Sail CMO · daily marketing brief

Wednesday 30 September 2026

Sail-named campaigns only in Hotel 32 32 (act_305550522185383) · LinkedIn 512779887 · data through 29 Sep · recommendations only — nothing was written, activated, paused or deployed this run

Headline

$86.31
Meta hotel CPQL 7d (prior $46.78)
18
qualified hotel leads 7d, Meta (prior 31)
$60.05
Meta hotel CPQL 28d baseline
44%
flag-brand share of complete Meta leads 7d (prior 24%)
57%
partial-submission share 7d (Meta)

Meta hotel CPQL 7d is $86.31 (prior 7d $46.78, 28d $60.05). 18 qualified on $1,553.50. The all-source weekly CPQL ($64.73) is the highest of the last 6 weeks.

The main cause is lead mix. 14 of 32 complete Meta submissions (44%) came from flag-brand hotels (Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, IHG, Choice, Radisson). The week before it was 24%. 12 of the 14 came from the two US-national sets (US 2 TEST and US 2 35+). None of the 4 main hotel ads (Video 2, Pre-flight check, STAR report, What if) says "independent", so a national US audience brings franchise GMs. The geo sets had 1 flag lead in 9, but their volume fell: 23 submissions vs 53 the week before.

US 2 TEST: $604.65 for 7 qualified = $86.38 (prior $38.93). Pre-flight check took $554.14 (92%) of it: 6 qualified, and 7 of its 13 complete leads were flag brands. The CBO is back at $110 since 29 Sep 12:11 UTC (your yes).

29 Sep: $273.20 spend, 9 submissions, 2 complete, 1 qualified. Meta over-reports leads: 49 Meta leads vs 32 complete submissions in Supabase over 7d (+53%).

New live creative: [21] Video Plain — "What if, side by side" went live on 29 Sep (17:43–18:10 UTC) in 12 active ad sets. Day 1: $34.84, no submissions yet. First fair read: 6 Oct.

Hotel lead quality — CPQL first

Qualified definition used: the fallback rule, not Zoho. 776 of 891 lead ids were found in Zoho; every one is Partial Lead (457) or Incoming (319). No lead is in a qualified stage, so Lead_Status is not maintained. Qualified = complete submission (real email, not pending@partial…) at an independent / small-brand property, major flag brands excluded. Restaurant spend is kept out of the hotel denominator.

WindowPlatformSpendSubsPartialQualifiedCPLCPQL
7d (23–29 Sep)Meta$1,553.507543 (57%)18$20.71$86.31
7d (23–29 Sep)LinkedIn$26.63000—— (0 qualified)
7d (23–29 Sep)other / no UTM—156 (40%)6——
prior 7d (16–22 Sep)Meta$1,450.298948 (54%)31$16.30$46.78
prior 7d (16–22 Sep)LinkedIn$144.16000—— (0 qualified)
28d (2–29 Sep)Meta$5,524.41320185 (58%)92$17.26$60.05
28d (2–29 Sep)LinkedIn$441.85000—— (0 qualified)
28d (2–29 Sep)other / no UTM—5726 (46%)22——

Where the flag-brand leads come from (Meta, complete submissions):

WindowGroupSpendSubsCompleteFlag brandsQualifiedCPQL
7dUS-national (US 2 TEST + US 2 35+)$800.30462212 (54%)10$80.03
7dGeo sets (QRoo, Sun Belt, Indian Ocean, DR+PR, South Pacific)$642.972391 (11%)8$80.37
7dRetargeting + eblast$110.236110—
prior 7dUS-national$493.2733165 (31%)11$44.84
prior 7dGeo sets$824.8853235 (21%)18$45.83
28dUS-national$1,540.131035024 (48%)26$59.24
28dGeo sets$2,889.101717317 (23%)56$51.59
28dRetargeting + eblast + other$1,095.184612210$109.52

Restaurant Rank (CPL only, exempt): Meta 28d $539.19 / 35 leads = $15.41; LinkedIn 28d $175.25 / 11 conv = $15.93. Both paused; $0 this week.

Seasonality watch

Source: admin_settings.sail_geo_seasonality_calendar, version 2026-09-17 (13 days old, ALERT-D does not fire). Horizon: today to 30 Oct. The calendar's ad-set map is stale since the 23 Sep split; the table uses live targeting.

