Tag: HotelMarketing

Just launched: Caribbean resorts shine on the advocacy platform

We ❤️ our customers, and we celebrate every new hotel kicking off with advocacy. Last month was especially fun as we’re turning a corner into summer thanks to a ton of new launches from our neighbors to the south—the Caribbean!

We’re taking a moment to share the love for these incredible properties. Feel free to put your sunglasses on as you browse through just a few highlights of these pristine resorts who’ve just tapped into advocacy. 😎 🌴

Jamaica Inn

Ochos Rios, Jamaica

Jamaica Inn in Ochos Rios is an intimate property where their guests can relax and unwind.

Going live just a month ago, they’re building a team of storytellers who are sharing their resort worldwide. One in particular stood out—Chris, who shared the dream-worthy moment below—not once but 5 times. His friends & family shared, too (to the tune 4 more times) reaching over 5,000 people so far.

There’s really no better way for Jamaica Inn to get introduced to a new audience of future travelers perfect for their timeless resort.

jamaicainn-advocacy

Bolongo Bay Beach Resort

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Bolongo Bay Beach Resort is an all-inclusive resort surrounded by the tastes, sights, and sounds of St Thomas. Since switching on, guests are reliving the favorite moments from their stay, and Bolongo Bay is becoming part of these rich, potent stories being shared—a win-win.

What’s more impressive? The incredible impact since launch! Collectively, travelers to Bolongo Bay have introduced the resort to over 127K folks around the world in less than one month.

Of this captive new audience, over 13,500 unique visitors came back to their site through a quality introduction, and more than 1,500 converted into warm leads to nurture into future guests.

bolongobay-advocacy

Somerset on Grace Bay

Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands

Somerset on Grace Bay of Turks and Caicos is the picture of the Caribbean. It’s been named a top area resort by both Travel + Leisure and Forbes.

But that’s not the only reason they’re going global. With their “Tote Your Treasured Times” campaign, they’re growing a team of advocates who are sharing Somerset on Grace Bay at every corner of the world!

Their travelers are helping tell the story of Somerset in the most authentic way, combining advocacy with an incredibly fun campaign for the hotel and guests alike.

somerset-advocacy

One of the best part of our jobs is seeing the incredible memories our hotels, resorts & destinations create every day for their travelers. Add to that the impact starting day 1 thanks to these travel stories being shared, and we can hardly contain our excitement for these new launches kicking-off with Flip.to.

Want to see what your destination or hotel could do with advocacy in the next 30 days? We’re happy to share—find out by getting in touch here.

Watch now: Why Inspiration

Scott and I go back over 20 years. He’s the EVP of Marketing at Visit Myrtle Beach, but he also happens to be a leader in destination marketing. Though the landscape has changed dramatically, Scott has continued to evolve to keep Myrtle Beach top of mind with travelers everywhere.

He’s also someone I’m glad to call a great friend. (Neither of our hairlines has changed in the last 20 years!)

Scott recently sat in with the team here to give his take on why competing in the inspiration phase is such a critical piece of any marketing strategy—a point that resonates (and not just for destination marketers.)

Tune in below as he shares some great insight:

 

The big picture: it’s incredibly hard to compete with the big guys at “Book Now,” and Scott’s take reinventing the approach for travel marketing is spot on.

Dig into more from Tnooz and Google or for more like this, give Scott a follow here.

And for you destination marketers out there—interested in how advocacy is changing the game for destinations worldwide? Let’s chat. (I promise you’ll be in store for a fun conversation.)

A guide to visual content for hoteliers

The cliché, “an image is worth a thousand words,” actually has a lot of merit to it. Studies have shown that images communicate a lot more than words in a lot less time, while triggering emotions and being easier to remember. As the web has grown to be more visually stocked, your guests are expecting a visual experience when they interact with your brand.

There’s just one disclaimer: your images need to be relevant to travelers at every point along their purchasing journey. Google has helped hoteliers make sense of the incredibly complex traveler’s journey, organizing it into what they call “micro-moments”—when people turn to a device with intent to answer an immediate need. (Thanks, Google.)

Here’s how they break it down:

  • Dreaming Moments
  • Planning Moments
  • Booking Moments
  • Experiencing Moments

Creating content that appeals to travelers in each moment provides your hotel a massive opportunity to win their business.

Here, we’ll explore the types of visual content to serve travelers when they’re in each micro-moment described above—and you’ll be on your way to a building a library of content and a relevancy goldmine.

