- February 25, 2026
- Marketing
- 0 Comments
The Australian hospitality industry operates in one of the most competitive markets in the world. From bustling laneway cafés in Melbourne to beachfront hotels in Brisbane and award-winning restaurants in Sydney, venues are fighting for attention in an increasingly crowded digital landscape.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve already discovered that great food, impeccable service, and stunning interiors aren’t enough anymore. You need a hospitality marketing agency that understands how both Australians and tourists alike discover, research, and book their dining and accommodation experiences.
That’s exactly what we do.
As dedicated hospitality marketers based in Sydney with deep expertise across Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth, we’ve spent years helping venues transform empty tables into waitlists and quiet midweeks into fully booked experiences.
Why Do Restaurants and Hotels Need a Marketing Agency?
Many hospitality owners we speak with initially question whether professional marketing is worth the investment. After all, you’ve built your reputation on word-of-mouth, and that’s served you well for years.
Here’s the reality of modern hospitality in Australia: your potential customers are making decisions about where to eat, stay, and celebrate long before they walk through your door. They’re scrolling Instagram at 2pm deciding where to have dinner. They’re comparing Google reviews while standing outside two competing restaurants. They’re watching TikTok videos of brunch spots and saving venues to their “must visit” lists.
If you’re not showing up in these moments, you’re invisible to an entire generation of diners and travellers. A social media manager for venues isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s the difference between thriving and merely surviving.
The hospitality industry also faces unique marketing challenges. You’re not selling a product that ships to someone’s door. You’re selling an experience that happens at a specific location, often within a narrow booking window. This requires marketing strategies built specifically for your industry, not generic approaches borrowed from retail or e-commerce.
How Can SEO Help My Restaurant or Hotel Get Found Online?
When someone searches “best Italian restaurant Sydney CBD” or “boutique hotel Brisbane,” where does your venue appear?
If you’re not on the first page, you’re basically handing customers to your competitors.
Local SEO for restaurants in Australia requires a fundamentally different approach than traditional search engine optimisation. We focus on the signals that matter most for hospitality businesses: Google Business Profile optimisation, local citation building, review management, and location-specific content that captures high-intent searches.
Consider how your customers actually search. They’re typing phrases like “romantic dinner Sydney Harbour,” “pet-friendly hotels Melbourne,” or “rooftop bar Perth city.” Our job is ensuring your venue appears prominently for the searches that matter most to your business.
We’ve helped restaurants move from page three to the top three local results, resulting in measurable increases in phone calls, direction requests, and online reservations. For hotels, strong local SEO means appearing when travellers are actively planning their trips, the moment when booking decisions are made.
Is Facebook Advertising Worth It for Restaurants and Hotels?
Facebook and Instagram advertising remains one of the most powerful tools available to hospitality businesses, but only when executed correctly. We’ve seen too many venues waste thousands on poorly targeted campaigns that generate likes but not bookings.
Our approach to hospitality advertising focuses relentlessly on return on investment. We build campaigns designed to reach people within your catchment area who match your ideal customer profile. For a fine dining restaurant, that might mean targeting users who’ve shown interest in premium wine, culinary experiences, and anniversary celebrations. For a family-friendly hotel, we’re reaching parents planning school holiday getaways.
As a hospitality ad agency Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney businesses trust, we understand the seasonal rhythms that define this industry. We know when to push summer menus, when to promote cosy winter dining, and how to fill rooms during traditionally quiet periods.
What’s the Best Way to Generate Leads for Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurants?
Beyond brand awareness and social engagement, we’re focused on what actually matters: putting paying customers in your venue. Our lead generation strategies are built around capturing high-intent prospects and nurturing them toward booking.
For hotels and resorts, this means sophisticated remarketing campaigns that stay top-of-mind with users who’ve visited your website but haven’t yet booked. For restaurants, it’s about building email lists and loyalty programs that drive repeat visits. For spas and wellness venues, we create campaigns that educate potential customers about your services while positioning your business as the obvious choice.
Every strategy we implement is measured against real business outcomes. We track cost per booking, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value—not vanity metrics that look impressive but don’t impact your bottom line.
153% ROI for a Hotel During Low Season
One of our proudest achievements came from working with a boutique hotel that traditionally struggled during the winter months.
Occupancy rates dropped dramatically between May and August, and the owner had accepted this as an unavoidable seasonal reality.
We developed a targeted campaign focused on positioning the hotel as a winter escape destination. Through a combination of Google Ads targeting “winter getaway” searches, Facebook campaigns reaching couples within driving distance, and email marketing to previous guests, we transformed their low season.
The result was a 153% return on their marketing investment during what had previously been their weakest quarter. Room occupancy increased by 40%, and the average booking value grew as we promoted premium packages and add-on experiences.
Can You Really Get 30% More Bookings While Cutting Ad Costs in Half?
A popular Melbourne restaurant came to us frustrated with their digital advertising results. They were spending heavily on Facebook ads but couldn’t determine whether the investment was actually driving bookings. Their previous agency provided impressive-looking reports full of reach and engagement metrics, but the restaurant wasn’t seeing corresponding growth in covers.
We rebuilt their advertising strategy from the ground up.
We implemented proper conversion tracking, refined their targeting to focus on high-intent audiences, and developed creative that drove immediate action rather than passive scrolling. We also integrated their advertising with a streamlined booking system that reduced friction for customers.
Within three months, online bookings increased by 30% while advertising costs dropped by 50%. The owner finally had clear visibility into exactly how their marketing spend translated into seated customers.
What Does a 20x Return on Ad Spend Look Like for Hotel Events?
Hotels with function spaces face a particular marketing challenge: how do you reach corporate event planners and couples planning weddings in a cost-effective way? These are high-value bookings, but the audience is relatively narrow and the decision-making process is lengthy.
For one Brisbane hotel, we developed a multi-channel strategy specifically targeting event enquiries. We created dedicated landing pages for weddings and corporate functions, built remarketing audiences of users who’d shown interest, and ran highly targeted LinkedIn campaigns reaching corporate decision-makers.
The campaign generated a 20x return on ad spend, with several six-figure wedding bookings directly attributable to our marketing efforts. More importantly, we built a sustainable lead generation system that continues delivering qualified enquiries month after month.
What’s the Secret Behind Australia’s Most Successful Hospitality Brands?
After years of working with hospitality businesses across Australia, we’ve identified what separates venues that thrive from those that struggle: consistency and authenticity.
The best hospitality marketers Australia has produced understand that marketing isn’t a one-time campaign..
It’s an ongoing conversation with your community.
It’s showing up in your customers’ feeds with content that genuinely reflects your venue’s personality. It’s responding to reviews thoughtfully, sharing behind-the-scenes moments with your team, and telling stories that make people feel connected to your brand before they’ve even visited.
The venues we work with don’t just run ads. They build relationships with their audience that translate into loyal customers who return again and again, who recommend your venue to friends, and who choose you for their most important celebrations.
Ready to Fill More Tables and Rooms?
Whether you’re a restaurant marketing Melbourne success story waiting to happen, a hotel in Brisbane ready to dominate your local market, or a venue anywhere in Australia looking for a genuine partner in growth, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re not a faceless agency that treats hospitality as just another category. We’re specialists who understand the unique rhythms, challenges, and opportunities of your industry. We eat at the restaurants we market. We stay at the hotels we promote. And we measure our success by yours.
Get in touch with Spicy Pineapple Marketing today to discuss how we can help your venue reach its full potential.