AlertGeoAd setFlipDays28d CPQL
A active → peakArizona, Florida, Nevada120248864312480641 (Sun Belt, $35/day)UP 1 Oct1$39.62 (12 qual) · 7d $98.29
A active → peakSeychelles120248863804710641 (Indian Ocean, $15/day)UP 1 Oct1$37.25 (13 qual) · 7d $105.95
A active → peakMauritius + Seychelles120248304126850641 (old Indian Ocean set, ACTIVE in CBO)UP 1 Oct1$80.33 (2 qual)
B bench → troughFiji120249181998330641 (PAUSED, $5/day)DOWN 15 Oct15$26.55 (2 qual, via old South Pacific set)
C peak todayFiji; Vanuatu/Samoa/Tonga/Niue120248304151720641 (old South Pacific set, ACTIVE, $12.73 7d)in peak—$26.55 (2 qual)
C (residual)Canada; OhioCanada only in retargeting sets; Ohio only via US 2 TEST (national). TX+OH set 120249340276410641 is PAUSED.in peak——
E unverifiedReunion+Mayotte (low conf.); VU/WS/TO/NU (no amplitude)120248863804710641; 120248304151720641——$37.25; $26.55

Top alert: Sun Belt (AZ/FL/NV), Seychelles and Mauritius flip into peak tomorrow, 1 Oct. Both live sets for these geos already weakened this week: Sun Belt 7d $98.29 (prior $26.85), Indian Ocean 7d $105.95 (prior $28.50). The counts are small (2 and 1 qualified), but the direction matches the seasonality thesis. Decision 4 takes Sun Belt to $20/day; decision 3 pauses the old Indian Ocean set.

Fiji goes into its trough on 15 Oct (15 days). The paused Fiji set 120249181998330641 exists, and [21] What if is already loaded in it (paused). It is the first counter-seasonal rotation candidate.

Meta — Sail hotel ad sets

Ad set7d spend7d subs / qual7d CPQLprior 7d CPQL28d CPQL
US 2 — 35+ hard TEST (120239722179970641), CBO $110 since 29 Sep$604.6532 / 7$86.38$38.93$57.20
Mexico — Quintana Roo (120248864312740641), $25/day$233.908 / 3$77.97$54.33$50.69
US Sun Belt AZ/FL/NV (120248864312480641), $35/day$196.586 / 2$98.29$26.85$39.62
US 2 35+ (120247549987540641), paused 25 Sep$195.6514 / 3$65.22$71.44$67.78
Indian Ocean (120248863804710641), $15/day$105.954 / 1$105.95$28.50$37.25
Caribbean DR + PR (120248864313040641), $8/day$54.822 / 1$54.82$69.80$55.22
Lead Magnet eblast — Copy (120247551159080641)$36.371 / 0—$18.73$35.41
Retargeting all visitors, new (120249340360860641), $5/day$34.801 / 0——— (started 23 Sep)
book_a_call retargeting (120249265705090641), $3/day$34.290 / 0——— ($55.77, 0 subs)
Indian Ocean old (120248304126850641), ACTIVE$28.401 / 0—$31.46$80.33
South Pacific old (120248304151720641), ACTIVE$12.732 / 1$12.73$11.64$26.55

Placements, hotel 28d (CPL, platform-reported): FB Reels $20.85 · IG Reels $23.74 · IG Feed $31.78 · FB Feed $39.52 · IG Stories $66.28. Feed = $2,431.89 (44% of hotel spend) at about 1.6× the Reels CPL.

Creative performance — SCALE / HOLD / PAUSE

Hotel creatives with at least $40 28d spend, ranked on ad-level 28d CPQL vs the $60.05 baseline. Recommendations only.

CallAd28d $7d $QualCPQL
SCALEVideo 2 — Not Gradient (Indian Ocean) · 120248864316160641$326.61$53.7012$27.22
SCALEVideo 2 — Not Gradient (Sun Belt) · 120248864319100641$445.95$171.3812$37.16
SCALE[01] STAR report (US 2 TEST) · 120248022819610641$341.14$37.309$37.90
SCALEVideo 2 — Not Gradient (eblast Copy, UTM fix) · 120249182943260641$80.52$32.062$40.26
SCALEVideo 2 — Not Gradient (QRoo) · 120248864321590641$606.03$203.1314$43.29
HOLDVideo 2 — Not Gradient (DR+PR) · 120248864324490641$291.30$42.746$48.55
HOLD[05] Pre-flight check (Indian Ocean) · 120248863806550641$63.89$39.011$63.89
HOLD (set paused)Video 2 (US 2 35+) · 120247549987580641$332.06$192.925$66.41
PAUSE (decision 1)[05] Pre-flight check (US 2 TEST) · 120248128492570641$832.48$554.1412$69.37 (7d $92.36)
PAUSE (live)[05] Pre-flight check (QRoo) · 120248864320310641$52.33$13.680—
PAUSE (live)[01] STAR report (old Indian Ocean) · 120248304136300641$57.80$8.450—
PAUSE (live)[12] Competitor ad previews (Indian Ocean) · 120248863805940641$41.66$4.150—
PAUSE (live)book_a_call v1 · 120249265705720641$53.76$32.280— (0 subs in 12 days)

