Flip.to joins Choice Hotels as a Qualified Vendor (QV) to directly help franchises accelerate growth and drive profitability

Choice Hotels brings access to the Flip.to marketing platform to its U.S. hotels across 13 brands


Orlando, FL and Rockville, MD | August 3, 2023Flip.to, the marketing platform that helps reach, inspire, and win over travelers, is excited to announce it is now a Choice Hotels® Qualified Vendor (QV). The development lets Choice’s portfolio of legacy brands in the U.S. tap Flip.to to drive direct channel growth and convert LTR to revenue growth with impact tracked to reservations and in real time.

“We’re aimed at reimagining travel marketing. Inspiration is at the core of everything we build, and that’s something that resonates with Choice Hotels.” shared Jessica Bush Aslanian, VP, Commercial for Flip.to. “That’s because by getting into meaningful conversations with potential travelers around their interests, ultimately brands can better acquire guests. And since we track directly to revenue, it’s both entirely new and measurably impactful—a win-win.”

The big goal is to increase profitability by converting audiences across the traveler journey. In the dreaming phase, hotels start by reaching and inspiring a right-fit audience with the help of past guests. And in the planning phase, properties spark conversations with travelers deciding where to go next to increase conversion.

For Choice franchises who want to start reaching millions of dreamers, with the goal of driving double-digit conversion increases of planners in ways that are great for both brand and travelers, learn more about Flip.to at http://flip.to, or reach out directly to Flip.to at choicesupport@flip.to.

New Headshot of Jessica Bush Aslanian

CONTACT

Jessica Bush Aslanian
VP, Commercial, Flip.to
jaslanian@flip.to


About Flip.to | Flip.to is a marketing platform that helps reach, inspire, and win over travelers with a reimagined approach that’s centered on authenticity and trust.

From inspiring a massive, new, right-fit audience with the help of past travelers, to sparking conversations with planners deciding where to go next—Flip.to’s out-of-the-box platform inspires growth, increases conversion, and tracks impact directly to revenue, all in real-time—and that’s just the start.

To learn more and start a conversation, visit https://flip.to/

Flip.to positions for scale with the appointment of product growth expert, Jon Ruggles, as Director, Partnerships

Jon Ruggles

Orlando, Florida, June 5, 2023Flip.to, the marketing platform to reach, inspire, and win over travelers, is pleased to announce the appointment of industry veteran Jon Ruggles as Director, Partnerships.

Tapped to bring his extensive experience from partnerships and product management to enterprise relationships and growth, his strategic vision will help accelerate the use of the Flip.to platform around the globe.

Ruggles joins a team that’s delivering measurable, real-time impact to its customers; inspiring growth that’s as profitable-as-possible for destinations, groups, hotels and vacation rentals on the platform.

The appointment comes at a pivotal time for Flip.to. After rolling out and now expanding impact with Visit North Carolina, Margaritaville Hotels and Resorts, and Graduate Hotels, the platform continues to gain traction. Flip.to is currently launching and rolling out with the brand and 100+ distinctive properties that are part of Curator Hotels & Resorts, as well as joining as a new Qualified Vendor with Choice Hotels.

Flip.to and Ruggles have collaborated for more than a decade, with Ruggles first introduced to the platform as a part of a mission to bring actionable intelligence to the CRM space. He is excited to reignite the relationship with Flip.to and to shape the hospitality industry and the communities it supports.

“Hospitality is an industry that builds a reputation on service, kindness and proactive delight. I’m impressed at the way Flip.to stokes that delight through innovation and a platform that’s reimagining marketing for travel. Not just in an iterative way, but in a giant leap driven by market need. It really is in a category of its own, and I’m thankful and privileged to come back and drive this platform to explosive growth,” said Ruggles.

“We’re thrilled to reconnect, and count Jon as a member of the Flip.to team,” said Ed St. Onge, president of Flip.to. “Together we’re aiming to help inspire a world of travelers, in a way that’s great for the hospitality industry and their local communities.

With Ruggles’ leadership and Flip.to’s platform to improve marketing and bottom-line growth, destinations, lodging partners, and their communities will connect with and inspire travelers in entirely new ways.

For more on how travel brands grow with Flip.to, visit http://flip.to. To get in touch with Jon Ruggles about partnerships and commercial needs, reach out directly at jruggles@flip.to.

