stephanie smith
Developing a Social Media Plan for Your Hotel
Stephanie Sparks Smith | August 29, 2024
In the past article, we discussed who should be in charge of the social media for your hotel. Whether you are tasking your in-house team or outsourcing to an agency, resources must be determined to dedicate to social media. This includes resources of both time and money. Now, it is time to make and execute a plan. Developing a Content Strategy While you are likely to quickly post your upcoming holiday deal, slow down. A good rule of thumb is no more than 20% of your posts should be an offer. Think first of your audience. Who are your followers? What are the challenges you are solving for them? What do they care about? Many ...
Hospitality Organizations and Resources for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Stephanie Smith | March 25, 2024
By Stephanie Smith Previously, we published the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Defined article by Gissell Moronta, which gave you an understanding of the terminology and why DEI is important. The next step in learning more about DEI is to get involved. It doesn’t matter where you start, but you need to begin. We have compiled a comprehensive list of hospitality resources for you to get involved. Hospitality DEI Organizations These organizations outwardly support and create awareness for underrepresented communities in hospitality that allow anyone to participate. It is not applicable to organizations with internal departments or...
Create Your Hotel Digital Marketing Strategy Before Jumping Into Tactics
Stephanie Smith | March 1, 2024
By Stephanie Smith Owners and operators know the importance of online presence, however, they don’t always know how to efficiently and effectively impact revenue-generating change. Guests in the pre-booking phase, either transient or group, have so many touchpoints throughout their journey, where do we, as marketers, start? Understanding the Entire Online Space While we ideally want all guests to book direct on the first visit, there are many other places influencing their hotel selection process. Other realms are common, like OTAs (online travel agencies), social media, and Google. When you dig deeper, there are travel agencies, CVBs,...
HSMAI DC Panel Will Explore Six Need-to-Know Issues in Hospitality
HSMAI Washington DC Chapter | October 9, 2023
WASHINGTON (Oct. 9, 2023) – The Washington, D.C., chapter of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International today invited hospitality professionals from throughout the metropolitan area to attend its annual Directors Roundtable & Conference on Oct. 18 at the Washington Marriott Capitol Hill. The program will feature six top minds in the hospitality industry, who will engage the audience with presentations on artificial intelligence, talent acquisition, meeting planners, revenue growth, digital marketing and defining success. The guest speakers will be Michael Goldrich of The Hotels Network and Vivander Advisors, Lor...
Hotel Marketing KPIs Must Change to Achieve Commercial Strategy
Stephanie Sparks Smith | September 5, 2023
By Stephanie Smith If you are measuring your marketing success today the same way you did last year, you are not providing the value that your external stakeholders and ownership expect and that your internal business partners, like sales and revenue strategy, deserve. It is not enough anymore to measure how many guest rooms are booked per dollar spent on your paid marketing. Instead, focus your attention on two specific areas: Are my marketing plays moving the needle relative to the competition in the channels of business that are actually booking right now? Are the dollars invested really changing the overall revenue picture of t...
Hunter Hotel Investment Conference: Revenue Strategy Panel Recap
Stephanie Smith | March 30, 2023
By Stephanie Smith Our team at Cogwheel Marketing attended the 2023 annual Hunter Hotel Investment Conference for a consecutive year and we wanted to be sure to share with our network the 10 Key Takeaways we extracted after packing in 3 days of education, collaboration and relationship building with hotel industry experts. The Hunter Hotel Investment Conference welcomed attendees to Atlanta in March 2023. The revenue strategy panel included: Isaac Collazo (Moderator) of STR Alex Cisneros of Red Roof Inn Casi Johnson of M3 Kate Burda of Kate Burda and Company Sarah Williams of Intermountain Hotels 10 Key Takeaways...
Tiered Marketing Approach to Hotel Recovery
Stephanie Smith | February 18, 2021
By Stephanie Smith Hotel markets across the US are behaving differently. They are rebounding at a different pace. Even hotels within the same market are not seeing the same patterns. While you cannot predict the future, you still need a plan. A tiered plan will give you what you should be doing now, then when there are positive signals demand is returning, have that plan ready. Here is a 3-step approach to creating a plan that works for your specific situation. 1 – Analyze the Data While your own hotel reports will show you what segments are traveling to our hotel and your direct competitive set, that may not be forward looki...
How to Audit (and Fix) Hotel Tax Rates to Save a Few Bucks
October 22, 2020
By Stephanie Smith With the amount of uncertainty in the world due to COVID19, now more than ever hotels must fight for every dollar! There is no easy reservation today. One of the most overlooked ways hotels can reduce their losses is by ensuring the correct tax rates are reflected on both your own website and all Online Travel Agency [OTAs] websites. Although seemingly intuitive, the review process is often ignored and forgotten. Once implemented, hotels are instantly guaranteed a few cents per reservations – which can really add up over time! Do a Tax Audit Against Your Own Hotel Website Check with your finance department on what...
