Sure, technically it works, but if most of the real action is still happening through OTAs, reservation apps, or outside platforms in general, then the brand's own website can start feeling more like a backup plan than something that's genuinely helping bring in profitable direct business. But what can you do? Well, it can help to get professionals to step in, like Gourmet Marketing, because they've worked with plenty of hospitality brands that have dealt with this exact issue.
They know that you can't treat a website like a “decorative box” that needs to look pretty and exist, because there's so much more than that. Instead, it should be helping drive direct bookings, support revenue, and carry a lot more of the load than plenty of hospitality websites currently do.
What's Gourmet Marketing Actually About?
Gourmet Marketing is a hotel-focused digital agency specializing in Google Ads, SEO, and AI optimization to drive direct bookings and grow overall revenue through an integrated multi-channel strategy. So that probably already gives you a fairly clear picture of what lane they're in, right?
So, Gourmet Marketing has been working with hospitality brands since 2009, and the agency's world is very much hotels, hotel management companies, hospitality groups, branded properties, restaurants, and venues rather than just “any brand that needs marketing” (and you probably know there's just too many agencies out there that try to do it all).
Why Should Hospitality Websites Pull More Weight?
Whole yes, third parties are useful, sure, but they're also expensive places to get too comfortable. So, hotels have OTAs, restaurants have reservation and delivery platforms, and after a while, it gets very easy for a brand's own website to become the thing people visit after they've already made up their mind somewhere else. Of course, that's not exactly ideal.
But overall here, a hospitality website should be doing more than confirming the place exists. It really does need to be pulling its weight, like helping convert traffic, helping guests feel confident enough to book direct, helping the brand control more of the customer journey, and helping more revenue stay closer to home.
The Pros of Gourmet Marketing
But out of all the marketing agencies out there, why should any hospitality brand choose Gourmet Marketing over others?
They Focus on Treating the Website as a Revenue Tool
Your website shouldn't be seen as a digital brochure; it needs to do more than look decent to click through. And so their team works around website design, conversion, booking engine integration, and user experience, which, of course, all point back to getting more direct business through the brand's own channels.
They Know it's About the Bigger Picture
Another thing that helps here is that the website work does not seem isolated. Gourmet Marketing ties it into paid media, SEO, metasearch, and direct booking strategy, which makes a lot more sense than treating the website like one department's problem while every other channel does its own thing.
Keeping Up with Changes
As in, there's no narrow mindset, especially given the fact that more people are using AI-powered tools like Google Overview (also known as Gemini), ChatGPT, Claude, and there's plenty of others. But nowadays, more people are using this for bookings, and so you need an agency that stays up to date with the latest trends and changes (which Gourmet Marketing does).
The Cons of Gourmet Marketing
While these shouldn't outright deter you from using Gourmet marketing, you just might want to keep in mind that you chose to use them for your hospitality business.
A Better Website Still Needs a Brand Ready to Use it Properly
Meaning here that an agency can help make a website more commercially useful, but if a brand still treats its own site like an afterthought while pouring all its trust into third parties, then there's only so much that can happen. This kind of setup makes more sense for hospitality brands that actually want their website to play a bigger role.
Not Ideal if You Just Want the Bare Minumum
This doesn't really read like an agency for brands that just want a quick cosmetic website refresh and nothing deeper than that. Instead, they're more focused on long-term results, revenue, performance, and integration, so for someone wanting the lightest possible touch, this may feel like more than they want. But there are agencies out there that do little website touches, but they do more than that, of course, so it's a long-term partnership.
So, Who's this Best For?
Gourmet Marketing is ideal for hospitality brands that are getting a little tired of watching third parties do so much of the selling while the brand's own site just kind of sits there being informative. Maybe the website looks fine, but it is not converting well enough, and that's what they're wanting to change, because their website should be more than just some pretty webpage.
What's the Final Verdict Here?
Well, Gourmet Marketing makes the most sense here when the frustration is not “the website looks bad,” but “the website is not doing enough.” For a lot of hotels and restaurants, that tends to be the major issue here, because your website should be doing so much more than just giving information that the third parties aren't giving. And Gourmet Marketing can help with visibility, conversion, direct business, and keeping more of the revenue on their own side.
