July 2027: bookings below target, CPA up.
Direct share improved, but a tracking fault and rising Meta costs pulled the month down. One decision needed by Friday 6 August.
Prepared by
Barron Ives, Cairns
Issued
Wednesday 4 August 2027
Decision
Move A$14,200 of media
July at a glance
Source: Cloudbeds bookings reconciled to GA4 and ad platforms, 1 to 31 July. Six days of Meta data are modelled. See the note below.
0
Direct bookings
Target 680. Missed by 10 percent.
A$0
Blended CPA
Target A$82. June was A$82.
0.0x
MER
Target 7.0x. June was 7.2x.
0%
Direct share
Target 40 percent. Up from 34 in February.
Against plan
The July rise in CPA comes from Meta. Attribution uses a seven-day click window. Meta figures for 9 to 14 July are modelled, not measured.
Blended CPA by month
A$, target 82
July direct bookings by channel
612 in total
Direct share of bookings
Percent, against OTAs
Best performer: the lagoon cut
A 12 second vertical from your Palm Cove lodge. CTR 2.8 percent against an account average of 1.6. Stays in rotation through August, with two new hooks in test.
Fatigued: the canopy walk series
Frequency reached 4.3 in Brisbane and Sydney, and CTR fell 37 percent in three weeks. Paused on 28 July. It accounts for most of the Meta cost increase.
New: wet season rates page
Live 19 July for January to March stays. Conversion is 3.1 percent on 2,140 sessions, which is too few to call. We'll read it again in the August report.
Next period: August
Assumes the budget move is approved by 6 August. Without approval, the search work stays and the Meta line holds at July levels.
Conversions API monitoring live
Alerts fire within one hour of a tracking drop.
A$14,200 moved to search and email
Six new vertical cuts in test, replacing the canopy series that fatigued in Brisbane and Sydney
Replacing the canopy series.
August report on the dashboard
How the numbers are built
The same method every month, so one report can be compared with the next.
Start from Cloudbeds
Confirmed direct bookings net of cancellations are the base figure. Platform-reported conversions never replace them.
Reconcile to GA4
Bookings are matched by transaction ID. July matched at 96.2 percent, and our tolerance is 95.
Allocate spend
Media from invoices, agency fee excluded. MER is booking revenue divided by media spend.
Risks and decisions
What went wrong, what it cost and who owns the fix. The first item needs your decision.
Decision: move A$14,200 from Meta to search and email
Recommended. Paid search ran at a A$71 CPA against Meta's A$131 in July. If you decline, Meta stays at A$30,000 for August and we would forecast CPA to stay above A$90. The move leaves the A$57,500 monthly media budget unchanged.
Tracking fault, 9 to 14 July: our error
A site tag update on our side broke the Meta conversions API for six days. No media was wasted, but Meta's optimisation lost signal and we had to model that week's numbers. Monitoring goes live on 5 August. We have credited 6 hours against this month's retainer.
Risk: wet season demand from January
Forward bookings for January to March are 22 percent below last year. The new rates page is the first response, and it is too early to say whether it works. We'll report weekly from September.
Risk: Google AI answers on lodge searches
Organic clicks on non-brand searches fell 6 percent while impressions rose. We read this as AI answers absorbing the click. No action in August. We'll bring options to the quarterly review on 8 September.
One decision by Friday 6 August
Approve and the budget moves on 10 August. Decline and Meta holds at July levels, with CPA we forecast to stay above A$90.
Prepared by
Nerida Ives Head of Performance, Barron Ives
Abbott Street, Cairns QLD 4870 nerida@barronives.com.au
For approval by
Lachie Ferreira General Manager, Coralie Lodges
Live numbers are on the dashboard if you want to check any figure before you decide.
Approve the budget move
By confirming, you approve moving A$14,200 of August media from Meta to paid search and email, from 10 August 2027. The A$57,500 monthly media budget and our retainer do not change. We report the result on 1 September.