Dreaming Moments

Dreaming moments are when people start thinking about wanting to get away. Here’s your chance to truly inspire travelers.

According to Google, 83% of travelers say social networking, video, and photo sites are their number one source for travel inspiration. Your homepage is an excellent place to inspire travelers, as well as social media content—the advantage here being a light lift and something your hotel can start doing immediately.

Take this Instagram post from Adrift Hotel & Spa. It’s a perfect example of the type of content travelers are looking for when they’re primed to be won over:

Adrift Hotel uses Instagram to inspire new travelers

An eye-catching photograph and the use of strategic hashtags like #LongBeachWA make this photo discoverable by travelers dreaming of getting away to the Pacific Northwest.

There are some things to keep in mind with content that’s targeted for travelers in this phase of their journey. The first is to avoid using overly branded content or making presumptive asks like “book now.”

Also, stock photos should be kicked to the curb in most phases, but especially at this moment. Authenticity matters and a canned image can easily leave an uninspiring first impression.

Planning Moments

At this point, travelers have an idea of where they want to go, but still need to make up their mind on where to stay and what to do. As a hotel, your aim is to make it on the shortlist of their top places to stay, and now it’s time to convince them you’re the best option.

Use photos to focus in on the unique selling points of your hotel, weaving in real guest stories where possible.

For Adrift, this might include sharing images of The Pickled Fish—a quaint beachfront restaurant located on the top floor—or the complimentary beach cruisers on their hotel’s web gallery.

With a quick visit to Adrift’s gallery or Facebook page, you’ll know it’s a haven for dog (and cat!) lovers. Not only does a post like this one perk the curiosity of a casual onlooker, it’s telling a richer story for the property.

Adrift Hotel tells their story with a guest story on Facebook

Booking Moments

Yes, the moment of booking!

Here’s when traditional room photos come in handy. Feature images that are relevant to the accommodations that are being booked and ensure that these images are consistent with other areas of your website. The last thing you want someone to do at this point in their journey is feel like you’ve given them false information.

Be mindful of the amount of visual content that you use here. The goal is to get guests through the booking process, not distract them.

Experiencing Moments

Experiences are what travel is all about. These are the moments people cherish and are the ones they’ll want to relive and share with friends & family.

If a pre-stay email is part of your communication strategy, here’s the perfect opportunity to sprinkle in some richer imagery to build excitement for what your soon-to-be guests have in store. Highlight authentic guests stories, local events and businesses, and invite them to join the conversation on your social channels so they can continue to be inspired.

Once they’re on property, invite them to take part in the local community with thoughtful touch points and social shares. Here’s one from Adrift, inviting guests to visit one of their favorite suppliers—a local soap company.

Adrift Hotel promotes local business for onsite guests to explore

The right image at the right moment can make all the difference on a traveler’s purchase decision. Relevant content in your communication with future, current and past guests is the key in capturing, nurturing and retaining lasting relationships for years to come. And that is what hospitality is all about.

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Pro tips: kickstarting a career in the travel industry

When I first joined the hotel marketing world, I was given empowering and inspiring advice from coworkers and friends. Those words of wisdom helped me confidently dive head first into the industry. Now I’d like to pay it forward.

So I tapped the shoulders of coworkers, friends, partners, and mentors to share what they’ve learned along the way and what advice they have for newcomers in the travel industry.

Get the scoop on what they had to say below:


Patrick Grimes
Travel Sales & Marketing Veteran

 

Patrick has worn many hats in this industry, chiefly because others are quick to recognize his talent and initiative. Patrick’s advice comes from years of dedication to the industry and, of course, really hard (but smart) work.

Sweat every day. Literally or figuratively. Continue to move. When you don’t, you will struggle. Be in the sun. Get and stay uncomfortable.

Dream then do. Stay “creatively focused.” An idea is good but don’t let it wander into an infinite ether. What’s the first thing you need to do to action the idea, then what’s the second? Move forward with what’s worthy of your time and talents.

Go with your gut. Don’t ever second guess yourself and wonder, “Is this right?” Your accomplishments will be the sum of your instinct, ambition, and actions. Do it, then assess and learn.


Shelby Cunningham — Business Development Manager
Navis

 

Shelby is an industry vet who truly practices what she preaches. She promotes and embraces the philosophy that partnerships are give and take, never hesitating to lend a helping hand when needed.

I would give myself a twist on one of my favorite travel quotes—‘voyage, travel, and change of place impart vigor’—and recommend that I truly embrace all the passion that this industry holds—within each company vision, within the people who bring travel to life for others, and within each conference, partnership, and new friendship found.

