City Express Boosts Direct Sales with an International Affiliate Strategy

THE CLIENT

City Express Hotels, a Mexican hotel chain founded in 2002, was looking to expand its domestic and international direct sales without taking on major additional investment.

While the brand already had a young and dynamic digital marketing team managing its SEM and Display campaigns in-house, it decided to partner with Affilired to explore new online channels to strengthen its direct channel and accelerate growth.

THE CHALLENGE

EXPANDING DIRECT SALES THROUGH AN EFFICIENT MODEL

Aware of the online channel’s growth potential and the increasing need to strengthen direct sales, City Express was looking for a solution that would allow the brand to enter new markets, attract new customers, and do so through an efficient, profitable, results-driven model.

THE STRATEGY

CPA-BASED SEM AND AFFILIATE MARKETING TO GROW WITH LESS RISK

Affilired designed a strategy that combined two performance-based solutions: CPA SEM campaigns and affiliate marketing.

While City Express continued managing its Google campaigns internally, Affilired took over the investment and management of SEM campaigns on alternative search engines such as Yahoo and Bing .

This allowed the brand to increase qualified traffic and international visibility without making additional upfront investment.

Based on that traffic analysis and the channel’s potential, Affilired then rolled out a phased affiliate launch strategy.

The campaign was activated on:

· Impact, with international coverage and a strong base of affiliates across LATAM.

· TradeTracker Spain, to strengthen brand awareness in the Spanish market.

· AWIN USA, to boost sales in one of the chain’s most relevant source markets.

Recruiting affiliates aligned with City Express’s target audience, together with the active promotion of the brand and its offers, was one of the key drivers behind the project’s success.

THE RESULTS

FAST GROWTH AND A PROFITABLE DIRECT-SALES CHANNEL

Just three months after launch, affiliate marketing had already become City Express’s second-best direct booking channel, with a cancellation rate below 20%. During that period, the chain achieved 230% revenue growth and 120% growth in generated bookings.

This success story shows how a combined CPA SEM and affiliate strategy can help a hotel chain enter new markets, attract qualified traffic, and generate direct sales efficiently and profitably.

TESTIMONIAL

Affilired quickly became one of our most cost-effective partners with the greatest growth potential.

JORGE ESTRELLA | Marketing Performance Coordinator | City Express Hoteles