Guests discover hotels, pubs, and restaurants through their social feeds before they ever visit a website. Social media has become the modern shop window for hospitality – a place where first impressions are formed, menus are browsed, and stays are imagined.
Social media ads are the paid layer that accelerates this discovery. They put your venue in front of the right people at the right moment, whether that’s a couple planning a weekend break, a group booking a table, or a traveller researching their next destination.
If you’re wondering how to run social media ads effectively, this guide covers everything hospitality businesses need to know: how ads work, which platforms to use, how to target the right guests, what budget you need, and how to measure whether it’s working.
Article summary
- How social media ads work
- How to run social media ads: best practice
- Meta ads vs TikTok ads – which is right for your hospitality business?
- How to create effective social media ads for hospitality
- How to target the right audience in social media ads
- What budget is needed for a social media ad campaign?
- How to optimise social media ads
- How to measure the ROI of social media ads
How social media ads work
Social media ads operate on an auction-based system where advertisers bid to show their ads to specific audiences, but the winner is not simply the highest bidder – it is the ad that combines budget, relevance, and engagement potential most effectively.
Platforms prioritise ads that users are more likely to engage with, meaning a highly relevant, well-targeted ad can outperform a larger budget with poor creative.
At a practical level, social media advertising works by combining three key elements:
- Bid – how much you are willing to pay
- Audience targeting – who you want to reach
- Relevance and engagement – how likely your ad is to resonate
Organic vs Paid Reach
Organic social media reach has declined significantly over the past decade. Posting regularly is still important, but it no longer guarantees visibility. Most platforms now limit organic distribution, especially for business accounts.
Paid ads solve this by ensuring your content is delivered to a defined audience. For hospitality brands, this is critical – particularly when promoting time-sensitive offers like seasonal menus, events, or limited availability rooms.
Social media platforms we’ll be discussing…
This guide focuses on two key platforms:
- Meta (Facebook and Instagram) – the most established advertising ecosystem, with strong targeting and conversion capabilities
- TikTok – a rapidly growing platform driven by discovery, entertainment, and highly engaging short-form video
Hospitality’s social media advantage
Both platforms reward visually compelling content. This is a natural strength for hospitality businesses. Beautiful interiors, plated dishes, scenic views, and guest experiences are inherently engaging, giving hotels and restaurants a built-in advantage in social advertising.
How to run social media ads: Best practice
Running social media ads successfully comes down to a structured process: define your objective, identify your audience, create compelling content, set a budget, launch campaigns, and continuously optimise based on performance.
At its core, learning how to run social media ads is about aligning the right message with the right audience at the right stage of the booking journey.
Step-by-step campaign process
Follow this step-by-step framework:
- Set objective – awareness, consideration, or conversion
- Define audience – who you want to reach
- Create content – visuals and messaging
- Set budget – daily or lifetime spend
- Launch campaign – activate ads
- Monitor and optimise – refine based on performance
Match ads to the booking journey
Hospitality marketing must reflect how guests make decisions:
- Awareness – reaching new audiences who don’t yet know your brand
- Consideration – engaging users who are exploring options
- Conversion – targeting users ready to book
Tracking is non-negotiable
Before spending any budget, install:
- Meta Pixel
- TikTok Pixel
These tools enable conversion tracking, audience building, and retargeting – without them, you are effectively flying blind.
A/B testing from day one
Test one variable at a time:
- Creative (video vs image)
- Audience (location vs interest)
- CTA (Book Now vs Learn More)
This allows you to isolate what is driving performance.
Creative matters more than polish
User-generated content (UGC) and creator-style videos consistently outperform highly polished brand assets, particularly on TikTok and Instagram Reels. Authenticity drives engagement.
Work with specialists
If possible, work with a Meta partner agency with proven experience in hospitality marketing. We’re a Meta partner agency, if you’re wondering…
Comply with ever-changing rules
Hospitality brands must also comply with advertising regulations, including “High in Fat, Salt, and Sugar” (HFSS) rules where applicable:
For the latest rules in this area, read our HFSS Rules 2026 Guide.
Ad formats that work in hospitality
- Reels and Video: Ideal for immersive storytelling – room tours, food preparation, guest experiences.
- Carousels: Perfect for showcasing multiple selling points – menus, room types, packages.
- Stories: Best for urgency-led messaging – exclusive offers, limited availability.
- Instant Experiences: Though somewhat resource-heavy to create, this ad type creates an immersive, full-screen that allows you to fully highlight your brand, products, and services in an eye-catching way.
Meta Ads vs TikTok Ads – Which is right for your hospitality business?
Both platforms are powerful, but they serve different audiences and booking moments. The right choice depends on your hospitality business type, target guests, and campaign objective.
Meta Ads vs TikTok Ads: Comparison
When to choose Meta?
- Strong retargeting capabilities
- Broader demographic reach
- Best for direct booking campaigns
When to choose TikTok?
- Building brand awareness
- Reaching younger leisure audiences
- Lower CPM for reach campaigns
When to run ads on both?
Larger hospitality brands should consider a dual-platform approach:
- TikTok for top-of-funnel awareness
- Meta for retargeting and conversion
How to create effective social media ads for hospitality
An effective hospitality ad captures attention within the first three seconds, communicates a clear value proposition, and drives action with a compelling CTA.