CONTACTS

Jon Ruggles
Director, Partnerships, Flip.to
jruggles@flip.to

Diane Van Leunen
VP, Marketing + Strategy, Flip.to
dvanleunen@flip.to


About Flip.to | Flip.to is a marketing platform that helps reach, inspire, and win over travelers with a reimagined approach that’s centered on authenticity and trust.

From inspiring a massive, new, right-fit audience with the help of past travelers, to sparking conversations with planners deciding where to go next—Flip.to’s out-of-the-box platform inspires growth, increases conversion, and tracks impact directly to revenue, all in real-time—and that’s just the start.

To learn more and start a conversation, visit https://flip.to/

Marketing reimagined—how Intracoastal Vacation Rentals is growing a right-fit audience and driving direct revenue

For any travel brand, finding a right-fit audience to inspire with the right message at the right time can be costly. That’s because dominant players often consume the travel industry’s profits, and many accommodation providers have the odds stacked against them.

That’s why reaching and inspiring travelers in the dreaming phase is a critical marketing goal—where you can tap a right-fit audience before their competitors even have a chance.

In North Carolina, Intracoastal Vacation Rentals‘ Business Development Director, Trisha Howarth, speaks to the hurdles—

“The biggest challenge of professional rental agencies is growing brand awareness and retention of the renter. We want to keep renters booking directly with the agency versus other online platforms.”

IVR has 180 rentals spread along the beach islands between Bald Head Island and Wrightsville Beach. Last year, Trisha’s vacation rental group joined NorthCarolinaBound—a collaborative of accommodation providers across the state aimed at driving direct revenue for the travel industry—to reach more travelers at the lowest cost possible.

Advocacy in the dreaming phase

Photo submission from Jason L., showing a man and woman walking on a path swinging their toddler son.

“Building a clientele that continues to come back and rent through the agency year after year is really important. We’ve found a good way to do that is to grow our audience through Flip.to’s Advocacy platform.”

Through Advocacy, past guests introduce vacation rental groups to friends and family—a like-minded audience of similar demographics. With each passing guest, their properties are continually introduced to more travelers, swelling their audiences.

From there, the platform reaches the traveler at their point of inspiration in a one-to-one conversation that’s nurtured to fill the marketing funnel and help warm leads convert.

Infographic: A look at Impact, 180 days of Advocacy. 260 Storytellers shared their greatest travel memories; 160k friends & family introduced to the rental company; 6k warm leads in conversation-a perfect demographic

Discovery in the planning phase

The second part of the platform reaches travelers in a completely different traveler phase. Discovery sparks conversations with planners who land on IVR’s site, ready to book a trip.

Photo submission from Karen V., showing 5 children inside a Cape Fear Station wood boat in front of palmetto tree thicket

The platform unveils these planners, learns about their intent and shopping window, and re-engages the planner along the decision-making journey to win them over.

“Discovery is helpful because it shows what resonates with our audience—what they’re searching for and how to engage them with the right message. It’s really going to help us with conversion.”

Infographic: A look at Impact, 90 days of Discovery for Intracoastal Vacation Rentals. 725 planners unveiled considering a stay with the rental company; 36 room nights booked attributed to returning planners; $33k in additional direct revenue earned, tracked in real-time

Visit North Carolina’s contribution

For a boutique agency like IVR, NorthCarolinaBound—sponsored by Visit North Carolina—is making a difference.

“VisitNC and the NorthCarolinaBound partnership is building an audience for the state of North Carolina, and helping smaller agencies engage in a platform that may otherwise be unaffordable for them. It’s really a win-win—helping everyone level up.”

Maximizing VR potential

Flip.to builds product with vacation rentals in mind. From learning a traveler’s individual interests, to taking into account booking policies that guide planners on when to stay, the platform is designed to eliminate friction for a smooth and intuitive user experience.

“Flip.to is constantly working to take care of exceptions, so I find they’re really attuned to working with the vacation rental market. They’re certainly on the right track, and will continue to improve the product.”

Photo submission from Alfons B., showing silhouettes of 2 boys, a teen with a younger sibling, running into the sunset on the beach

Better marketing, bigger results

For marketers, time matters. That’s why Advocacy keeps inspiring dreamers with only minutes of time per week, while Discovery continually wins over planners with almost no input needed.
As part of NorthCarolinaBound, Trisha is filling her marketing funnel with a high-quality audience through better conversations with travelers. This more authentic approach to marketing leads to a lower cost of acquisition for her audience, and with direct bookings, to higher revenue.


