What are the "Overwhelming Tasks" in Web Marketing and Sales for Accommodation Facilities? A Survey on Operational Structures and Challenges (by Yadomu Co., Ltd.)

The environment surrounding web marketing and sales for accommodation facilities is growing more complex each year. While the channels to be utilized have expanded to include accommodation booking sites, official websites, SNS, Google Business Profile, and advertising, the operational and improvement demands for each have also diversified. In this situation, many on the front lines struggle with questions like "Where should I start?" and "How much are we able to handle?"

Particularly on-site, staff must work on improvements and analysis to enhance marketing results while handling daily updates and customer correspondence. Therefore, if the priority of tasks and role allocation remains ambiguous, it creates a situation where "overwhelming tasks" are more likely to emerge.

In response, Yadomu Co., Ltd. (https://yadomu.com/) conducted a survey of 200 individuals involved in the operation, management, planning, and approval of web marketing and sales at accommodation facilities. The survey provides a multi-faceted look at the real-world situation, examining the operational structure of web marketing/sales, which tasks are felt to be burdensome, and what structural challenges are being faced.

We hope this survey will serve as an opportunity to review the web marketing and sales operations at accommodation facilities and provide hints for creating sustainable structures and improving business processes.

▼Table of Contents

Survey 1: The primary structure leading daily web marketing/sales operations

Survey 2: Tasks perceived as particularly "overwhelming / burdensome / prone to stagnation"

Survey 3: Challenges in the structure and operation of web marketing/sales

Conclusion: It is crucial to view web marketing/sales challenges not as individual tasks but as part of the "overall operation"

Q1. Please select the option that best describes the structure that "leads (is the center of decision-making and promotion)" your daily web marketing/sales operations.

・ Excluding "Don't know," the most common response was "No clear leader, handled on a case-by-case basis / person-dependent" at 19.0% (38 people). A certain number of facilities operate without a specific person in charge, responding on an ad-hoc basis, which suggests an unstable structure. As web marketing and sales require continuous judgment and improvement, advancing person-dependency is likely to affect the consistency and speed of measures.

・ Next, "Led by a dedicated in-house person" was 16.0% (32 people). While facilities with a dedicated person are thought to have a certain level of operational structure, they are still a minority overall.

・ Including "Led by an in-house person with concurrent roles" at 9.5% (19 people), it's not uncommon for on-site staff to handle these tasks alongside other duties.

・ Furthermore, cases where leadership is entrusted to external parties or headquarters, such as "Led by headquarters/management company (facility side mainly confirms/provides materials)" at 10.5% (21 people) and "Led by an external contractor (facility side mainly instructs/confirms/provides materials)" at 10.0% (20 people), are also seen. While this can supplement expertise, it is also a structure where collaboration and information sharing with the facility side directly impact results.

・ Moreover, "Led jointly by multiple in-house members (a team)" was only 8.0% (16 people), indicating that cases of systematic, shared operational management are not yet common. The results show that challenges remain in creating structures that avoid dependency on individuals.

・ Finally, "Don't know" was 27.0% (54 people). This was the highest percentage, suggesting that the leadership structure is not clearly recognized or shared among the involved parties.

Q2. In your web marketing/sales operations, which tasks do you find particularly "overwhelming / burdensome / prone to stagnation"? Please select all that apply. *If you outsource, please include the burden of instructing/confirming with the contractor, providing materials, and internal coordination. (Multiple answers allowed)

・ Excluding "None in particular" and "Don't know," the most frequent response was "Improving the official website (e.g., booking funnel, landing pages (LPs), SEO/content planning and improvement)" at 18.5% (37 people). While the official website is a crucial area directly linked to the direct booking ratio, improvements require specialized knowledge and continuous verification, so many facilities likely find it difficult to manage amidst daily operations.

・ This was followed by "Performance measurement and analysis (e.g., access analysis, booking data aggregation, report creation)" at 17.5% (35 people) and "Responding to reviews (e.g., replies on booking sites/Google/SNS, internal sharing and coordinating improvements)" at 17.0% (34 people). Both are highly important but tend to be postponed in favor of measures that lead directly to sales, resulting in an accumulation of burden. Review management, in particular, requires speed and care, which tends to strain on-site resources.

・ Additionally, creative production and information dissemination tasks were also widely cited, such as "Preparing photos and video materials (e.g., shooting, selection, editing)" at 15.5% (31 people), "Maintaining facility information on booking sites (e.g., updating basic info, policies, photos/descriptions)" at 15.0% (30 people), "SNS operation (e.g., planning, content creation, posting, responding to comments/DMs)" at 15.0% (30 people), and "Campaign planning (e.g., proposing/coordinating seasonal measures, special offers, tie-ups)" at 15.0% (30 people). These are not one-time tasks; they require continuous updates, making them susceptible to manpower and time constraints.