The Creative Hierarchy
- Hook – stop the scroll immediately
- Value proposition – why does this matter?
- CTA – what to do next
Hospitality-specific principles
- Show, don’t tell – let visuals do the selling
- People outperform spaces – show guests enjoying the experience
- UGC wins – authenticity drives engagement
Strong CTAs
- Book Direct & Save
- Check Availability
- Limited Rooms – Offer Ends Sunday
- Reserve Your Table
Landing page alignment
The ad promise must match the landing page exactly. Never send users to a generic homepage – always direct them to a relevant booking or offer page.
Seasonality planning
Align campaigns with key moments:
- Christmas party season
- Valentine’s Day
- Summer staycations
- Bank holidays
Think about the kind of events and occasions that might have people thinking about booking a meal or going away for the weekend and then make sure your social media ads get to them before anyone else.
How to target the right audience with social media ads
Social media platforms offer four core audience types: interest-based, behavioural, lookalike, and custom audiences. The most effective campaigns combine these strategically.
Core audience types:
- Interest-based – based on hobbies and preferences
- Behavioural – based on actions and intent
- Lookalike – similar to your best customers
- Custom – based on your existing data
Hospitality targeting strategies
Custom audiences
- Website visitors
- Past guests
- Abandoned bookings
Lookalike audiences
Built from your best customers – one of the most powerful tools available.
Interest targeting
- Travel
- Fine dining
- Spa and wellness
- Luxury lifestyle
Geographic targeting
- Local radius for restaurants
- National/international for hotels
The Retargeting Funnel
This is where prospecting (“cold audiences”), aimed at building awareness and engagement, meets retargeting (“warm audiences”), aimed at reengaging past or potential customers and enticing them to convert.
Meta Advantage+
Automated audience expansion can work well, but should be tested against manual targeting.
What budget is needed for a social media ad campaign?
There is no single “correct” budget – it depends on your objective. Awareness campaigns require scale, while conversion campaigns require precision.
Indicative UK benchmarks
- Testing phase: £500–£1,000/month
- Single-property campaign: £1,500–£3,000/month
- Multi-property campaigns: £5,000+/month
Budget allocation
A typical starting point:
- 70% prospecting
- 30% retargeting
Seasonality matters
Increase spend before peak booking periods:
- 4–6 weeks before Christmas
- Pre-Valentine’s
- Early summer
Key insight
Budget does not determine success. Creative quality and audience relevance have a greater impact than spend alone.
How to optimise social media ads
Optimisation should begin after the initial learning phase and continue throughout the campaign lifecycle.
Learning phase
Do not make changes within the first 48–72 hours. Algorithms need time to stabilise.
Key metrics
- CTR (click-through rate)
- CPM (cost per thousand impressions)
- CPR (cost per result)
- Frequency (how many times each user sees your ad)
When to pause an ad?
- Frequency above 3–4 for a small audience
- A declining CTR is another clear signal
When to scale your ad?
Increase budget gradually (max 20% at a time) when performance is strong.
Creative fatigue
Hospitality audiences are often geographically limited, meaning ads fatigue faster. Refresh creative every 4–6 weeks to keep people clicking.
Use automation
Campaign Budget Optimisation (CBO) helps allocate spend efficiently across ad sets without you having to manually check and allocate yourself.
How to measure the ROI of social media ads
Success should be defined before the campaign launches, not after.
Metrics by objective
Awareness
- CPM
- Reach
- Video views
Consideration
- CTR
- Landing page views
Conversion
- Cost per booking
- ROAS (return on ad spend)
- Revenue
Attribution challenges
- Multi-touch journeys
- Offline bookings
- OTA interference
Tools for measurement
- Meta Ads Manager
- TikTok Ads Manager
- Google Analytics 4 (with UTMs)
- Booking engine/PMS data
Reporting cadence
- Weekly performance checks
- Monthly strategic reviews
How to run social media ads: Summary
Social media ads are one of the most controllable, measurable, and scalable marketing channels available to hospitality businesses today.
The most important principles to remember:
- Match your ads to the booking journey
- Invest in strong, authentic creative
- Track everything from day one
- Optimise continuously based on data
If you want to unlock the full potential of paid social, working with an experienced agency like Brew can accelerate results. As an award-winning hospitality marketing agency, we help brands turn social media into a revenue-driving channel. Let’s chat.
How to run social media ads: FAQs
A typical testing budget starts at £500–£1,000 per month, while active campaigns often range from £1,500–£3,000+. However, creative quality and targeting are more important than spend level.
Meta is better for conversions and broader demographics, while TikTok excels at awareness and younger audiences. Many hotels benefit from using both platforms.
Initial learning takes 1–2 weeks, meaningful data emerges in weeks 2–4, and optimisation decisions should be made after 4+ weeks.
ROAS varies widely, but many hospitality campaigns aim for 3:1 to 6:1 depending on booking value and campaign type.
No. Paid social ads are completely independent of your organic following – any business can run ads regardless of audience size.
Adam Cox
Adam is Brew’s technical director, and he keeps our agency at the forefront of tech in hospitality marketing, from client-pleasing platforms to efficiency-driving automation.