This passion, this ‘vigor,’ this energy is what propels my commitment to continuing to grow and learn as a person, a fellow industry employee, and a participant in travel itself.


Chris Kane — Account Director of Leisure Sales
Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin

 

Chris’s advice on networking should be heeded, not just because it’s correct, but because it’s coming from an expert. There are networkers in this industry, and then there’s Chris Kane. But don’t watch him work a room…you should be networking instead!

For those just starting out—try to intern whenever possible. It’s a great way to get your foot in the door, learn a new skill set and of course hopefully lead to a paying job. Companies like to hire from within and what a better way to put yourself out there as a candidate.

NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK! You never know what doors can open by networking and getting to know your travel industry peers. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know that gets you up in the travel industry ladder that much faster.

Avoid burning bridges with travel industry peers, bosses, and executives. You never know in your next steps down the career path whom you could be working with/for!

Find a mentor whenever possible. Their career experience and insight can be a huge asset to your own development, plus free first-hand education.


Wade Lindquist — Vice President of Sales
Tambourine

 

I met Wade at the ROC conference in New Orleans and became quick friends! He’s been in the industry for over 15 years and has a wealth of experience in hospitality sales and marketing.

If I knew back in the early 2000’s what I know today I would have:

1. Gone to college with an emphasis in hospitality.

2. Started helping hotels realize that they can directly market and compete against the OTA’s much earlier in my career—and might have been able to put a dent in their reliance on OTA’s several years earlier.

However, I could not be happier to be where I am today. I’m more passionate than ever about what I do and the industry I am blessed to be able to call my home!


Lola Feiger — Digital Marketing
ALICE

 

ALICE & Flip.to always find each other in the same room at the industry’s biggest hospitality events. And when you’re in a room full of incredible talent, you meet great people—and that’s where we met Lola.

It would have been helpful to know early on that it’s good to experiment at the start to find your highest performing channel, but then you should narrow your focus quickly. Channels we focused a lot of resources on, like social media and paid social, wound up not being very useful for us, as hotel decision makers don’t spend a lot of time there.

I’d also tell newcomers that if they’re considering outsourcing their PR to professionals, they should direct the PR team’s attention primarily to getting mainstream consumer press and industry event speaking invitations, since running press releases and publishing in the hotel trades can be easily done on your own.


Sam Trotter — Corporate Brand Strategist
Charlestowne Hotels

 

When he’s not writing for HNN or working on marketing campaigns for Charlestowne Hotels, he’s welcoming newcomers to the industry with a beer and friendly conversations.

For your long term career having a big name matters often times more than your experience. I come from a family of small businesses and have always been too entrepreneurial for that type of environment, but missing that recognizable brand held me back from positions I was more than qualified for earlier on in my career.

I would recommend camping out at Google/Salesforce/Amazon/etc. until someone agrees to hire you!


Scott Robbins — Director of Sales & Marketing
The LA Hotel Downtown

 

Scott has spent the last 15 years mastering the world of sales and marketing at independent and branded properties. He’s sharp, persistent, and always answers his phone!

Working for a branded property (Marriott, Hilton) can give an individual wonderful experience in sales 101, but when it comes to marketing, that area tends to elude sales folks in the beginning of their careers since the branded properties have departments and dedicated folks that focus solely on the marketing side of the business.

The biggest exposure to the marketing arena is working for an independent property whereas one will have to manage the marketing side without the assistance of a Global office or individuals dedicated to the different facets of marketing such as social media, print/digital advertising, geo-fencing, etc.

I believe that any sales professional looking to make hospitality a career, should venture and learn the basics of marketing at the start of their journey or at least understand how important marketing is to the sales engine of any hotel.

Do you have a marketing tip you’d like to share? We’re alway looking to spread the word to newcomers! Send us your advice to hello@flip.to.

Flip.to and Fuel partner to uncover hotel website essentials in new 2017 study

It’s safe to say in 2017 that the importance of a well-designed and well-maintained hotel website cannot be overstated. A quick Google search will reveal ample research and data to validate that the website is arguably one of the most important weapons in a hotel marketers arsenal.

So much so, that it can be both informative and overwhelming all at once.

That’s why Flip.to teamed up with Fuel, an industry leader in hotel marketing, to reach out to thousands of travelers to better understand what it is about the hotel website experience that matters most. Because in the end, nothing trumps empirical data when it comes to managing precious marketing dollars. (And your website is not worth the gamble.)

