New Ways for Guest Acquisition: Why TikTok Relies on ADDITIVE

TikTok is no longer a playful trend platform, at least not when hotels approach their hotel marketing in a data-driven and strategic manner. While Google and Meta have long been essential pillars of digital marketing, TikTok is increasingly becoming the next step - especially for hotels that want to tap into new markets and reach younger target groups.

Naturhotel Rainer (Val di Giovo, South Tyrol) is taking this path together with ADDITIVE:
While ADDITIVE has been setting up data-driven campaigns for years to generate targeted inquiries, bookings, and leads - including via social media - an exclusive project is now launching together with TikTok. At the core of this initative is an AI-powered campaign solution from TikTok, which ADDITIVE is officially testing for the first time as part of the project to generate qualified inquiries in the Italian vacation hotel industry.

In Italy alone, the platform has around 23.9 million monthly active users - worldwide, the figure has now reached almost 1.6 billion. This makes TikTok the fourth-largest social networt, offering enormous potential for the tourism industry.

The project is no coincidence, but rather the result of many years of collaboration and strong campaign expertise: ADDITIVE is konwn as a tech partner that supports modern advertising platforms with precise tracking and performance marketing using data-based decisions. Google and Meta also regularly test new formats with ADDITIVE. This builds trust - and opens doors to exclusive platform innovations.

This article marks the beginning of a series focusing on the joint pilot project with the globally renwoned platform TikTok and our long-standing client Naturhotel Rainer. The upcoming articles will provide concrete results, insights and lessons learned.

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"Only those who use TikTok in a data-driven and strategic way have a chance to turn attention into real guests." </div>
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- Sarah Schupfer, supports the hotel as Customer Success Manager
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The Testing Project: How the Expert Teams at TikTok and ADDITIVE Are Working Together

Naturhotel Rainer has been working with ADDITIVE in the field of digital hotel marketing since 2018, pursuing a holisitc approach that includes search engine, social media, and email marketing. Since 2021, TikTok has also been an integral part of this comprehensive advertising strategy. In addition, the hotel has built a strong organic presence on TikTok, offering authentic insights into daily hotel life and specifically targeting guests who value sustainability and regionality.

The campaign accompanied by TikTok is a highlight of our collaboration with Naturhotel Rainer. The project kicked off on September 15, 2025 - with a clear goal: to test the TikTok channel in the Italian target market for its strength in generating high-qualtiy inquiries. This type of collaboration with TikTok is unique in the hotel industry and underlines the pilot character of the project.

The Project at a Glance

Exclusive TikTok support and access to a platform expertise:
A dedicated team at TikTok actively supports the project and works directly with our advertising experts at ADDITIVE. The focus is primarly on technical aspects of setting up and optimizing campaigns.

Provision of additional advertising budget by ADDITIVE:
For the pilot project, ADDITIVE is not only providing the hotel with technology and expertise, but also additional advertising budget - with a clear objective: to promote innovation, make results measurable, and deliver real added value for hotel marketing.
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Creative strategy: innovative mix of ad creatives and organic content
The "creatives" of a campaign refer to the ads used on advertising platforms - in this case, short videos. The test uses a combination of classic paid advertisments and organic content created directly by the hotel - perfectly adapted to the TikTok logic.

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Tracking & Attribution: campaign targeting based on inquiries

The campaign aims to generate high-quality inquiries in the target market - specifically selected regions in Italy.

The foundation is TikTok's new, innovative solution specifically designed to generate qualified inqiuiries, bookings, and leads: it uses artificial intelligence to optimize the campaign in real time.

TikTok identifies users with high inquiry and booking potential and decides which ad to show to which user based on user data and interactions - automatically, self-learning, and performance-oriented.

The campaign is controlled and monitored by the fully integrated, cookie-free tracking system from ADDITIVE+ MARKETING INSIGHTS. This enables:

• Precise attribution of generated inquiries, reservations and so-called "leads" to the perspective advertising measure
• In-depth analysis even in the case of interrupted or non-linear guest journeys
• The playback of conversion and guest data to TikTok for ongoing optimization of the campaign

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"Being able to implement such a unique pilot project for the hotel industry together with TikTok is something special - and it shows how strongly our data-driven system is positioned within the industry." </div>
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- Julia Hartig, Team Lead Advertising
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ADDITIVE's data-driven marketing system thus creates the ideal conditions for such a test: a powerful tracking architecture that measures, across all channels , which users make inquiries at that hotel - and ultimatley make a booking.

Using TikTok in the Right Way - With a System, Not on Gut Feeling

TikTok is not a traditional advertising platform - and that's precisely where the challenge lies. Content has to work differently: it needs to be authentic, native, and relevant. But without the right technological foundation, even the most creative video remains ineffective.

It is becoming increasingly clear that hotels seeking sustainable results in marketing need an intelligent performance system in the background. This is because the quality of campaign results depends directly on the quality of the underlying data.

And this is precisely where ADDITIVE's strength lies: modern advertising platforms need a reliable database to optimize ads effectively. Only when the algorithm understands which users actually become guests can it learn to reach precisely these users.

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"TikTok becomes a true performance channel when the data base is right - our software solutions are a real game changer in this regard." </div>
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- David Weitlaner, Head of Digital Marketing
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ADDITIVE provides the ideal technolgoical infrastructure for this - tailored specifically to the leisure hotel industry:

• A fully integrated tracking and data infrastructure
• Feedback of qualified conversion into the TikTok system
• Real-time evaluation and continous optimization
• Many years of experience in cross-channel hotel marketing

In short, ADDITIVE creates the ideal conditions for TikTok's machine learning and AI functions to unfold their full potential. This turns TikTok from a playground into a strategic channel within a powerful marketing ecosystem.

And it is precisely these kinds of innovative projects that we actively drive forward: ADDITIVE provides targeted support to hotels in pilot campaigns, providing technical know-how, strategic expertise, and additional resources. Our goal is always to explore new ground with our clients, achieve measurable results, and take hotel marketing to the next level.

A special thank-you goes to Naturhotel Rainer for the many years of trust and the strong partnership - an outstanding example of what is possible when vision, technology, and trust come together.