If you’re ready to reach, inspire and win over travelers with an approach centered on authenticity and trust, give us a shout—we’re excited to kick off.

Authentic conversations with travelers help Kingsmill Resort drive conversion and deliver higher revenue

Authentic conversations with a right-fit audience of potential travelers are central to the marketing strategy at Kingsmill Resort, led by Julie O’Neil, Director of Marketing and Public Relations.

“In addition to growing our Membership program, a good portion of my job is to fill the resort’s marketing funnel with new and repeat guests, and build brand awareness for the property,” says Julie, whose sales and marketing career has taken her from theme park to DMO, and now to the property side. Kingsmill caters to a diverse audience, as Julie shares,

“We get a nice mix of families, couples and groups throughout the year. When attractions like Busch Gardens and Water Country USA are open for the season, we obviously see more families. Groups often immerse themselves in our on-property amenities, like our Plantation and River golf courses.

What’s best about Kingsmill is the wide open green space. We don’t have a towering main building; just low density condominiums thoughtfully dispersed throughout the community.”

Landscape orientation photo of Kingsmill Resort grounds and building in summer. The resort sits in the background with a pond and lush green grass in the foreground.
Originally developed by ubiquitous brewing company, Anheuser-Busch, the resort sits atop 2,900 sprawling acres along the placid James River in Williamsburg, Virginia. Championship golf courses, a luxurious spa, in situ restaurants, and seasonal watersports make it a destination unto itself. Though the property is also at the doorstep of Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg.

The resort thrives mostly on a drive market, the radius of which has expanded since the pandemic. Regardless of the demographic she would like to reach, Flip.to helps to grow a right-fit audience for Julie daily, and sparks the right kind of conversations Kingsmill needs to help win-over travelers.

As a direct result of better conversations, the platform has generated a whopping 360x return on investment in just one year:

Infographic: A look at Impact, 1 year for Kingsmill Resort. 400K friends and family reached thanks to 516 storytellers; 45K planners unveiled considering a stay at Kingsmill Resort; $2.3M in direct revenue earned tracked in real-time

Advocacy in the dreaming phase

Kingsmill’s owned audience has grown as their reach continues to swell through Advocacy’s storytellers. It’s a sign that authentic marketing resonates.

“Word of mouth marketing, and stories from guests are extremely important. The Flip.to platform really helps build awareness in an authentic way,” says Julie. “The guest stories we get help connect future travelers to a moment—celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, girls’/guys’ weekends—whatever may be important to them.”

Reaching travelers at the point of inspiration is crucial to filling Julie’s funnel. Plus, Kingsmill Resort’s growing audience has been introduced by friends and family of current and past guests, making them an ideal look-alike demographic.

From there, the platform nurtures Kingsmill’s audience until they convert, contributing to direct revenue.

Photo submission from Tyler B., showing a man and woman smiling outside in front of springtime cherry blossoms.

Discovery in the planning phase

In a different segment of the journey, Discovery sparks conversations with travelers in the planning phase. The goal is to learn more about visitors who land on the resort’s site, understand their intent, and win them over.

Discovery unveils these planners, and very accurately reveals their travel window, so they’re no longer anonymous web visitors on an unknown path. The platform re-engages along the traveler’s decision-making journey—at the right time and with the right message—to help win them over for Kingsmill.

This largely works without input from Julie, increasing conversion at the bottom of the funnel and contributing to direct revenue—all while freeing her time for more laborious tasks.

Photo submission from Kevin K., showing 3 generations of an African American family smiling at the camera while seated outside on a patio. Quote on photo reads Recreating the same photo from 2 years ago. We always spend our last night at Kingsmill enjoying a meal on the patio at James Landing Grille. We talk about our highlights from the week and what we want to do on our next visit to Kingsmill.

Better marketing nets bigger results

The combination of Advocacy and Discovery for Kingsmill Resort led to an incredible $2.3 million in direct revenue in 2022, which proves that a funnel filled with a qualified audience, and authentic conversations around travelers’ wants, ultimately leads to bigger revenue.

That kind of victory is worthy of an ice-cold beer.


If you’d like Flip.to to spark better conversations with your travelers, and increase your conversion at the same time, we’d love to hear from you.

Ignite your marketing: How The Osthoff harnessed conversations with a warm audience to spark huge return

Previously, Adam Hartenberger of The Osthoff Resort shared how Flip.to turned him from skeptic to success story. Next, we’re looking at how Adam and team paired up with partner Revinate to put insight from the platform to work for another level up.

