The Lucerne Hotel

Turning an Upper West Side favorite into a direct booking engine.

  • Case Study
Services
  • Website Design
  • SEO
  • Local SEO
  • Advertising
  • Metasearch
  • Email Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Automation
  • AI Optimization
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The front exterior of the Lucerne hotel

Client

The Lucerne Hotel is a historic hotel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Its neighborhood is its calling card. Central Park, the American Museum of Natural History, Riverside Park and the area’s cafes and boutiques are all close by.

Guests come for the location and the classic New York feel. Our job is to turn that appeal into more direct bookings and less dependence on online travel agencies.

Partnership

The Lucerne trusts Gourmet Marketing with its full digital program. As a boutique hotel marketing agency for NYC hotels, we work as an extension of the hotel’s team and run website design and management, SEO, local search, advertising, metasearch, email marketing, content and AI visibility.

We have designed The Lucerne’s website twice. Our latest hotel website redesign moved the site to HubSpot, giving the team one platform for content, offers and guest communication. We continue to manage the site as needs change.

Every channel works toward one goal: more profitable direct bookings.

People sitting next to a window of The Lucerne Hotel
79th-nyc-subway
The Lucerne Lobby
Double Bedroom

Work

Search is where most Upper West Side stays begin. Our hotel search engine optimization work focuses on the searches that matter most to The Lucerne, from Upper West Side hotels to stays near Central Park and the museums. In January through September 2026, organic search revenue grew 11% versus the same months in 2025 on fewer visits, a sign of more qualified traffic.

Our work in local search for hotels keeps The Lucerne visible in Google Maps and local results, where travelers compare neighborhood options before they book.

Our paid search for hotels program reaches travelers who are ready to book, and metasearch campaigns keep the direct rate visible next to the online travel agencies. In January through September 2026, Google Ads revenue grew 34% and Google Ads bookings grew 26% versus the same months in 2025.

Email marketing and automation bring past guests back with timely offers and seasonal campaigns.

The same foundation now supports AI visibility. Clear, consistent information about the hotel helps AI assistants recommend The Lucerne to travelers looking for an Upper West Side stay. Revenue from ChatGPT visitors rose 319% in January through September 2026 versus the same months in 2025, and bookings from ChatGPT grew 308%.

Across every channel, website booking revenue grew 9% and bookings grew 6% over the same period.

What our client is saying

The partnership has been a cornerstone of our success, blending strategic foresight with actionable solutions. I am profoundly thankful for the years of collaboration we've shared, continually trusting in their expertise to navigate our most challenging problems.

Steven Fennell

General Manager

The Results

+319%

ChatGPT referral revenue, Jan to Sep 2026 vs 2025

+34%

Google Ads revenue, Jan to Sep 2026 vs 2025

+26%

Google Ads bookings, Jan to Sep 2026 vs 2025

+11%

Organic search revenue, Jan to Sep 2026 vs 2025

On Your Mark,
Get Set,