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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, 2023 — Flip.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.

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

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.

Hacktoberfest: What happens when design is in your DNA

It’s a wrap—our inaugural Hacktoberfest is in the books.

This all-hands-on-deck hackathon-style event brought our teams together to create an all new feature for the platform, from end-to-end, that reimagines how to tell the visual narrative of a travel brand.

A few special guests joined along the way to collaborate, and after three days of hard work, group think and great food, the project started taking shape.

Here’s a one-minute look at what happened:

The week in review

Throughout the week, there was lots of fun to be had with our team members near and far. From daily “Hackachat” check-in’s, to Thursday’s “Hacktoberfeast” potluck, there was no shortage of Gemütlichkeit—and outstanding teamwork along the way.

Among our top highlights? Visits from a few special guests who share our passion for hospitality and lederhosen.

They brought their expertise in destination marketing, visual storytelling and all things digital, while putting their stamp on the creative process.

A huge “danke schön” to Zach Stovall, Jason Holic, Christina Leake and Dan Spellman for stopping by!

Starting (and ending) with our why

Hacktoberfest was more than trying our hand at pronouncing German words and getting to break out the Flip.to robot. These three days were a chance to hone all of our team’s talents in one place, putting our heads together to trailblaze travel marketing. As Zach commented during his time with us, the more creative minds coming together, the more incredible the outcome.

At Flip.to, design is in our DNA. We know that great marketing isn’t just about having a polished final product—it’s about innovation and solving real challenges for travel marketers to help them do what they do even better.

Hacktoberfest brought this to the forefront. In the following weeks, look for more about the event and what’s coming to the platform soon.

Stories that inspire: Team week

One of our core values: No minions here. We hire amazing people first, let them tell us what they’re good at, and then help them find their superpower. So as you may have guessed, team is important to us, and ours is made up of some pretty incredible people.

So, last month, our whole team stopped by HQ in Orlando for a week of creative collaboration, coffee brainstorms, and a bit of fun.

Here are some of our favorites moments from the week:

Wrapping up Thursday’s catered lunch after team updates and Founder’s Corner

“Escaping” from the Great Escape Room in record time

Getting ready to race electric go-karts on Friday’s offsite at Andretti Indoor Karting

Celebrating the wins (and crashes) after the checkered flag waves

An extra bonus of having the entire team in-house means we get the chance to take advantage of the creative talent of our design team. Any time they’re in town, we schedule a few hours to update the chalk wall in our lunch room.

This time, we set up a camera to capture the entire session:

To meet some of the Flip.to veterans along with some fresh faces, hop over to our about page. Plus, always feel free to say hello 👋 to us here—we’re always eager to chat with other movers and shakers in hospitality!

Meet Matt: team player and pun champion

At Flip.to, we’ve made our careers in hospitality. Now, we’re certified in advocology. (Our science-y approach to turning advocacy into revenue.)

On this team, we aim to hire amazing people, which is why we’d like to introduce Matt—dedicated Account Manager and “punny” guy who settles for nothing less than huge wins for every customer.

Want to dig in? Say hello to Matt, or peek at the rest of our advocologists at work here.

Behind the screen: finding our voice in video

A few months back, we shamelessly shared our first blooper reel after an excited foray into video production. It’s been one heck of an experience and we’ve learned an awful lot along the way.

At Flip.to we’re all about authenticity and the connections between individuals. So when we first committed to making video there was unanimous agreement that whatever it is we’re talking about in our videos, it should be us talking about it.

OurVoiceInVideo_9.2 — Setting up the mic and testing audio before getting started.

I was asked to be the voice of our videos. One never to turn down an opportunity (or a challenge), I was happy to take up the mantle. (To be honest I was more excited about recording impersonations, so I convinced myself this was a step in that direction.)

As fun as it’s been, we’ve been focused on continuous improvement. If you’re thinking of integrating video into your content marketing strategy (and you should), here are some major lessons to help you get started.

1. Spend time on a script…

Going into this, I was working under the assumption that we’d need some manner of script but, for the most part, we’d be winging it. It only took a single video to realize how wrong I was. We were using a script from the beginning. While we did adlib a bit, it was immediately apparent how important the script was.

This may seem like an obvious thing, but when you spend the better part of your day talking about a product, you feel confident enough you can do the same with a microphone in front of your face.

Don’t bet on it–having a polished script ensures you’re covering the important points.

2. …but don’t be afraid to deviate

As critical as the script is, if you want the video to feel authentic and convey real emotion, you’ll need to make changes on the fly. We’ll record each section of the video multiple times to make sure it feels and sounds authentic and natural. The script isn’t gospel. Instead, it’s a guide to tie together the scenes and concepts in the video.

3. Record, record, and record again

OurVoiceInVideo_8 — Getting a bit of feedback from Hunter on the recording.

Getting a scene right on the first try is akin to keeping a wet dog in the bathtub. Try as you might, there will be slip ups.

Or, it just may not feel right. No matter how you feel after recording a scene, the playback may change your mind. In the beginning, we recorded a scene, played it back, and recorded it again—then repeated. We wisened up and now we record each scene a few times back-to-back and then listen in succession. Doing it this way lets you compare each attempt to single out the best take. If none sound good, well… do it again!

4. Finding the right voice and tone takes time

I don’t mean to say you need to make a host of videos to find your voice and tone. Instead, I’m talking about finding the right tone for a specific video.

