Most tourism rental businesses run Meta Ads the wrong way. They either spread budget too thin across dozens of ad sets, or they dump everything into one broad campaign and hope for the best.
Neither works. After managing over $2M in ad spend for vacation rentals, tour operators, and equipment rental companies, we've refined a structure that consistently delivers 8-12× ROAS.
The Problem With Traditional Campaign Structures
Traditional e-commerce campaign structures don't work for booking-based businesses. Here's why:
- Longer consideration windows — People don't book a vacation rental the same day they discover it
- Seasonal demand fluctuations — Your January strategy shouldn't match your July strategy
- Higher average order values — A $2,000 booking requires different optimization than a $50 product
- Geographic targeting complexity — You're targeting travelers, not locals
The 3-Campaign Framework
We use a simple three-campaign structure for all tourism rental clients:
Campaign 1: Prospecting (60% of budget)
This campaign finds new potential guests. Use broad targeting with interest stacking:
- Travel + your destination interests
- Competitor audiences (Vrbo, Airbnb, local competitors)
- Lookalikes of past bookers (if you have enough data)
Keep ad sets consolidated. In 2026, Meta's algorithm performs better with fewer, larger ad sets. We typically run 2-3 ad sets maximum.
Campaign 2: Retargeting (25% of budget)
This campaign converts people who've shown interest:
- Website visitors (7, 14, 30-day windows)
- Video viewers (50% and 75% completion)
- Instagram/Facebook engagers
- Abandoned booking flows
Use dynamic creative here. Show them the specific property or experience they viewed.
Campaign 3: Retention (15% of budget)
This campaign drives repeat bookings from past guests:
- Past bookers (exclude recent guests)
- Email subscribers
- High-value customer lookalikes
The messaging shifts here. You're not introducing your brand — you're reminding them why they loved their last stay.
Creative That Converts for Tourism
Structure matters, but creative makes or breaks performance. For tourism rentals, we consistently see these creative formats win:
- UGC-style property tours — Phone-shot walkthroughs outperform polished video 3:1
- Guest testimonial clips — Real guests talking about their experience
- Before/after arrival content — The journey from booking to check-in
- Destination hook + property reveal — Lead with the location, reveal the property
Budget Allocation by Season
Don't run the same budget year-round. Adjust based on demand:
- Peak season — Scale prospecting, reduce retargeting (demand is high)
- Shoulder season — Balance all three campaigns
- Off-season — Heavy retargeting, nurture past guests for future bookings
Key Metrics to Track
Forget vanity metrics. For tourism rentals, track these:
- Cost per booking — Not cost per lead or click
- ROAS on confirmed revenue — Exclude cancellations
- Booking rate by audience — Which segments convert best?
- Time to booking — How long from first touch to confirmed booking?
Implementation Checklist
Before launching, ensure you have:
- Meta Pixel installed with booking event tracking
- Conversion API set up for server-side tracking
- At least 5 creative variations per campaign
- UTM parameters for all ads
- Google Analytics 4 connected for attribution
This structure has generated over $5M in bookings for our clients in the past 18 months. The key is consistency — set it up right, then optimize weekly based on data.