First, let’s recap how we got here.

Discovery for The Osthoff

The Flip.to platform strikes up conversations to win over planners and ultimately increase revenue. To recap, in just ninety days, here’s what The Osthoff tallied. 📈

Infographic: A look at Impact, 90 days on Discovery for the Osthoff Resort. 12K planners unveiled and shared their intent; 635 room nights booked, attributed to returning planners; $219K direct incremental revenue, tracked in real-time

The Osthoff is growing a massive, highly qualified audience. From there, The Osthoff aimed to increase the value of that audience—tapping Revinate and their Reservation Sales solution to do just that.

Pairing up with reservation sales

As the summer months approached, Adam identified a need period that he aimed to give a boost. With Discovery, he was able to identify a warm audience whose intent matched that need. From there, Adam worked with Revinate to set this audience on a longer-tail nurturing journey that ultimately delivered through to their sales call center.

Photo submission from Kim Q., showing a The Osthoff Resort sign with a couple and a family of 3 standing on either side of the sign.

The result? A home run. In fact, Adam’s campaign was so successful, The Osthoff’s call center asked him to hit pause.

“We started our nurtures in mid-July, and we had a summer campaign all built out, ready to go. We turned it on, and the reservations manager called. She said, ‘I don’t know what you guys are doing, but turn it off.’ Because all of a sudden, we’re having 1,500 conversations a week with people who are legitimately qualified, and they’re calling back!”

That’s when Adam realized he was really on to something. They dialed back their approach for that summer season, and instead, used the nurtures to feed a record fall.

“We start off with a welcome message—’Thank you for looking at us.’ We include some great imagery from the season they’re looking to stay. Then we explain why it’s good to stay at our property during that time….

I’m talking about hiking, rejuvenating in the spa, golf, etcetera.”

If you’re a planner, a message like this helps you pick up right where you left off with the Osthoff.

Photo submission from Matt V., showing 2 women and a man drinking warm beverages out of Christmas stocking cups at an outdoor Christmas market.

Sparking other creative approaches

Adam and the marketing team at the Osthoff aren’t settling there. They’re already looking ahead to continue amplifying impact—the exact kind of creativity that really moves the needle.

“As we come into a year of [Discovery], our next strategy is to remarket—because we know what your shopping window was last year. Let’s just replicate that. Let’s get two weeks ahead of that this year, and get in front of you at the proper time.”

Injecting hospitality into digital marketing

Too often, hotel marketing tends to be about the needs of the property, and not the wants and travel intent of the audience. Instead, Adam’s team is precisely on the right track, learning from the insights of their travelers to have conversations with planners about the things they were interested in.

The highly qualified audience Discovery is delivering makes those conversations especially potent, and ultimately leads to better conversion. Adam’s extraordinary results are proof positive.

If you missed the first part of The Osthoff story, read why marketing your hotel is far more than selling a room. 


Discovery was built to spark better conversations with travelers. And better marketing ultimately nets better results—all the way to revenue

If you’re ready to reach, inspire and win over travelers with an approach centered on authenticity and trust, give us a shout—we’re excited to kick off.

How Visit NC is supercharging one resort’s marketing, while lifting the entire community to a more profitable future

In the heart of North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad, Christina York is the Director of Sales and Marketing for the 244-room Grandover Resort & Spa. She leads a small, but mighty team on the sales side, and an even smaller team on the marketing side.

Deployed as part of the first-of-its-kind NorthCarolinaBound collaborative, Flip.to’s out-of-the-box platform is built with hoteliers like Christina in mind. We do all the heavy lifting, so properties like Grandover get started with a copy-&-paste, and spend only a few minutes per week—yet net incredible impact.

Here’s what that looks like for Christina.

The results

The Flip.to platform is moving the needle for Grandover Resort & Spa with a minimal investment of time spent behind the scenes.

Infographic: A look at Impact, 90 days for Grandover Resort & Spa. 26K friends and family reached who are the perfect demographic; 11.4K planners unveiled considering a stay at the Grandover Resort & Spa; $102K in direct revenue earned tracked in real-time

Sponsored by Visit North Carolina, lodging partners across the state are joining the NorthCarolinaBound collaborative at no cost to them. And in Greensboro, Christina is grateful to have the platform working for her.

