The traveller books the flight, then the hotel, then the transfer — often a month out. Last-click attribution flatters the final search and hides the research visit that actually did the work.
Google Ads • AI call answering
Google Ads for Caribbean resort and cruise port transport.
Resort transfers are booked weeks ahead, from another country, in another time zone, usually before the traveller has ever heard of you. That changes the campaign, the page and the follow-up.
Resort transfers
Cruise port pickups
High season Dec–Apr
Booked from abroad
The gateways
The airports this market actually books against.
NAS
Lynden Pindling International, Nassau
Resort and cruise traffic in the same terminal window, with a high share of pre-booked transfers rather than walk-up.
MBJ
Sangster International, Montego Bay
Long transfer distances to the resort strip. The quoted fare has to hold across an hour-plus drive, so vague pricing kills the booking.
PUJ
Punta Cana International
High-volume all-inclusive arrivals where the resort itself is the competitor. Winning means being the better-quoted, better-reviewed alternative to the hotel shuttle.
What creates demand
What moves bookings in the Caribbean.
Ship calls are published in advance and produce a hard, dated window of demand. It is the most schedulable spend in the whole segment, and the easiest to waste by running it flat all year.
December to April carries the year; hurricane season is a different business. Budget that ignores the seasonal curve overspends in the quiet months and runs out in the peak.
The buyer is in another country and time zone, comparing on reviews and reachability. WhatsApp and messaging often outperform a phone number, and a call that rings out at 2am local time is simply a lost booking.
How we build it
What the account looks like here.
Quote the full transfer
Per-person versus per-vehicle, luggage, child seats and the return leg. Ambiguity at the quote stage is the single biggest drop-off in this segment.
Cover the time zones
The enquiry arrives while the office is closed. AI call answering and messaging cover the gap that would otherwise hand the booking to the resort shuttle.
Sell against the hotel shuttle
The real competitor is usually the resort's own transfer. Private vehicle, no waiting for a full bus and a named driver are the arguments that win, so put them on the page.
By service
The two things we run in every market.
Questions
Questions we get about the Caribbean.
How far ahead do travellers book transfers?
Usually weeks ahead, sometimes a month or more. The flight is booked first, then the hotel, then the transfer. That long window means last-click attribution flatters the final search and hides the earlier research visit that actually did most of the persuading.
Who is the real competitor here?
Most often the resort's own shuttle, not another private operator. The winning arguments are a private vehicle, no waiting for a bus to fill, and a named driver meeting the flight. If the page does not make that comparison, the traveller defaults to the hotel.
Why do cruise port pickups get their own budget?
Ship calls are published well in advance, producing a hard, dated window of demand. It is the most schedulable spend in the segment. Running it flat across the year overspends on quiet days and runs out exactly when several ships are in port together.
How should transfer pricing be quoted?
Completely, and up front. Per-person versus per-vehicle, luggage allowance, child seats and whether the return leg is included. Ambiguity at the quote stage is the single largest drop-off point in this segment, because the buyer is comparing several operators in one sitting.
Does the time zone difference really cost bookings?
Yes. The enquiry usually arrives from another country while the office is closed. A call that rings out at two in the morning local time is simply a lost booking, which is why messaging and automated answering matter more here than in a domestic market.
Operating in the Caribbean