Altitudes: a view of the highs and lows of travel marketing, and how we, as marketers, can level up the industry

The travel industry has long been built on the backbone of hospitality. Yet, as the traveler journey has become a predominately digital experience, somewhere along the way it has too closely mirrored product-based e-commerce models. That’s created a mis-alignment between travel marketers and travelers ripe for opportunity—starting with a commitment to build stronger traveler relationships.

Contributors

Zach Stovall
Senior Creative Strategist, Flip.to

Andrew Ladd
VP Marketing, Noble House Hotels & Resorts

Transcript

Zach Stovall: Hi, I'm Zach Stovall with the Thought Starters Podcast. Today I'm with Andrew Ladd, Vice President of Marketing for Noble House Hotels & Resorts. Thanks for being here, Andrew.

Andrew Ladd: Thank you, Zach. It’s great to be here.

Zach: Yeah. So you're new to the position and I know you're feeling super confident about it. Obviously, there's a lot that comes with being the Vice President of Marketing, but bringing your own ideas to the table and executing them and watching them be fruitful is obviously one of the best parts of the job. So tell me a little bit about your marketing philosophy and how you feel about the customer experience and how you can enhance it.

Andrew: Well, marketing philosophy—I mean, in today's day and age in the hospitality world, I think we reference the word omnichannel a lot, right? So I think being able to meet your customer where they are is a very integral part of what we do, and something that hospitality is getting better at but not great at. And, you know, my personal approach has been, at least over the last few years, to really gain a lot of insights on how other vertical markets approach marketing in general and bring that to hospitality.

I think in general, you know, hospitality does a good job of applying the marketing tactics across, but I think we have a lot to learn and a lot to improve upon from other verticals. So overall, my philosophy involves the omni channel approach, meeting your customers where they are, understanding who they are and hopefully bringing a level of personalization and taking that step to really incorporate that into the stay.

Overall, I think hospitality and hotels going back to really the dawn of time and how hotels have operated is providing a level of personalized service, right? And I think, you know, it's interesting that as the digital world has evolved, we, I think, found that there was a level of disconnect that naturally happened over time with e-commerce, and some of that personalization and being able to speak to guests on a one-on-one level was lost because we started merchandising and bulk selling rooms through OTA’s and through wholesale channels.

And in some of that, you know, again, we lost the opportunity to bring a level of personalization. So I think where we should move as an industry—and I believe a lot of people are working towards this—and, you know, the high level five star B&B breakfast or B&B operations are much better at it than say, you know, a 300 room resort. But providing a sense of we know you.

Zach: And tell me, how does technology you play a role in creating a more personalized experience for your guests?

Andrew: Yeah, you know, it plays a very vital role and I think one that again, hospitality—we're incrementally improving—and I think we have a long way to go from where we are now and where it should be in order to personalize that experience. Technology plays a big role in all of those different touchpoints across the guest journey, so it brings great opportunities for our hotels to elevate their brands, provide consistency in both brand esthetic and also consistent, you know, memorability and giving—hopefully—the guests a sense that they had a vacation worthwhile. Now there is more to be done. Yeah, I think, you know where you want to get to and where we hope to get to someday is really where you're speaking to, a guest on a one-on-one level, consistently throughout all those guest—or those touchpoints. From pre-arrival to onsite, you know, how—if they are a repeat guest being able to provide some touch points that showcase the fact that we do remember them, and we are elevating their experience because we remember them.

And I think, you know, sometimes we have a tendency to overcomplicate this thought process, right? I think sometimes what personalization is can feel overwhelming to any property. But sometimes I think we need to be better about utilizing technology to just improve that in-stay experience at a simple level.

Zach: Yeah, absolutely. Tell me about getting into authentic conversations with your guests. How are you doing that and what kind of data points are you finding?

Andrew: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of different things that we're doing at this point to to activate the authentic conversation. And one of the things that we've recently started to employ across several of our our website experiences is the Flip.to Discovery journey. So what this enables us to do is learn more about the guest at the forefront of their buying decision.

And you know, as they go through this journey, they will give us certain data points that will allow us to understand when they're traveling, you know, a level of personalization with the first name and an email address. And then it gives us that opportunity to follow up and see if, you know, if they do, they don't end up booking on their first time through the booking engine that they can come back to a personalized experience and we remember who they are.

So I think that's a really integral part of, you know, creating a conversation nearly at a one-to-one level with the guest that is still in the pre-buying phase of the journey and one that in my mind, you know, throughout the e-commerce journeys in the past, we haven't been able to do very well. I think there's been a lot of technology employed that, you know, if you look at cart abandonment, for example—cart abandonment provides an opportunity, but that also means that the guest has to get all the way into the end points of making a purchase, and having dropped their email address. So that is a buyer that is pretty well intent on making a purchase.

Zach: Well, I know how I purchase, you know, a hotel stay. And I'm looking at that site and I'm looking at other sites and it's happening weeks before I actually get to the point where I put my email address in anywhere.

Andrew: Exactly. Exactly. So how do you influence that person that’s still in the buying decision phase, right? So if they've reached your website, they've got some brand knowledge, right? They're certainly interested in staying at your hotel, at your location, certainly the destination as a whole. But I found it interesting that, you know, in the e-commerce world where our our focus has been and as the technology develops and, you know, speaking statistically as we know, we get about between one and 3% conversion rate, right, depending on the property, seasonality, all those different factors.

