online advertising as they increasingly drive bookings through property websites. As a result, they are ramping up the marketing spend in that area, according to survey results by market intelligence provider TravelClick.

Two-thirds of the global hoteliers polled (66%) are now spending on Facebook advertising, and almost one-quarter (23%) have increased their Facebook ad budget for 2014. Some hoteliers are slow to spend on Facebook advertising because it is currently seen more as a brand awareness tactic than a direct-booking tactic. Online marketing spend is a growing trend with three-quarters of the surveyed hoteliers (76%) focusing on metasearch, and within that a third are increasing that spend for this year (32%). Similarly, more than four in every five hoteliers polled (84%) invests in ad words with one in three (32%) increasing that spend for 2014.

When asked which social media channels drive the most bookings to their property websites, the overwhelming leader was TripAdvisor with more than three-quarters (78%) of respondents singling out the travel review site. Both Facebook and Google+ were also named as sites that drive bookings with 11% of hoteliers selecting each of those social networks. Hoteliers should consider TripAdvisor as a key social media platform to strengthen their brand as this channel is now becoming fully integrated into the social media marketing mix.