Moh Baaghil
VP of Digital Strategy and eCommerce, Modus by PM Hotel Group
About Dr. Wilkinson's Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs
Dr. Wilkinson’s Backyard Resort & Mineral Springs is a 50-room wellness destination in Calistoga, California. Quirky, colorful, and rich in mid-century Americana charm, visitors are drawn to the resort by its fun atmosphere and unique mud bath experiences. Part of the Modus by PM Hotel Group, the hotel is one property in a portfolio of independent lifestyle hotels known for bold branding and creative storytelling. But despite all its unique attributes and a strong brand identity, the hotel was overly reliant on OTAs (60% of total revenue).
From 2019 to 2021, Dr. Wilkinson’s went through a major renovation which, along with a renewed surge in travel in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, became the impetus for an overhaul of their entire marketing strategy. The team wanted to decrease reliance on OTAs, bring more direct traffic, and improve conversion rates, particularly on mobile.
A few years down the line, and Dr. Wilkinson’s is in a very different place. In 2024:
- OTAs made up only 14% of its revenue
- It drove 82% of its revenue through its direct website
- 200K people visited the website (for a 50 room hotel!), with a 67% engagement rate
Moh Baaghil, VP of Digital Strategy and eCommerce, spoke to Triptease about the key steps he’d recommend to hoteliers looking to replicate Dr. Wilkinson’s success, and how Triptease helped this major direct booking turnaround.
A multi-pronged strategy
The Dr. Wilkinson’s team used a "FIRST" (Funnel-aware, Intent capture, Relevance, Smart spending, Testing) strategy to provide a framework for different initiatives across the guest booking journey.
This strategy translated into many different activities that combined to drive more direct bookings. Moh highlighted 5 key steps in the process:
- Optimize for mobile
- Feed the funnel with paid media
- Own the guest relationship
- Get creative, and test, test, test!
- Close the loop
Moh and the Dr. Wilkinson’s team chose Triptease Display Retargeting and Onsite Messages as part of a portfolio of complementary direct booking solutions that helped them tackle their goals.
Retargeting that gets the job done
Dr. Wilkinson’s had already built an impressive brand, and had put a lot of effort and spend into attracting guests higher up in the funnel. But they wanted a way to ensure that the guests who were visiting their website were returning to book direct, rather than being lost to OTAs or a competitor.
“If we're spending a lot of money at the top of the funnel to put new users in and inspire them to stay at our hotel, the last thing we want with all the dollars that we’ve spent, is for them to book through an OTA”.
Moh Baaghil
Triptease Retargeting played a vital role—automatically pulling in a guest’s abandoned search dates and best available rates, then retargeting them across the web using over 25 of the top ad display networks.
2024 Results
- $222k revenue from Triptease Retargeting
- 10% of total web revenue recovered
How Triptease Retargeting ties into Dr. Wilkinson’s success:
- Mobile-friendly designs: Triptease’s retargeting product ensures that beautiful, mobile-friendly ads are shown to drive previous guests back to the mobile site–playing an important role in the resort’s drive to optimize for complete booking journeys on mobile.
- Flexible and dynamic imagery: Dr. Wilkinson’s understands the value of great creative and regularly updates its marketing content. With Triptease retargeting, the team is easily able to swap out old images for new in seconds while maintaining high-quality ads.
- Different content across the customer journey: Moh highlighted the importance of using the right content at the right time. Triptease retargeting ads include pricing and dates based on actual visitor searches, so each guest sees a relevant and personalized ad.
- Flexible billing models: Dr. Wilkinson’s runs its Triptease retargeting campaigns on a commission model, which helps them avoid high-upfront costs.
“What I really like about [Triptease Retargeting] is that it's really dynamic. It pulls that date range that they selected, and it pulls the best available rate and just spits it out. It's been a great campaign for us to re-engage users after they initially abandoned [their booking]”.
Moh Baaghil
Messages that convert
It’s better if prospective guests book on their first website visit but sometimes a little extra help is needed. Triptease Onsite Personalization enables Dr. Wilkinson’s to surface timely, relevant offers that drive faster conversions.
In particular, customizable messages help the team to maintain demand at slower times of the week by highlighting key offers like the hotel’s ‘Weekday Remedy’—a promotion specially designed to appeal to audiences who might want a great value break in less busy times.
In 2024 the Weekday Remedy message alone helped to convert over $100,000 of direct bookings.
The right tools, in the right hands
Moh sums up the success he’s achieved with Dr. Wilkinson’s perfectly, saying “You just have to find the right tool and the right tech stack to make it work”.
Moh has also implemented other Triptease products across the Modus by PM portfolio of hotels, with impressive results:
- Radio Hotel, a vibrant New York City property, drove 13% of its Q1 2025 direct website revenue through Triptease Metasearch
- Axiom Hotel, an ultra-central San Francisco hotel, drove 15% of its Q1 2025 direct website revenue through Triptease Metasearch
But for Dr. Wilkinson’s, Triptease Retargeting and Onsite Personalization have been the perfect additions to the other tools in its arsenal.
Looking for the perfect tools to complement your existing tech stack? Get in touch with our direct booking experts.