So man, that that's, you know, 97% to 99% of those people that we have an opportunity with. So how well, how are we trying to re-engage those folks and bring them back into the booking funnel? And I think there's been a lot of tactics, you know, that have been put out there that have been successful. You know, if you look at re-marketing ads with Google or Bing or whatever medium you want to utilize, you know, and then you're able to attach the Facebook Pixel and you can hit them on that channel as well. But speaking to them on a one-to-one level has not been something that's been very successful up to this point.

Zach: And that's what really hospitality is all about. I mean, if you think about hospitality, in the old days, the general managers, you know, they’re on property is standing in the lobby greeting guests as they come in and out. And really not even in the old days. That still happens today. But, you know, once you're on property, it's that one-to-one experience.

Andrew: Exactly, right? In this digital age, you have to hopefully convey that sense of hospitality through your e-commerce opportunity. And this, you know, with Discovery, we've found that we're able to warm up the conversation, you know, and make it feel more inviting to, to go through that booking journey. And, you know, sometimes I think this has been the interesting confluence between e-commerce and marketing, right?

I think sometimes in the e-commerce world, we're very focused on getting that person through the buying process with the least amount of friction possible, because people are impatient and they want to make the purchase; they want to buy. But I think there's also something to be considered within that—in that, as you pointed out earlier—in creating an authentic conversation, right?

Where's the warmth? Where's the sense of, again, kind of repeating this word, but hospitality, that this is going to be a great experience. So if we're able to—and we are able to—at least begin those conversations in a way that showcases some level of, you know, customer service, I think that gives us a real leg up.

Zach: Yeah, and it shows what people can expect once they arrive to property, because that level of personalization, personalization will continue once they arrive. So I think it's important for them to have that, you know, at the very outset of their experience.

Andrew: It feels like it's coming from an individual at the property. Yeah, feels like you're talking to me as an individual. And more than anything, I think to increase conversion, guests want to feel like you're talking to them.

Zach: They want to feel special. They don't want to feel like part of a marketing list.

Andrew: A hundred percent! And you know, it's interesting, like—over the last three years, especially—four years now that we're into 2024, you know, one of the biggest issues in hospitality has been staffing. You know, we we want, I think, nothing more in the hotel business to provide that level of service. But it is also very difficult at scale.

With that issue of being able to staff appropriately, how can we fill that gap? And technology is giving us an opportunity to hopefully start filling some of that gap. It'll never make up for the human touch, you know, as we know and that in-person touch. But I think as we develop these customer journeys and these unique customer journeys, the personalization in top of mind, it does give us that chance to at least convey that you are being talked to as a person.

Zach: Absolutely. You mentioned earlier one of the things the industry is missing is the personalization on the digital side. Is there anything else that we're missing as an industry that we kind of need to open our eyes to?

Andrew: Mmm, this is something that, you know, coming into a marketing specific role that I really am passionate about. When you look at how other industries approach marketing, we hear the term CDP more and more in today's day and age, and CDP’s—Customer Data Platform—have existed in other vertical markets like retail for ten plus years. Right? So again, unfortunately, this is a scenario where hospitality has been slow to adopt primarily because of, you know, the complexity of systems that exist, right?

And I think—I think technology partners are starting to recognize that and see, you know, that there is an opportunity for companies to really jump in here and create something great for our industry. So I really am hopeful and I see some things on the horizon that are that are bringing that hope that we can get to a point where we are communicating with our guests via automated journeys, and still with a degree of personalization and understanding who they are with the help of a CDP.

And I think AI is going to play a big, big part in that, and being able to knock down these data silos that exist within our our industry and provide real groundbreaking opportunities to further the marketing funnel. I mean, you can, you know, you can start to imagine what that might look like someday. And I've seen a few people toss around some ideas, and I think it's really exciting.

But you start to think about, you know, understanding who a guest is as they go through the journey, and being able to communicate with them on every channel that they, you know, that they shop on or are on digitally and hopefully pull them back through the funnel. And then also through all of those signals that are being acquired, and obviously built upon throughout different conversations, you're able to incorporate those into the actual stay on property.

You know, to a degree. Is that kind of creepy? Maybe? But the interesting thing is that like as long as you're providing value to a guest, right, more often than not, they're willing to give you their personal information.

Zach: As long as you're doing something that benefits the guest.

Andrew: It's all as when you're taking the information and you're not giving anything back that people might have a problem with, right? I think in hospitality, it's a real opportunity. You know, man, we could make these these vacations so, so amazing for people, you know, understanding what their likes and wants are before they even arrive on property. So it's exciting. But we have a long ways to go.

Zach: And you sound like the guy to get us there. So Andrew Ladd, Vice President of Marketing with Noble House Resorts & Hotels, thank you so much for all of your insight. Great talking to you today, and hope to

Andrew: Awesome. Thanks, Zach. I appreciate the time.

Zach: All right. Take care.

I want to thank Andrew Ladd of Noble House for giving us another great Thought Starter. If you liked this video, be sure to check out some of our other Thought Starters.