Key insights you’ll gain:

  • First impressions matter. The travel buyer is willing to spend time searching but would prefer not to. The study reveals what those search patterns are and how the crafty marketer is addressing them.
  • Which sources are the most influential in the travel decision-making process?
  • What elements of the hotel website are the most important to the guest?
  • Are loyalty programs important and what program benefits matter most?
  • How important is price when shopping and, more importantly, how can hotels address this without giving away the house?

Click through to download the full summary of the findings here:

Download here

Plus, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to reach out to us at hello@flip.to with your ideas on the study—or anything travel marketing related!

Hospitality headlines: the massive growth of Airbnb and what it means for hoteliers

Airbnb is big in media, sweeping the airwaves and grabbing a huge share of attention across the web. But one topic in particular is close to home for hoteliers—a new Morgan Stanley report on their incredible growth from 2016 into the new year. It’s hit every news outlet in the hospitality sector and beyond, from Skift, to Tnooz, to Bloomberg.

According to the new report, Airbnb currently holds about 18–19% market penetration in the accommodation sector (up from 12% last year,) and is expected to grow to 23-25% over the course of the year. It’s being felt in both leisure and corporate travel, with nearly a fifth of both types being hosted by an Airbnb member.

The bottom line, hoteliers are feeling the pressure. But what else? OTAs aren’t. Tnooz reports that according to Morgan Stanley, almost half of respondents shifted stays away from traditional hotels, with the same outlook on the horizon for 2017.

What’s interesting is that this is a decidedly different message than the same Morgan Stanley report on Airbnb a year prior stating that, “we don’t see Airbnb materially impacting the hotel industry,” and, “Airbnb’s threat to the OTAs is larger and multifaceted.”

So why is the demand for Airbnb coming out of the pockets of hotels and not online travel agencies? OTAs have the tech and capital to keep up.

OTAs have big marketing budgets to compete for travelers’ attention at the moment of booking.

Add to this the ability to grow and develop their own alternative accommodations, and the OTAs are ready.

Take Expedia. In 2015, Expedia paid $3.9 billion for HomeAway, an Airbnb-like home rental platform, and in the same year also purchased Orbitz. In all, Expedia reported revenue increasing 33% last quarter.

Hoteliers have a competitive edge

The good news is that hoteliers can compete with Airbnb and OTAs. Here are some tips hoteliers should consider for regaining the attention of travelers making the switch to alternative accommodations.

  • Be the local expert. Travel has always been deeply rooted in experiences. Who better to guide the local experience that your hotel is a part of than your team on the ground? Use your onsite employees for perspective when communicating with guests. Plus, develop close partnerships with local businesses to offer guests unique experiences that satisfy their curiosity to explore new places.
  • Make your communication personal. Travelers have been pelted with marketing jargon—so much so that many are tuning it out. Hospitality thrives because of the personal relationships hosts build with their guests. Bring your staff to light. Make the communication in your digital experience the same level of personalized service you provide on site.
  • Compete for travelers’ attention long before they’re ready to book. Travel decisions start well before a person is ready to buy, yet there’s a huge amount of advertising effort (and dollars) spent here. Use this as an opportunity to target inspiring content to travelers long before it’s time to purchase. The inspiration and discovery phases are a prime opportunity to make an impression and hook future travelers.

Airbnb is here to stay. But hotels still have their own competitive edge. It’s important for hoteliers to play up those strengths and build on the personal relationships that define hospitality.

If you come across any articles you’d like us to feature on our next rundown let us know!

The Crane Resort taps into the power of guest storytelling to boost their bottom line with Flip.to

Caribbean mainstay widens audience to the tune of 300K in first 5 months

ORLANDO, FL — December 19, 2016 — Flip.to, the advocacy platform that helps hotels reach, inspire and convert travelers has helped amplify the marketing efforts of The Crane Resort. Just five short months since launch, the century-old Barbadian resort has been personally introduced to 300,000 travelers worldwide with the help of their guests.

 

The Crane Resort brings to light guest stories with Flip.to

“There’s no better way to learn about a travel experience than from someone you know and trust. Our guests share everything with friends and family—from their excitement about an upcoming stay to their disappointment about having to leave—all punctuated by stories of their favourite moments along the way,” noted Eboni Phillips, Marketing and Communications Manager at The Crane Resort. “With Flip.to, we now have the ability to quantify social with the power of these influential recommendations.”