It’s acting as an extension of her marketing efforts, introducing the resort to travelers in the inspiration and dreaming phase through Advocacy, and sparking conversations with planners in the booking phase through Discovery.

Photo submission from Yvette G., showing 3 African American ladies enjoying their spa day in terry robes and stylish sunglasses

Lightweight by design

As a full-service, independent resort surrounded by 36 holes of golf, Grandover is an unexpected find in Greensboro. “It’s not the first place people think about going for a vacation,” explains Christina.

Yet, there’s a strong drive market within a six-hour radius, to which the platform has introduced over 26,000 potential travelers in the past 90 days. “These are people we would not have reached without Flip.to,” she added. “Every time I look at the dashboard, I’m like, ‘Hey, this is working. This is cool!'”

Photo submission from Hart F., showing 4 caucasian males on a golf green smiling at the camera.

From the start of NCBound, the Flip.to team made things turnkey for Christina.

“The onboarding process was tremendous. The service from the Flip.to folks was really amazing, and they walked us through very patiently. There was lots of education and hand-holding once we were all set up and going.”

Customer Success representative, Sam Gedihovich, is a great part of Grandover’s success. She keeps an eye on the resort’s efforts, and strategizes next moves, preserving Christina’s time for other tasks.

Why NCBound?

Visit NC is making this technology possible—supercharging Christina’s marketing while she’s executing her day-to-day—and lifting the entire community to compete for a larger share of travelers.

“I have really good feelings about Visit NC, and what they’re doing. They’re proactive, and I’m always surprised by the initiatives they take. They always seem to be onto creative things.”

If you’d like to be a part of something bigger in the North Carolina community, join NCBound here.

Why marketing your hotel is far more than selling a room

“The least important thing when booking a hotel reservation is the hotel room,” says Adam Hartenberger, which sums up a bold marketing ethos. In the ever-changing world of hotel marketing, the statement guides Adam’s open-minded approach to stay ahead of the curve.

“I think where a lot of hoteliers get lost is the one thing that most hoteliers sell on—hotel rooms. And really when you think about your vacation, most people can’t explain the hotel room they stayed in. They talk about the things they went on vacation to do.”

As Assistant Director of Marketing at The Osthoff Resort, Adam focuses on the experiences his lakeside resort in Wisconsin offers. As part of that effort, he relies on Flip.to to drive those experiential conversations with future guests. In fact, his team has become one of the most creative users of the platform to date.

3 photos sitting side by side. Photo submission from Jennifer B., showing 2 boys and 1 girl in swimsuits smiling at camera while sitting on a stone bench. Photo submission from Maria B., showing 2 women smiling at the camera. Both are holding champagne flutes and the younger woman has a bride-to-be sash, tiara. Photo submission from Stephanie C., showing a guy on one knee proposing to a woman at a lake shore

Sparking conversations with traveler planners

After Advocacy proved very effective in inspiring dreamers, Adam was introduced to the newest part of the platform by Flip.to’s Account Executive for Customer Success, Joseph Meuse.

Discovery is a reimagined booking path built to spark more meaningful conversations with travelers in the planning phase. Though Adam was intrigued, he admits he was a skeptic at first.

“When Joe [from Flip.to] pitched us on Discovery, he said, ‘Watch the numbers. Your conversion percentage is going to increase.’ I’m just thinking in my head, ‘Joe, there’s no way that’s going to happen. Joe, you’re asking people for their email. They’re just going to exit out. That’s not going to happen.'”

Until it did. Discovery helped the Osthoff learn about their travelers’ intent, unveil who they are, and re-engage them around their interests.

In just ninety days, here’s what The Osthoff tallied. 📈

Infographic: A look at Impact, 90 days on Discovery for the Osthoff Resort. 12K planners unveiled and shared their intent; 635 room nights booked, attributed to returning planners; $219K direct incremental revenue, tracked in real-time

The pursuit of audience growth

At the point The Osthoff switched on Discovery, Adam’s biggest goal to follow revenue was audience growth. He shared,

“We didn’t really—even at that point—understand what it was going to do. We didn’t realize how many people were going to our website, and how many people we could genuinely open up a conversation with.”

Once Discovery was fully live, the resort was seeing incredible audience growth.

“Going in, I honestly thought we were going to get like eight percent [of unveils]. Last time we checked it was forty-one percent!”

It’s proof that engaging planners in better conversations around their intent, and bringing the principles of hospitality into the online experience drives better results.

