In digital hotel marketing, UTM parameters are a well-known and widely used tool.
Yet, in most cases, they are only exploited superficially, limiting themselves to measuring traffic and not the actual quality of the demand generated.
Truly understanding the role of UTMs means taking a leap forward: moving from simply tracking clicks to reading travel intentions.
What are UTM parameters and why are they useful for hotels?
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) parameters are text strings added to a URL to identify the origin of a visit.
They allow you to know which channel the user came from, which campaign generated the click, and which content or advertisement triggered the interaction.
A classic example is a link used in a social media or advertising campaign, which allows you to distinguish between traffic coming from Instagram, Google Ads or a newsletter.
This type of tracking is the basis of any digital marketing strategy.
So far, however, we are talking about measuring traffic, not understanding demand. And this is where the first major limitation for hotels emerges.
The structural limitation: GA tracks UTMs, but not behaviour in the booking engine
Google Analytics can associate UTMs with generic metrics: how many visits come from a campaign, how long users stay on the site, whether they click on the “Book now” button.
What it cannot do is link those campaigns to what happens in the booking engine.
It cannot tell which dates were searched for by users coming from a specific campaign, how many nights they were planning to stay, whether they found availability or whether they abandoned the booking because the hotel was full or too expensive.
In other words, GA sees the beginning of the funnel, but completely misses the most valuable part: the purchase intention.
And without this information, it is impossible to understand whether a campaign is generating quality demand or just traffic.
How Optimand uses UTMs to read real demand
Optimand was created precisely to fill this gap. The platform links UTMs not only to the website, but also to searches carried out in the booking engine, allowing you to see what users are really looking for after clicking on a campaign.
This means that for each UTM, it is possible to analyse the demand generated: how many room searches were made, which dates attracted the most interest, which geographical markets users come from, how far in advance they are searching and for how many nights.
The value of this approach is enormous, because it allows you to measure the impact of campaigns before booking, when the decision is still being made.
UTM parameters: the quality of demand, not just the volume
Another key aspect is the ability to assess the quality of demand generated by each channel. Not all searches have the same value: some lead to long stays and early bookings, while others generate interest in dates that are already very expensive or almost fully booked.
Optimand allows you to understand, for example, whether an Instagram campaign generates fewer searches but longer stays, or whether Google Ads intercepts a lot of demand concentrated in high season periods.
Information of this kind radically changes the way marketing budgets are allocated.
Demand vs availability: when the campaign works but the hotel is full
One of the most underestimated insights concerns the relationship between demand and availability.
With Optimand, you can see how many searches from a campaign end up with ‘no availability’ or get stuck at the first step of the booking engine.
This allows you to overturn a very common narrative: zero conversion does not necessarily mean an ineffective campaign. In many cases, the demand exists, but the hotel no longer has rooms available or has prices that are out of line with the compset.
Having this data allows hotels and agencies to make better decisions, avoiding turning off campaigns that are actually intercepting real demand.
From UTMs to personalised experiences
The most advanced use of UTMs involves real-time personalisation. When a platform knows the user’s origin, channel, geographical market and search behaviour, it can intelligently tailor the website experience.
Optimand allows you to activate dynamic content and offers tailored to actual demand: personalised rates, contextual messages, suggestions for alternative dates, availability alerts and promotional codes dedicated to specific campaigns or segments.
In this way, UTMs cease to be just a tracking label and become an active conversion tool.
Why advanced UTM tracking changes the work of teams and agencies
For agencies, this approach allows them to demonstrate the value created objectively, showing not only final bookings but also the demand generated and intercepted.
For hotel marketing and e-commerce teams, it means being able to invest in the channels that produce the most profitable demand, avoiding indiscriminate discounts.
For revenue managers, it provides an early window into future demand, which is useful for adjusting prices and strategies before the market moves.
Conclusions on UTM parameters
In the modern hotel industry, tracking UTMs is no longer sufficient.
What really makes the difference is the ability to link them to actual demand, behaviour in the booking engine and hotel availability.
Only then is it possible to move from reactive marketing to a data-driven strategy, where each campaign becomes a tool for understanding the market and not just for sales.