Touch points throughout the traveler journey let guests share their authentic stories about the hotel to travelers worldwide. The platform earns and tracks new bookings while growing traffic, leads and tracked potential guests through a true conversion funnel. Unique to the advocacy marketing platform, Flip.to is specifically designed for hotels and travelers.

For The Crane, this has added up to incredible impact. Their reach has well-topped a quarter of a million since August, in addition to driving more than 23,000 unique site visitors, 2,100 warm leads and 21 booked room nights with the platform.

The Crane Resort brings to light guest stories with Flip.to

The impact is made broader by the library of curated guest stories captured through the advocacy platform—stories that reveal the property’s character from a unique point of view, including everything from its magical sense of seclusion to the famed Crane Beach.

All content carries a full legal release, so The Crane Resort may use it to enhance their own marketing. This is critical for hotels and resorts seeking to adopt a storytelling mindset to win over new travelers.

“The authentic perspective of your guests is an incredibly effective add to your content strategy. What’s important is that hotels use it to drive actionable results, sending quality traffic to compelling experiences they own,” said Danielle Fierman, Account Executive at Flip.to. “It’s there where hotels like The Crane capture warm leads, revealing the opportunity to market to these travelers directly. Since they’ve been introduced by their friends and family, these impressions are more potent than any ad.”

The Crane Resort brings to light guest stories with Flip.to

Phillips went on to add, “Flip.to offered us the opportunity to track and measure advocacy with a cost-effective platform that was seamlessly implemented at our resort. We’ve pushed beyond the typical offer of sun, sea and sand, instead providing personal and powerful recommendations from friends and family.”

The historic Crane Resort overlooks the famous pink sands and turquoise waters of Crane Beach—named Best Beach in the Caribbean by readers of USA Today. Guests enjoy an idyllic respite on the Southeast coast of Barbados. The property offers grand colonial styled suites featuring lush gardens, private pools and rooftop terraces, and an impressive array of world-class amenities and services including fitness facilities, spectacular cascading pools, exciting restaurants including Zagat #1 rated Zen.

To learn more about The Crane, view the stories of their recent guests, or to reserve a stay visit www.TheCrane.com or call (866) 978-5942.

Watch now: Introducing Photo River

Right now your site is designed to capture the 1% of travelers who are ready to book immediately. But what about the other 99%? They’re still in decision making mode.

That’s why we’ve introduced Photo River—a new experience designed to bring to light the stories your guests are sharing, right on your site. Infuse more personality, offer up new ways to start a conversation, and bring back some real hospitality into your marketing with Flip.to.

 

Sound interesting? Take a tour, or adventure on to see how easy it is to share guest stories with Flip.to:

Hotel Emperador sees the impact of advocacy as guests reach 200k global travelers with Flip.to

Advocacy platform puts Madrid hotel at the center of conversations sparked worldwide

ORLANDO, FL — November 1, 2016 — Flip.to—a marketing platform that lets your guests become advocates to introduce your hotel and earn new guests—has helped Hotel Emperador Madrid amplify its reach to over 200,000 potential new guests. The four-star property in Madrid’s city center has attracted an enormous network of potential guests from around the world, perfect for this classic European locale.

flipto_emperador_660_high

“It’s so simple, and it works beautifully,” noted Pilar Lanchas, Director of Sales at Hotel Emperador. Designed to be incredibly easy to manage, Flip.to earns and tracks new bookings while growing brand awareness, web traffic, and warm leads without any heavy lifting on the hotel’s part. “We saw immediate impact, connecting a new audience seeking our unique Madrid experience.”

More than a third of their guests have shared about their stay at Hotel Emperador since launching Flip.to in September of 2014. In fact, the hotel has reached an audience 40 times that of their already impressive Facebook network, earning trusted introductions to travelers worldwide perfect for their property—upwards of 200,000 travelers in the last two years alone.

In addition to the hotel’s ability to amplify their reach to the perfect demographic, Flip.to has driven site traffic to the tune of of nearly 9,000 visits. Each guest was greeted by distinct, custom experience designed to convert, taking these personal introductions down the path to becoming future guests.

“With Flip.to, we’ve effortlessly grown the network of travelers we interact with on a daily basis,” Lanchas went on to add. “The quality site traffic and warm leads we’ve converted give us the opportunity to inspire new travelers to choose Hotel Emperador when traveling to Madrid.”

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“We see the global impact of advocacy for hotels everyday. In fact, your guests have more influence than ever before in history,” said Alfredo Moreno de la Santa, Director of Sales Europe for Flip.to. “Hotel Emperador and properties alike now have the ability to engage those influencers and let them share their travel experience to friends around the globe. Not only is the scale massive, but your hotel is at the center of those experiences shared.”

