thoughtful advice from one DOSM to another.
“ There’s a difference between creating a brand and building one. ”
Branding is an essential part of a hotel’s success. It’s so much more than a name, a logo, and a font. Every touchpoint is an opportunity to curate a “brand experience.”
read more“ We need to inspire the next generation of hoteliers. ”
Who better to lead the industry forward than the generation who values experience over everything else? But, as an industry, we’ve got to make hospitality appealing to this next generation of professionals. We've got to do a better job of educating the full range of opportunities we have to offer.
read more“ Focus on technology that connects you directly to your target audience. ”
With new technology, new marketing tools, and new social platforms, we have to be diligent in investing in strategies that align with our target audience.
read more“ As independent hoteliers, independence is our superpower. ”
As independent hoteliers, our independence is our competitive advantage. Independence grants us freedom from rigid rules and protocols, which means we can be more creative and flexible with our websites and marketing tactics.
read more“ Create an environment where the best ideas win. ”
At Retro Hospitality, we specialize in independent hotels. Many of our hotels are in historic buildings or are adaptive reuse, and it is our goal to breathe new and exciting life into them. Our approach, and I believe our success, is based on what I call “passionate collaboration” with stakeholders in our local communities.
read more“ Just give customers what they’re looking for. ”
A digital marketer’s job is to think like the customer. What do they want? How do they shop? What would I want if I were them? And then from there, we build digital experiences that speak directly to them.
read more“ Everyone is planning their next trip, even if they don’t know it. ”
The customer is always somewhere in the consumer journey. That’s a concept we’ve embraced at JC Resorts. Some people look at the consumer journey as linear. We see it as spherical.
read more“ When you know who you are, you find out who your customers are. ”
You can have a lot of grand initiatives, but if you don't understand how customers are experiencing the property, who they are and how they are shopping, what goes into their decisions, you’ve lost sight of your job as a marketer.
read more“ Find the Right Partners And Get a Great Traffic Controller ”
When I took over marketing at Kessler, I decided I would contract out most of our marketing, leaving my in-house team to determine the overall strategy, as well as manage and coordinate our partner’s efforts.
read more“ Stop competing for talent. Create your own farm team. ”
As hospitality leaders, we are competing against other management companies, brands, and digital agencies for the same dwindling talent pool. And that’s just in the hospitality space. We’re also competing with other, sometimes sexier, industries that can be more aggressive with their compensation packages.
read more“ How do some marketers get everything they want? ”
As an independent hotel, we’ve got a great advantage in the marketplace. We’re nimble. We can change directions at a moment’s notice and pivot when we need to pivot—unlike, say, a big brand.
read more“ Know where your customers are. Then meet them there. ”
As a hotel marketer, I can’t create demand. I can’t get people to stay at my hotel if they don’t want to visit our city. That was true before the pandemic. And it’s still true after. The good news is that creating demand is not my job.
read more“ We transformed a two-season hotel into a four-season destination. ”
There’s no getting around it—Cape Cod is a tough sell in the winter. But, the pandemic forced us to get creative. Really creative.
read more“ Hospitality needs a new kind of marketer. ”
As marketers, we live inside digital platforms. If you're not deeply in tune with digital trends and the technology, you can't build a meaningful marketing strategy.
read more“ We blew up the silos and never looked back. ”
Those infamous silos. We always hear about them. And we always hear about breaking them down. What needs to happen is a change in culture and that doesn’t need to be scary or painful for the organization.
read more“ You’ve got to deal in realities. The market is the market. ”
As hotel marketers, we have to deal with the realities of the market. I’ll be the first to admit, being a Trump branded hotel in the middle of extreme political polarization and the covid pandemic has not been easy. There’s no need to hide from it or sugar coat it.
read more“ Experience is the new commodity. ”
Whatever feelings you might have about Instagram, the smartphone explosion, or your friends that take pictures of everything, one thing is clear: people crave experiences.
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