Last 14 days: [21] What if, side by side (29 Sep) is live in 12 ad sets and loaded paused in 17 more. [20] Video Plain — Competitor ads motion (120249369242500641) is still PAUSED in the Sun Belt set and needs your review. The pps_comparison v4 copy in the new retargeting set (120249340376210641) spent $32.76 with 0 submissions. Video 2 — Not Gradient is still the winning master ($27–43 CPQL in the geo sets), but in US 2 35+ it also drew 5 flag leads of 8, so the audience is the problem there, not only the creative.

LinkedIn — account 512779887

CampaignStatus7d $7d CTR28d $28d conv
Sail — Hotel Marketing Comp (879843424)PAUSED (last spend 23 Sep)$26.630.18%$441.850
Images (478068884) / Videos (485370204)ACTIVE, no delivery$0—$00
Restaurant Rank VIDEO (879713164)PAUSED$0—$91.5511
Restaurant Rank (879843434)PAUSED$0—$83.700

LinkedIn hotel: $441.85 over 28d, 0 submissions, 0 qualified. Last spend 23 Sep ($26.63).

Audience hygiene: 676 companies served over 28d (5,181 impressions); 23.2% of those impressions went to companies already on the exclusion list (served before the exclusions went on). Last 7d: 331 impressions, 0% to excluded companies. No exclusions applied today: all Sail campaigns are paused, the hotel campaign's exclusion facets are at the 200-URN cap, and company names do not resolve through the API. Do the company-list upload in Campaign Manager before any restart.

Site and lead magnets

Clarity: 403 on every call, 18th run in a row. The data below comes from walking each funnel on a 390px (iPhone) viewport.

Hotel marketing comparison: email gate at 64.7s (95.0s yesterday). Step 5 "AI-Powered Analysis" took 44.3s. No API errors. The gate is still 5 fields (name, email, role, phone, consent). The Hoxton, Portland scored 61. 57% of Meta hotel submissions are partials; on 29 Sep only 2 of 9 completed.

Restaurant Rank: 2-field gate at 7.5s. The aplo-evnt.com intent pixel still returns 400 on page load. sailtech.ai mobile: 4.8s load, no horizontal overflow, no failed requests, one email form.

Recommended changes, in order: (1) show the score before 15s and run the AI step behind it; (2) cut the gate to name + email; (3) remove the dead aplo-evnt pixel from Restaurant Rank.

Competitor research

Public Meta Ad Library, active US ads. New since yesterday: Predictive Minds (29 Sep) — "Every missed call could be a missed booking", an AI phone agent plus rate tool sold on direct revenue. Nopal Hotel Marketing (29 Sep) — founder video, "Is your hotel still relying heavily on OTAs?". Still live: Motherload.pro ("You are paying OTAs 15 to 30 percent… I bring them back direct"), and 9 Duetto ads from 22 Sep aimed at hotel groups ("New hotels, same spreadsheet", "Stuck pricing hotels at 9pm?"). No new Triptease, Sojern or Cendyn ads. All of them still sell a fee; "No stay, no pay" is still the claim they cannot copy.

Angles worth testing (not built)

Paused ads are built only when you ask. Each would ship PAUSED on Meta and LinkedIn.

1. Self-select independents (decision 2). Independent hotel? This report is for you. Before your next campaign goes live, see every Google and Meta ad your comp set runs right now, their weekday and weekend rates against the OTAs, and their review scores. Free. 30 seconds. Headline: Free comp-set report for independent hotels. LinkedIn: Run an independent hotel? See the ads, rates and reviews your comp set shows guests right now, next to yours.

2. "Ask who pays if the guest cancels" on the Video 2 master. Everyone says they will bring your OTA bookings back direct. Ask who pays if the guest cancels. With Sail, you don't: no retainer, no upfront, we get paid only when the guest actually stays. Headline: No stay, no pay.

