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Have you ever poured water into a bucket only to have it leak out?
Last year, a hotelier from Grand Cayman reached out - frustrated.
She’d been trying to fix her website conversion rates for months.
Then she asked her high-priced marketing agency to take over.
After eight months with the agency, nothing had changed.
Traffic was high.
As for bookings?
Still low.
The classic conversion rate issue.
Have you ever checked your analytics and thought,
“Why aren’t bookings coming through?”
You know how that feels.
It’s not just frustration.
It’s self-doubt.
You start to question whether your marketing is broken or if the audience just isn’t interested.
I’ve found that it’s rarely about interest.
It’s about alignment - the right message to the right guest, in the right place.
So I dug into where things were missing the mark.
Here’s what I found:
- Ad dollars were being pumped into Google and Meta without targeting or data optimization.
- Campaigns designed for impressions, not for conversions.
- Key revenue pages (offers, suites, dining) show traffic, but they aren't visible on the homepage.
- The above-the-fold section is the first screen guests see before scrolling. It was packed with content that didn’t guide the guest.
They had the traffic.
They just didn’t have the traction.
The agency let those ad campaigns run untouched for eight months without measurable return.
That's $3K a month in wasted ad spend over 8 months = a $24,000 leak, plus agency fees!
I could rant, but I’ll save that for another day.
Fixing conversion isn’t just about attracting more visitors;
It’s about reaching the right ones and making booking easy for them.
If your ad spend drives visitors to a confusing experience,
you’re not buying leads; you’re buying bounces.
That’s the leak in the bucket.
The Turnaround
When I started in on the deep audit of their marketing, through a custom Revenue Roadmap,
I didn’t start by adding more tasks.
I started by focusing on what mattered most.
The first step: the homepage.
Take a look at the screenshots below.
Remember those old magazine puzzles, "Find the Difference?”
Only this time, the things spotted turned into real revenue.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
See how small, intentional changes create a big movement?
- Clear hierarchy.
- A single call to action that actually gets people to take action.
- Sales pages, like suites, offers, dining, and experiences, are in the main menu for better visibility.
- Guest-first messaging, not hotel-first copy clutter.
All of which is good for AI search too!
Unignorable fact:
Guests spend 57% of their time on your site above the fold - the first screen they see before scrolling down.
That’s your prime real estate.
If it’s cluttered, confusing, or not guest-first, you’re going to lose people.
So what did it take?
Did these changes take months to implement?
Did it take a website overhaul?
Did they invest more than $3K?
No.
Did they increase the conversion rate?
Did they save at least $12K on ad spend?
Did they email me to say they’ve had fantastic revenue months and are heading into Q4 strong?
Yes.
Imagine their results if every tip and strategy I gave them were live!
Sometimes the biggest shift isn’t adding something new.
It’s fixing what’s already there.
What might your next quarter look like with alignment, instead of ads?
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