Other insights from Discovery

Screencapture of Flip.to showing Discovery engagement numbers for Osthoff Resort

On top of driving top line revenue, Discovery is giving Adam the real-time insights of travelers on The Osthoff’s site, including when travelers are looking to book. Those signals helped Adam identify previously unrecognized seasonal demand.

“We noticed that we had way more people looking at our website for dates that weren’t summer. We really didn’t think fall was a big thing for us. But we had a record breaking fall all of the sudden, because we found that there were really a lot of people searching for those dates.”

Adam was able to focus the efforts of his marketing team based on these learnings from Discovery.

“I now have data about when people are really looking to stay with us this year. I know that 40-ish percent of people unveil. If we just use some assumptive math, we can figure out the demand on our website. From a revenue perspective, that’s huge.

From a marketing perspective, I also know when people are shopping. I know what their booking window is. I know the dates they’re shopping. Most importantly, I have their email address to give them information about their shopping journey.”

The immediate takeaway from Adam’s bold new approach is if you do a really good job speaking to the individual interests of each traveler, you’ll likely be the top choice for their place to stay.

But Adam’s story doesn’t end here. Adam and his team took nurturing the extra mile—harnessing conversations with a warm audience to spark a huge return.


Discovery was built to spark better conversations with travelers. And better marketing ultimately nets better results.

If you’re ready to reach, inspire and win over travelers with an approach that centered on authenticity and trust, give us a shout—we’re excited to kick off.

Flip.to names dynamic hospitality technology leader, Jessica Bush Aslanian, as VP, Commercial

Headshot of Jessican Bush Aslanian

Orlando, FL — July 14, 2022 — Flip.to, the marketing platform that helps reach, inspire, and win over travelers in reimagined ways, today announced the appointment of 30-year travel industry veteran Jessica Bush Aslanian as vice president of commercial.

Aslanian is a results-driven, senior leader with expertise delivering large-scale product solutions. As VP, commercial, Aslanian will lead the charge to inspire growth for destinations, brands, groups, hotels and vacation rentals, letting them tap their best audiences with an approach centered on authenticity and trust.

For brands and groups, Aslanian will help execute on strategy to win over new travelers at a massive scale, and drive growth that’s as-profitable-as-possible. In the destination space, she’ll put the platform to work to inspire the trajectory of travelers—a win for the hospitality industry and the communities it supports.

“Jessica brings more to the table than her experience heading up enterprise relationships, although she’s got that, too,” shared Ed St. Onge, president of Flip.to. “She has a proven track record of measured success in operations and partnerships to drive impact in the most meaningful ways possible. She’ll play an instrumental role in fueling the growth of both our customers, and our company.”

The announcement comes as Flip.to ramps up, gaining momentum in the last year with enterprise launches that include Visit North Carolina, Margaritaville Hotels and Resorts, Graduate Hotels, and more. Aslanian will help shape Flip.to’s products and solutions to meet the needs of these commercial organizations.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the team at Flip.to at this exciting time, supporting growth across all of hospitality in a way that’s both measurable and immediately impactful,” added Aslanian. “Flip.to has always been at the leading edge of travel and I’m looking forward to being a part of their success.”

For more on how travel brands grow with Flip.to, visit http://flip.to. To get in touch with Jessica Bush Aslanian about your commercial needs, reach out directly at jaslanian@flip.to.

A first of its kind collaborative is off to a great start in North Carolina

How it started

Earlier this year we shared our excitement to launch NorthCarolinaBound as the first state-wide destination collaborative of its kind. Through this partnership, Visit North Carolina is leading the charge to bring massive value to regional destinations and its lodging industry.

How it’s going

Since our announcement, we’ve been working to onboard an enthusiastic group of folks from independent hotels to branded groups, vacation rentals, and even regional destinations.

Infographic: In just five months since announcing the collaborative, here’s who’s on board. 16 regional destinations working together to level up their markets, 155 lodging partners winning over travelers in the dreaming and planning phases, 17,000+ lodging rooms a significant percentage of the state's inventory working in unison.

From the dreaming phase to the planning phase, Flip.to is helping North Carolina’s properties spark conversations that build relationships and win over travelers.

A variety of screenshots of various guest stories and photos from Sanderling Resort guests

Sanderling Resort is winning at the Dreaming Phase.

231K friends and family reached in 90 days.

Screenshots of Grandover's Discovery stats and Discovery Planner Flow

The Grandover Resort & Spa is crushing it in the Planning Phase.

