If you’re tracking your hotel’s marketing performance the traditional way – through UTMs, analytics, and CRM data – you’re only seeing part of the picture.

NB: This is an article from Cogwheel Marketing, one of our Expert Partners

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There’s a whole world of referral traffic happening behind the scenes, and it’s called dark social.

For the hospitality industry, where word-of-mouth and personal recommendations are already king, dark social is a massive blind spot – but it’s also a huge opportunity.

What is Dark Social?

Ever read a blog or see a post on social media, then screenshot to text or email? That is an example of dark social.

Dark social refers to traffic and engagement that comes from private or semi-private channels – think direct messaging apps (like WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram DMs), email shares, or even private Slack groups.

Basically, anywhere your content is shared without traditional tracking parameters. When a potential guest texts your link to a friend, or a corporate planner shares your hotel’s meeting space page via email, it shows up in Google Analytics as “Direct” – but it’s not someone typing your full URL into the search bar.

In hospitality, personal recommendations aren’t just nice-to-haves – they are often the deciding factor.

The Surprising Data around Dark Social

Refine Labs data study concluded there was a 90% measurement gap in what software-based attribution is claiming versus what first-party customer-led data is showing.

Attribution Software and Self-Reported Attribution

And again in 2023

High Intent Leads - The Attribution Mirage

Why Should Hotels Care About Dark Social?

Hospitality brands, especially hotels and restaurants, rely heavily on data-driven marketing. But if you only optimize for what you can measure, you might be missing critical early-stage influence happening off the grid.

Here’s why dark social matters for hotels and restaurants:

  • Higher trust factor: A friend recommending your hotel through a text has 10x the trust factor of a paid ad.
  • Shorter decision cycle: Guests who hear about you through private referrals often move faster through the booking funnel.
  • Missed attribution: You might think your organic search is crushing it – when really it’s a private LinkedIn message that sent that high-value corporate client your way.

Ignoring dark social doesn’t just skew your data – it creates missed opportunities to amplify the conversations already happening.

How Hotels Can Leverage Dark Social (Even If We Can’t Track It)

You can’t fully “own” dark social, but you can influence it. Here’s how:

Read the full article at Cogwheel Marketing