3. Answer to Predictive Minds: Every guest who searched your name and booked on Expedia is a missed direct booking. Brand-search and metasearch angle, needs a new static.

Decisions for you (same numbers as the Telegram message)

1–9 come from today's data. 10–15 are still open from other threads.

  1. Pause Pre-flight check in US 2 TEST (120248128492570641). 7d: $554.14, 6 qualified ($92.36), 7 of 13 complete leads were flag brands. Rec: yes. Yes = I pause this one ad; the $110 CBO moves to STAR report ($37.90) and [21] What if. No = no change, re-read 7 Oct.
  2. Build 2 PAUSED "independent hotels" variants for the US sets (Video 2 and Pre-flight check, first line "Independent hotel? This report is for you."), on Meta and LinkedIn. Rec: yes. Yes = I build them PAUSED and send previews; you switch them on. No = nothing is built. (This replaces yesterday's "add Video 2 to US 2 TEST".)
  3. Pause the old Indian Ocean set (120248304126850641): $80.33 28d CPQL, overlaps the $15/day set, its geos flip into peak tomorrow. Rec: yes. Yes = I pause the set. No = it keeps spending (~$4/day).
  4. Sun Belt from $35 to $20/day from 1 Oct. AZ/FL/NV flip into peak tomorrow; 7d CPQL $98.29 (2 qualified) vs 28d $39.62. Rec: yes. Yes = I set $20/day, re-read 8 Oct. No = stays $35/day, re-read 8 Oct.
  5. Pause 4 live zero-yield ads: Pre-flight check in QRoo (120248864320310641), STAR in old Indian Ocean (120248304136300641), [12] Competitor ad previews in Indian Ocean (120248863805940641), book_a_call v1 (120249265705720641). 0 qualified on $205.55 over 28d. Rec: yes. Yes = I pause the 4 ads. No = they keep spending (~$59/week).
  6. Hotel lead-magnet gate: show the score before the AI step and cut the gate to name + email (today 64.7s, 5 fields). Rec: yes. Yes = I open a PR in hotel-recommender for review; nothing ships until merged. No = no change.
  7. Reels-only placement test: 28d CPL FB Reels $20.85 and IG Reels $23.74 vs FB Feed $39.52. Rec: yes. Yes = I build a PAUSED Reels-only copy of the QRoo set for you to switch on. No = placements stay automatic.
  8. New Clarity data-export token (403 for the 18th run). Rec: yes. Yes = you make a new token (Clarity → Settings → Data export) and send it; I save it. No = site review stays on scripted walks.
  9. Keep [21] What if live? It went live on 29 Sep through the Sail API app (29 ads, 12 in active sets, $34.84 on day 1). I found no approval record for it. Rec: yes, read it on 6 Oct. Yes = no change. No = I pause the 12 live [21] ads.
  10. Send the 4 hotel-trade Missive drafts (Hotel Tech Report, No Vacancy, Hospitality Daily, The Modern Hotelier): rates + OK to run partner ads from their page. Rec: yes. Yes = sent from srubin@. No = they stay drafts.
  11. Cold-email test (SAI-10657): 500 LinkedIn post engagers vs 500 new Apollo contacts, $100 one-time cap. The no-login scraper breaks LinkedIn's user terms. Rec: yes. Yes = CMO starts the pull, result in about 3 weeks. No = Apollo lists only.
  12. Keep beat-sync (v19) for the What if video. Rec: yes. Yes = beat rule goes into the motion skill, v19 renders in 1:1 and 16:9. No = v18 stays.
  13. Skip WTM London (travel tech). Rec: yes. Yes = skip. No = I list the independent island resorts that exhibit, to book meetings.
  14. Send PR packet 1 (Google's AI Mode booking standard was written without independents). Rec: yes. Yes = sent from srubin@. No = dropped.
  15. Post idea "Your direct booking started on Expedia" (29 Sep). Rec: yes. Yes = it joins the publish queue (max 3 a week) and I confirm the date. No = skipped. 39 more post ideas wait (28 todo, 11 in review).

Only you can do: (a) submit the Google Ads suspension appeal as srubin@ (text in Telegram msg 1207); (b) share Mediads ad account act_1422069943188429 with Mediads in Business Settings → Partners, "Manage campaigns" only.

Generated 30 Sep 2026 by the CMO agent (SAI-10685). No writes to Meta, LinkedIn, Supabase, or any site this run.