In 90 days, 3,000 planners unveiled, which led to $30K in direct revenue earned.

Photo submission from Jay M., showing a small chihuahua in the back of an SUV looking out of the open hatchback at the sunset as its owner is laying camping next to him. Jay's photo says 'My favorite North Carolina moment was watching an amazing sunset with my best friend on the Blue Ridge Parkway.'

On the statewide level, Visit North Carolina is creating impact for everyone.

385,000 friends and family reached—a new, right-fit audience—and 8,000 planners unveiled, who are considering a trip to NC.

Screenshots of the Visit NC 'Take only stories, leave only footprints' campaign invitation page

Visit North Carolina’s Take Only Stories, Leave Only Footprints campaign is currently introducing the state to a trove of enthusiasts interested in outdoor adventure, and bringing added awareness to Outdoor NC’s “Leave No Trace” principles.

Flip.to’s other partners in NorthCarolinaBound are setting up for massive impacts too, and as the groundswell builds, it’s going to be a major win for everyone in the state of North Carolina.

Working to help everyone

“It’s our mission to drive meaningful growth to the tourism industry with innovation that provides measurable impact.

NorthCarolinaBound delivers directly to our destination and lodging partners in all 100 counties while engaging with travelers in positive ways,” said Wit Tuttell, director of Visit NC.

By working together at scale, Flip.to and Visit North Carolina are leading the state to a more profitable future. We continue to add more partners, and grow a collaborative that’s stronger with each passing day.


If you’re a member of the North Carolina lodging industry or a regional destination, give us a shout. We’d love to welcome you into this unique collaborative.

Open mic: help travelers enrich their time, and they’ll be willing to give you more of it

Travel marketing is so much more than selling rooms–it’s selling time. When you help a traveler enrich their time, they’ll be willing to give you more of it.

And with deep roots in the community, independent hotels are uniquely positioned as hosts to help travelers maximize their time. And more time leads to better profitability.

That’s why Ed St. Onge and Hal Fickett from our team recently joined Trevor Stuart-Hill and Catherine Smagala of Revenue Matters as part of our open mic jam session.

Take a peek at a few top highlights from our conversation. 🎙️


Video 1: Building traveler relationships + the why

“…the reason you want to sell the experience is to ultimately sell more time.”

Elevate destination experiences with the community

To help you showcase your property’s destination and its experiences, put to work relationships with past guests, your team, local businesses, and if you have one, your destination marketing organization.

These resources can help you crowdsource the experiences that ultimately help win over new audiences of travelers.


Video 2: Elevate destination experiences with the community

“If you want to stick out amongst your competitive set, be the best source of knowing your community.”

Maximize your role as host, online and off

Once armed with the experiences around your community, use them to win over planners on your site in the consideration phase.

Showcase stories from guests not only enjoying their time at your property, but also encountering these community gems.


Video 3: Maximize your role as a host, online and off

“If you can give [the traveler] the information that they need about your destination, things to see and do…you’re setting yourself up for success.”

Have more personal, meaningful traveler conversations

Once travelers are educated and excited about your destination, it’s time to engage them in meaningful conversations on your site. These digital conversations should reflect real-life conversations that aim to be helpful.

By doing so, you’re building stronger relationships and trust among your audience—gains that ultimately help and increase direct, incremental revenue.


Video 4: Making digital journeys reflect real-life conversations

“Your website and booking engine should be as good of an experience as if they called you… We should be narrating these digital journeys as a conversation.”

Align marketing + revenue management

Collaborating on an integrated strategy where marketing, revenue management, and distribution are all aligned ultimately means we all can get better, together.


Video 5: Align your marketing and revenue management teams

“[The bottom line]—if we don’t all row in the same direction, then we’re not going to have optimal performance.”

Being a better host leads to better profitability

Selling more time leads to greater profitability. When independent hotels shepherd the story of their destination well, that leads to a highly engaged audience that costs less to acquire and opens properties up for extended stays since travelers know how to maximize their time.

Blending that with your revenue management strategy amplifies your impact even more.


Video 6: How does this lead to being more profitable?

“If you’re taking that incremental approach to having better conversations [and] information on your site, you will see… lower costs of acquisition [down to] transaction.”


To hear more from the minds at Revenue Matters, give them a follow here. And if you’re ready to reach, inspire and win over more travelers, say hello to Hal here at Flip.to—we’re ready to kick off the conversation on topping your goals!