Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge

Capturing Travel-Driven Demand to Stay Fully Booked Year-Round

Location / Footprint: Truckee, CA (serving Lake Tahoe region + regional travel market)
Services Offered: Dog Boarding, Cat Boarding, Dog Daycare, Bathing & Spa Services
IMPACT Services Provided: Google Ads (Search + Performance Max), SEO, Blogging, Location Pages, Website Optimization
Engagement Duration: January 2023 – Present
The Bottom Line: We captured high-intent travel demand, keeping the facility fully booked during peak seasons and maintaining consistent occupancy in a tourism-driven market.

The Challenge

Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge operates in a uniquely challenging environment.

Many customers are not local, but travel from:

The San Francisco Bay area
Northern California
Other locations up to 200+ miles away

This means demand is created before customers arrive, not when they’re in the neighborhood.

At the time of transition from another agency specializing in pet resort marketing, the business was generating activity — but not sustainable growth.

Before Impact

~154 calls and 71 form submissions
~2,300 monthly website sessions
Growth had plateaued
Marketing relied heavily on Yelp, Facebook, and GBP
Demand capture was reactive
Visibility was concentrated locally

After Impact

Consistent, high-intent lead flow
Expanded visibility across regional travel markets
Predictable demand during peak travel periods
Google Ads and SEO aligned with travel-driven search behavior
Demand was captured during trip planning
Fully booked holidays, ski weeks, and strong summer occupancy

Despite steady activity levels, the underlying strategy was misaligned with how travelers actually search for pet care.

Marketing relied heavily on lower-intent channels and reactive demand sources like Yelp, Facebook, and Google Business Profile instead of capturing customers earlier in the trip-planning process.

Our Approach

This engagement focused on aligning marketing with the actual creation of demand in a tourism-driven market.

1 Refocusing Paid Media on High-Intent Search

We shifted away from fragmented channels toward a structured Google Ads system:

Strengthened Search campaigns across core services
Maintained seasonal (ski-related) campaigns
Transitioned Display ads to Performance Max (PMax)

Google Ads positioned Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge in front of pet owners actively searching during trip planning.

2 Expanding Reach with Performance Max

We replaced traditional Display campaigns with PMax:

Captured users earlier in the decision process
Increased visibility across Google properties
Supported both discovery and intent-driven behavior

The shift expanded visibility earlier in the decision process, capturing travel-driven demand before direct searches began.

3 Building SEO Around Destination-Based Demand

We introduced content aligned with how travelers search:

Location pages targeting feeder markets
Blogs focused on seasonal travel (skiing, summer trips)
Increased visibility for destination-driven queries

Visibility expanded beyond local searches, allowing the business to reach customers while they were still planning trips from their home markets.

4 Improving Website Conversion Paths

We optimized the website experience:

Clear booking pathways
Seasonal messaging
Pop-ups for events and peak periods

Increased traffic translated into booking actions via clearer, more direct conversion paths.

5 Aligning Strategy with Seasonal Demand Cycles

We continuously adjusted campaigns based on:

Winter (ski season)
Summer tourism
Holiday peaks

Campaign performance stayed aligned with seasonal demand, ensuring marketing efforts supported peak booking periods.

The Results

Lead Flow

From stagnant to consistent, high-intent demand

Occupancy

Fully booked during holidays, ski weeks, and summer

Market Reach

Expanded across regional and travel-based searches

After aligning marketing with travel-driven demand, performance became more consistent and predictable, especially during peak travel periods.

The business moved from:

Fragmented campaigns
Plateaued growth
Passive demand capture

To:

Consistent, high-intent lead generation
Visibility during trip planning
Demand aligned with how customers search

Operationally, this resulted in:

Boarding being fully booked during peak periods
Strong summer demand
Consistent daycare utilization

The key shift: Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge is no longer relying on being found; it is now positioned to capture demand the moment it’s created.

{

“IMPACT’s expertise in digital marketing has been invaluable to Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge. Because of our location in a market that depends very heavily on tourism, we have somewhat unique challenges when it comes to advertising on the Internet. Many of our clients travel up to 200 miles or more to bring their pets to the lovely Lake Tahoe area. Having our site visible to them while they’re making plans to visit Tahoe from their homes in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond has always been very important for us. With a combination of Search and Pmax campaigns, we’re getting very good results. IMPACT is doing a good job with campaigns targeting pet owners who are searching specifically for seasonal draws to the Lake Tahoe Area, like skiing in the winter and hiking and water sports in the summer. They do a nice job of getting visibility with our local market, as well… I couldn’t be happier with the results that we’re getting from our partnership with IMPACT.”

Steve Sewell, Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge

What’s Next For Truckee-Tahoe Pet Lodge?

With a strong demand capture system in place, the next phase focuses on scaling performance while staying aligned with seasonal demand and capacity.

Expand destination-based SEO coverage in key travel markets
Refine seasonal campaign performance
Increase visibility in high-value travel markets
Continue aligning spend with peak demand windows

If your pet care business depends on seasonal or travel-based demand, your marketing strategy needs to capture customers before they arrive. Book a strategy call with our pet care marketing team to see how to make that happen.

Get In Touch with Our Team