Group Retreats
We helped Group Retreats build a dual-acquisition system for two different audiences: guests searching for large-group stays and property owners looking to join the platform.
Across four months, paid campaigns were structured around guest enquiries, owner onboarding, and booking intent, with optimization focused on commercially useful actions rather than traffic volume.
£7,000
Paid Media Spend in 4 Months
262
Guest Enquiries Generated
£8.12
Guest Enquiry CPL
193
Owners Booked With Properties
Luxury Group Stays With a Two-Sided Growth Model
Group Retreats is a UK luxury accommodation business focused on large-group stays, country houses, celebrations, family gatherings, and special occasions.
Its growth model depends on two connected audiences. Guests create booking demand, while property owners expand the supply of homes available on the platform.
That meant paid acquisition had to support both sides of the marketplace without mixing objectives, audiences, or conversion signals.
Balancing Guest Demand With Property Supply
Group Retreats needed to grow demand from potential guests while also onboarding more property owners. These audiences have completely different motivations, search behaviour, and conversion journeys.
The challenge was to run both acquisition paths efficiently, keep campaign signals clean, and measure success against the right action for each audience.
Two Different Audiences
Guest acquisition and owner onboarding required journeys.
Different Conversion Goals
Guest enquiries and owner bookings needed optimization.
High-Intent Competition
Group stay and property-owner searches faced strong competition.
Longer Decision Journeys
Both audiences often needed research and trust before converting.
Budget Allocation Pressure
Spend had to follow the strongest commercial signals across both funnels.
Opportunity: Build two focused acquisition journeys under one growth strategy, with separate audiences, messages, landing experiences, and conversion goals.
Our Strategy
A Dual Acquisition System Built Around Intent
We separated guest and owner acquisition from the beginning, then optimized each path around its own commercial objective and cost benchmark.
Turning Spend Into Two Measurable Growth Engines
Across four months, the account generated measurable outcomes on both sides of the business. Campaign-level results included 262 guest enquiries at £8.12 CPL and 193 owner bookings at £17.32 per booking.
Building Separate Journeys for Guests and Owners
We structured each acquisition path around the audience’s own intent, message, conversion action, and follow-up requirements so campaign data remained useful for optimization.
01
Guest Campaign Structure
We built guest campaigns around high-intent accommodation demand and the occasions most likely to lead to an enquiry.
- Large-group stays
- Celebration searches
- Family gatherings
- Luxury retreats
02
Owner Campaign Structure
We created a separate acquisition journey for property owners interested in listing or growing bookings through Group Retreats.
- Property-owner targeting
- Listing opportunity
- Revenue positioning
- Owner consultation
03
Audience Segmentation
We kept guest and owner data separated so Meta and Google could optimize toward the correct user behaviour.
- Guest audiences
- Owner audiences
- Warm retargeting
- Intent exclusions
04
Page Alignment
We matched campaign messaging with the specific next step each audience was expected to take after clicking.
- Guest enquiry forms
- Owner booking pages
- Relevant value propositions
- Clear conversion CTAs
05
Conversion Tracking
We tracked the commercial actions that mattered rather than using clicks or engagement as the primary measure of success.
- Guest enquiries
- Owner bookings
- Form completions
- Conversion validation
06
Budget Reallocation
We reviewed cost and conversion quality regularly so spend could move toward stronger audiences and campaign themes.
- CPL monitoring
- Booking-cost monitoring
- Audience comparison
- Campaign scaling
From Campaign Separation to Scalable Acquisition
MONTH 1
Build the Baseline
Build the Two Funnels
Focus: Establish clean acquisition paths for guests and owners.
- Separate campaigns
- Set conversion events
- Build audiences
- Launch core messaging
MONTH 2
Improve Traffic Quality
Focus: Remove weaker audiences and refine messaging around stronger intent.
- Review lead quality
- Refine targeting
- Expand negatives
- Improve landing fit
MONTH 3
Scale Winning Segments
Focus: Increase spend where cost and conversion quality remained healthy.
- Scale guest winners
- Scale owner winners
- Expand retargeting
- Refresh creative
MONTH 4
Protect Acquisition Efficiency
Focus: Maintain cost discipline while preserving enquiry and owner-booking volume.
- Monitor CPL
- Monitor booking cost
- Reallocate budget
- Review funnel quality
BEFORE VS AFTER
From Mixed Acquisition to Clearer Growth Decisions
The biggest improvement came from treating guest demand and owner acquisition as two separate growth systems, each with its own audience, conversion goal, and cost benchmark.
BEFORE
-
Mixed Objectives
Guest and owner goals overlapped
-
Shared Signals
Different audiences influenced optimization
-
Traffic Focus
Platform activity could mask business value
-
Unclear Economics
Cost benchmarks were harder to compare
-
Reactive Budgeting
Spend decisions lacked clean funnel separation
AFTER
-
Two Funnels
Guest and owner journeys separated
-
Clean Signals
Each audience optimized independently
-
Conversion Focus
Enquiries and bookings became the key actions
-
Clear Economics
£8.12 CPL and £17.32 owner booking cost
-
Measured Scaling
Budget followed stronger commercial performance
Data That Drives Better Acquisition Decisions
These operating metrics help determine whether guest demand and owner acquisition remain commercially efficient as spend changes.
What Changed Beyond the Campaign Metrics
More Guest Demand
Paid campaigns created a repeatable source of group-stay enquiries for the booking team.
More Property Supply
Owner acquisition expanded the pipeline of properties available to join the platform.
Clearer Unit Economics
Separate CPL and booking-cost benchmarks made scaling decisions more disciplined.
Smarter Budget Allocation
Spend could move between guest and owner acquisition based on real conversion efficiency.
Stronger Growth Balance
Demand generation and supply acquisition could grow together instead of independently.
WHY THIS APPROACH WORKED
Why Two Separate Funnels Outperformed One Mixed Strategy
Group Retreats is not a standard one-sided eCommerce business. Growth depends on both customer demand and property supply.
Guests are looking for the right place to stay. Owners are evaluating whether Group Retreats is the right partner to market their property. Those are different decisions and require different messages, targeting, landing experiences, and conversion goals.
Separating the two journeys gave the platforms cleaner signals and gave the business clearer acquisition economics for both sides of the marketplace.
Capture guest demand → Acquire property supply → Track each funnel separately → Scale where economics hold
