No. 131 Cheltenham

Partnership

No. 131 is a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Cheltenham. The hotel works with Journey across its ecommerce platform and digital marketing. The shared goal is simple: grow direct bookings, and the revenue that comes with them.

Challenge

Traffic to No. 131's booking engine was steady. So the opportunity wasn't more visitors. It was turning more of the visitors already there into confirmed stays, and growing direct rooms revenue at the same time.

Approach

We treated the booking engine and paid media as one direct channel. Google Ads brought qualified demand to the site. The booking experience turned more of that demand into bookings. And each side was measured against the same outcome: direct revenue.

Stats

Booking engine conversion rate
+ 21 %
Tracked purchases
+ 19 %
Google Ads conversion value
+ 29 %
Direct rooms revenue
+ 14 %

Ecommerce

Turning steady traffic into more bookings

No. 131's booking engine is now converting more of its visitors into guests. Over the latest 12 months, sessions held level. But more of those sessions reached the basket, and more ended in a booking.

Stable demand: sessions moved by just 1.3%, so the growth came from conversion, not extra traffic.

Stronger intent: 25% more sessions reached the basket.

More bookings: 190 more tracked purchases from almost the same number of visits.

Digital Marketing

Growing demand, holding efficiency

Google Ads delivered more direct value for No. 131 while reported return held at around 6x. From May to October 2026, we increased investment by 38% against the same period in 2025. Conversions rose 21% and conversion value rose 29%.

Google-reported return on ad spend was 6.0x, against 6.4x the year before. So the hotel added scale while keeping a strong return.

And paid search is one part of the picture. Over the same period, net direct rooms revenue grew 14%. That reflects the booking engine and paid media working together, alongside the hotel's own demand.

Don’t take our word for it

“Over the past year, we’ve seen real growth in our direct bookings and an improvement in how our booking engine converts visitors into guests. Working with Journey across our ecommerce platform and digital marketing has helped us build on that progress, and we’re looking forward to continuing it.”
Review by Georgia McMullen Operations Manager
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