The hospitality industry faces a persistent blindspot that's keeping most properties stuck in the past—while creating a massive opportunity for the forward-thinking few.

Social media attribution.

Last week, we broke down why we're in the middle of a media revolution that's fundamentally reshaping how guests discover and choose accommodations. 

The properties embracing this shift are building direct relationships with potential guests months or years before they ever book a stay.

But there's one major obstacle preventing most hotels from fully committing to this approach…

The Attribution Problem

Here's a story that might sound familiar: 

At Onera, our analytics initially showed that organic social media was responsible for less than 5% of our bookings. Based on those numbers alone, we should have immediately redirected our resources elsewhere.

But something didn't add up.

We were getting millions of views. Engagement was strong. We had 5-10k clicks into our booking funnel each month.

Yet according to our attribution models, almost none of these followers were actually booking.

So we did something radical in today's data-obsessed world: we simply asked our guests.

We implemented a basic survey asking how they found us. 

The results? Over 60% said they discovered Onera through Instagram.

The gap between our attribution data and reality wasn't just significant—it was massive.

This disconnect plagues the entire hospitality industry. 

The tracking mechanisms we rely on—from UTM parameters to Google Analytics—simply aren't designed to capture the complex, non-linear journey of today's social-first traveler.

Think about your own behavior: you discover a property on Instagram, follow them for months, visit their website directly when you're ready to book, and then get counted as "direct traffic" in their analytics.

The social influence that initiated and nurtured the entire journey? Completely invisible in standard attribution models.

Why Most Hotels Hesitate

This attribution blindspot creates a significant barrier for traditional hospitality operators. 

Hotel executives and owners want clear ROI before making investments. They need to see the direct line between spending and revenue.

It's why they love Meta & Google Ads–the attribution is clean, immediate, and measurable.

When presented with the option to invest seriously in organic social media, most hotels balk at the apparent lack of trackable results. 

They treat content as a branding play rather than an essential driver of their business.

And that creates your opportunity…

While most properties underinvest in social media due to attribution challenges, savvy operators recognize this gap as perhaps the greatest competitive advantage in modern hospitality.

They understand a fundamental truth: just because something isn't perfectly trackable doesn't mean it isn't immensely valuable.

These properties are building audiences of tens of  thousands—sometimes hundreds of thousands—of potential guests who follow their content daily. 

They're creating emotional connections that override price sensitivity and competitive shopping.

Most importantly, they're capturing direct bookings at a fraction of the cost of traditional acquisition channels.

How? 

By understanding that the true value of social media extends far beyond immediate conversion tracking:

✅ Each piece of content compounds in value over time, unlike ads that stop working the moment you stop paying

✅ Social audiences become resistant to competitor messages once they've connected with your property

The properties that understand this aren't treating social media as a branding exercise—they're treating it as the foundation of their entire guest acquisition strategy.

The most successful hospitality operators of the next decade will be those who recognize that we're in the middle of a media revolution that's changing how guests discover hotels.

They'll invest in content creation, platform expertise, and audience building—even without 100% attribution clarity—because they understand the massive leverage these channels provide.

The attribution gap isn't just a measurement challenge—it's perhaps the greatest opportunity in modern hospitality for forward-thinking operators.