While recording our “Introduce your hotel to the people that matter most” video, we were about three-quarters of the way through the voice-over when we hit our stride. We wrapped up several scenes in quick succession and they felt incredible.

We went back and listened. It sounded noticeably different! The final 25% felt so right, that we took the time to re-record everything up to that point so that there was continuity. It was well worth the effort. Once we dialed it in we were able to record much more quickly too.

OurVoiceInVideo_7 — Hunter gives the thumbs up on the new recording.

For future videos we recorded a reading of the entire script, sometimes multiple times, to get a feel for the tone. Ultimately this saved us time, produced a better quality video, and gave the video authenticity.

5. Have fun

It’s not all business. You will definitely need to take breaks. We deviate from the script (sometimes by A LOT) because a good laugh can go a long way.

And like I said at the start, doing impersonations was what I really wanted to do in the first place. So don’t hesitate to cut loose when the urge strikes and enjoy the moment. It’s not often you get an opportunity to professionally record yourself cutting up for, you know, posterity.

Oh, and don’t think we didn’t save some of the fun stuff—listen in for yourself below!

Jumping into your own recordings? Let me know! We’re always eager to share and learn more, and collaborate along the way.

Watch now: jumping into video

It’s been 4 months since we released our first video, Introducing: Photo Explorer. We’ve come a long way. We’re continuing to improve our production process, crafting our content and meticulously editing our scripts.

All this incredibly careful planning has led to some really good stuff, and even better bad stuff. So without further ado, let’s start with the bad stuff. (Thanks NAVIS for being such good sports.)

We’ve got a lot planned going forward, including a look at our team and culture, video resources for customers, event recaps, partner spotlights and more. Check back soon for even good-er video.

A sweet surprise from Chickasaw Nation

I’ve said it before—the biggest reason I love working in this industry? The hospitality. This week we were treated to one sweet surprise—an incredible selection of Bedré Fine Chocolates courtesy of Micha Krodel of Chickasaw Nation out of Oklahoma.

Milk Chocolate Oklahoma, Cowboy Boot & Hat

If the Chickasaw Nation wasn’t on your travel list, it should be. They have some spectacular offerings in store for their guests. From the breathtaking landscapes of their rec areas to a rich cultural center, opportunities to explore are limitless. Visitors can also relax in luxury at the Artesian Hotel, unwind at the Chickasaw Retreat spa, or even enjoy top-notch gaming at the WinStar World Casino and Resort.

Bedré is something really special, too. This small chocolatier was brought to life by the rich legacy of the Chickasaw Nation. Purchased in 2000, they’ve completely transformed it into a nationally recognized luxury chocolate brand. These sweets are offered in retail stores across the country, including The Artesian Hotel and Bedré Café.

(And our whole team can attest to the chocolate—we snagged a few pics prior to the devouring!)

We had just a taste, and it was enough for us to start planning our next trip to Oklahoma. Be sure to have a look for yourself!

Introducing: Photo Explorer (our first video!)

The need to make videos has become more apparent as our team and company continue to grow. Video will complement how we communicate our product, culture, and vision to the world. It’s a completely new arena for us, and I’m awfully excited that we’ve just jumped in.

We closely collaborated with our account team to better understand our customers’ needs, and narrowed in on what topics were right for us to get started. Of course, producing high-quality videos fast is crucial for a small startup team. After some help from The Startup Video Course, we were up and running in a couple of days.

In the end, here is what we made:

Be on the lookout for a ton more in this arena, from product updates, ideas and of course a bit of fun.

Also, word around the office is that a few other employees want to try their hand at voiceovers, so expect to see a few auditions, and possibly some bloopers along the way.

Take a tourorWatch next video

Advocates vs. avocados

Advocates vs. avocados: it’s more than a case of po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. Hoteliers are seemingly becoming disillusioned by avocados after seeing the power of advocacy (you should see the emails we get.)

Our advocologists did minutes of research and surveyed nearly half a dozen people to figure out why this debate keeps popping up, and of course to declare the ultimate champion.

(No advocates were mashed in the making of this study.)

Avocados offer up a rich, buttery taste with a creamy texture that brings guac to life. The results came back inconclusive for the advocates. First matchup goes to the fruit (yup, avocados are actually in the berry family).

Now, our advocates are fresh—they travel in style. (Don’t believe us? See for yourself.) But a perfectly ripe avocado is tough to beat. This one was too close to call.

After documenting aging characteristics, advocates showed “low to no signs of aging.” Avocados, on the other hand, succumb to time and were transformed into unfortunate brown globs. The winner was conclusive.

With the list of health benefits from avocados, the final round was a tough match. However, nothing compares to the impact of advocates.

The results are in. Advocates were the clear winner of this competition!

We published our findings in the Journal of Research in Advocology. The critics quickly chimed in:

“Guacamole is delicious, but it does jack $&*! for your hotel.”
— Dr. Jack Travelfianakis

“Whatever.”
— Haas Avocado Commission

We see the impact advocates have on a hotel’s bottom line everyday. And even though avocados have a ridiculously narrow window of ripe goodness, we believe hoteliers should keep them around as well.

Stay tuned for more on the impact of advocacy, (plus a few ripe-innings of avocados here and there) as our team of advocologists work day and night to bring you the best advocology research in the industry.

Holiday science brought to you by the Department of Advocology