Hotel Emperador Madrid is a 232-room, 1940s hotel perfectly located amid the bustle of the famed Gran Via Street in Madrid. This Ideal location in the heart of the city offers a splendid range of activities just steps away. Guests enjoy the beautiful rooftop garden and pool open during summer months, an abundance of restaurants, cafés and historical attractions to experience, and the rich culture of Spain’s capital city. For reservations, visit http://www.emperadorhotel.com or call +34 91 547 28 00.

Flip.to on the road: CHIEF Conference

Jeff and I recently wrapped up a trip to the Caribbean to attend CHTA’s CHIEF 2016 in Puerto Rico. I met some outstanding industry leaders from the area and got a taste of the incredible Caribbean hospitality and culture.

The event offered some huge takeaways as industry players came together to tackle challenges hoteliers face every day. But something else I was amazed by was how open everyone was in sharing their stories. It took this event to another level.

Check out some of our favorites below from a few of the fine folks we met at this inspirational event.

Thor Harris, Founder & CEO, Percepture

Thor from Percepture provided some fantastic foresight in communication strategies within the hospitality industry. Thanks for sharing some key takeaways from your 12 years experience in public relations, digital marketing and crisis management.

Jodi Diamond, CEO & President, Diamond PR

Jodi did an outstanding job leading and moderating the panel I participated in, ‘Once Upon a Time: Making Sales thru Tales’. Not only did she know just about everyone there, she made a point to make sure we met all of them. Huge thank you for your hospitality!

David Moore & Jessica Peguero, Hotel Managers, Hostal Casa Culebra

David and Jessica’s story is truly inspirational. They jumped headfirst into the hospitality industry by quitting their jobs to lease a 7-room property in Puerto Rico. Not only that, but they’re growing their staff by 33% with the arrival of their first child this fall!

David Chesler, EVP Global Enterprise Sales & Business Development, SiteMinder

David is a longtime friend of Flip.to. What do friends let their friends do? In our case, crash and co-host dinner. Thanks for the incredible opportunity to mingle with some amazing industry folk!

Sunil Chatrani, CEO, Elegant Hotels Group & Geeta Chatrani, Managing Director, Yellow Bird Hotel

Congrats to Sunil and Geeta who snagged the CHIEF 2016 Sales & Marketing Award! It’s clear why when you take a look at Elegant Hotel Group’s social accounts that they do a wonderful job telling their properties’ stories.

Matt Cooper, Chief Marketing Officer, CHTA

As the Chief Marketing Officer for CHTA, Matt knows Caribbean hospitality. He made sure we met some amazing properties, opening our eyes to all the wonderful hotels and the tight-knit community in the Caribbean.

Ed Wetschler, Caribbean Editor of Recommend Magazine

Not only did Ed give a great talk on contemporary communications, but he made it a point to take a photo with all the Eds at the conference. What can I say though, us Eds have got to stick together!

Evy Garcia, Director of Sales, El Conquistador

During our time in Puerto Rico we stayed in El Conquistador Resort. The food, staff and overall resort were outstanding!

In my panel discussion though, I made a remark about how El Conquistador could use an operational survey to gather important feedback on a fictitious problem. Unbeknown to me, the resort’s Director of Sales, Evy, was in the audience and quickly took action to resolve my fictitious problem!

After I was done she quickly came up to me to apologize, and we had a good laugh after I explained it was just an example. Evy and her staff exemplified amazing hospitality—and I was glad to see she and her team had a good sense of humor, too!

Diana Plazas, Caribbean and Latin America Region at Marriott

Beyond sharing incredible insights on the future of the Caribbean travel industry, Diana was our ‘reporter at large,’ updating us Flip.to folks about the football matchups all weekend. (Fortunately she only had good news to report to me.) Thanks for keeping us in the loop, Diana!

Karolin Güler Troubetzkoy, Executive Director of Marketing and Operations, Jade Mountain Resort

Running one of the top resorts in the Caribbean, Karolin stands out as an industry leader. Meeting her at this event was a nice surprise as we know she’s an advocate for social media driving business for her resort. It just goes to show more on why the Caribbean stands out in the hospitality industry.

By the time the conference was over, Jeff and I met some unbelievable influencers from the Caribbean hospitality market. The event was welcoming, informative and especially inspirational. Thank you to everyone that made this event an outstanding experience!