・ Furthermore, the burden is widely distributed across routine operational tasks, including "Creating plans/promotional text for booking sites (e.g., titles, descriptions, benefit design)" at 14.5% (29 people), "Updating the official website (e.g., updating plans, FAQs, announcements)" at 14.5% (29 people), "Adjusting rates, inventory, and sales conditions on booking sites (including channel managers)" at 14.0% (28 people), "Ad management (e.g., ad placement, delivery settings, bid/budget adjustments, creative updates)" at 13.5% (27 people), and "Google Business Profile operation (e.g., information updates, posts, Q&A management)" at 13.0% (26 people).

・ A key feature is that no single task stands out; instead, a feeling of being "overwhelmed" is felt across a wide variety of tasks. The scope of web marketing and sales itself is broad, and the reality is that facilities are unable to cope fully with limited resources.

Q3. What are the challenges in your web marketing/sales structure and operations? Please select all that apply. *If you outsource, please include collaboration and management with the contractor. (Multiple answers allowed)

・ Excluding "No particular challenges" and "Don't know," the most common response was "Too many tools/admin panels make operations complicated (e.g., booking site management, ads, SNS, analytics)" at 17.5% (35 people). The need to operate across multiple tools and admin panels complicates daily operations and leads to a decrease in work efficiency.

・ This was followed by "Insufficient system/data integration and maintenance (e.g., channel manager, booking engine, tracking)" at 15.5% (31 people), and "Difficult to manage external contractors (e.g., giving instructions, quality control, role clarification, report confirmation)" at 14.0% (28 people). In addition to the lack of tool integration and centralized data management, many facilities also feel burdened by collaboration with external partners, revealing challenges in the very foundation of their operations.

・ Also cited were concerns about the basis for decision-making and resources, such as "Lack of know-how, no clear process or criteria for judgment" at 13.0% (26 people) and "Cannot secure budget/difficult to make investment decisions (unclear ROI)" at 13.0% (26 people). Situations where it's impossible to prioritize or make investments tend to lead to the stagnation of initiatives.

・ Structural issues were also noted, including "Lack of manpower, cannot secure time" at 12.5% (25 people), "Ambiguous roles and responsibilities (unclear who is responsible for what and to what extent)" at 12.5% (25 people), and "Insufficient handover leading to person-dependency" at 12.0% (24 people). The lack of organized personnel and role allocation makes it easy for work to become dependent on individuals, making continuous operation and improvement difficult.

・ Additionally, issues with internal organization and decision-making were mentioned, such as "Slow approval/decision-making process makes progress difficult" at 10.5% (21 people) and "Weak inter-departmental collaboration (e.g., on-site, headquarters, external contractors)" at 10.0% (20 people). Other operational concerns included "Performance indicators (KPIs) are not set, making it hard to evaluate effectiveness" at 9.0% (18 people), "Cannot decide on the priority of measures (unclear where to start)" at 9.0% (18 people), and "Cannot gather/organize materials and information (e.g., photos, copy, latest info)" at 9.0% (18 people).

・ Thus, it is evident that not only the complexity of tools but also multiple factors including structure, resources, know-how, and collaboration are intertwined, creating operational challenges.

Conclusion: It is crucial to view web marketing/sales challenges not as individual tasks but as part of the "overall operation"

What this survey has revealed is that the challenges in web marketing and sales for accommodation facilities are not concentrated in a single task. As daily updates, information dissemination, analysis, review management, and material preparation pile up, it appears that the burden is spread across the entire operation, rather than just one area being "particularly difficult."

Furthermore, behind this lies a combination of structural issues, such as the lack of clear leadership, ambiguous role allocation, management of multiple tools, and difficulties in data integration. In other words, the challenges of web marketing/sales are not merely a matter of workload but have become a theme related to the very way operations are advanced and supported.

Especially on-site at accommodation facilities, staff must tackle medium-to-long-term improvements while managing their immediate tasks. That's why, more than ever, it will be crucial to move away from relying solely on the efforts of individual staff members and instead focus on how to create a sustainable structure, organizing which tasks to handle in-house and in which areas to leverage external expertise.

To achieve stable customer acquisition and strengthen sales in the future, it is more important to correctly grasp the current situation and establish an operational structure that fits one's own facility than to simply increase short-term measures. To achieve results even with limited personnel and time, it seems essential to identify task priorities and gradually build a sustainable system.

At Yadomu Co., Ltd., we also offer consultations regarding web marketing and operations for hotels and inns. Please feel free to take a look for reference when considering how to organize your current situation and direction for improvement.