Good day fellow hoteliers and welcome to episode 274 of The Hotel Marketing Podcast by TravelBoom. Today we also have a special guest. Mr. Nick Escobar with our sister agency Joybyte.
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Hoteliers have largely figured the core marketing channels to maximize from PPC and metasearch, to OTAs, email, and SEO. Obviously the website is the foundation of online bookings.
However, hoteliers typically have avoided what is quickly becoming a top source for both brand and direct bookings… influencer marketing. Why? Well, as one of our clients (John) puts it, “Influencers don’t deliver. They talk a big game but no results.”
Today, we’re going to dissect why John feels this way and with Nick’s help, we’ll explore:
- How influencer marketing actually works for independent hotels
- Why most campaigns flop
- And three things you can do today to turn influencer marketing into a direct booking machine
Newsaroos:
Big Troubles In Sin City?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-happens-vegas-apparently-nobody-wants-anymore-jenn-barbee-qgzuc
- Occupancy down 14.9%, Visitors down 11.3%: June 2025 v/s 2024
- July looking rough as well, though several big concerts have helped drive RevPAR
- Avg ticket to the Sphere is $309, Resort fees of $50+/night, $20+/night parking.
- https://www.instagram.com/lasvegaslocally/ shared content where a bottle of water at Aria was $26
In the simplest terms, it comes down to money: between flights, resort fees and service charges, travel to Vegas can add up quickly. Convention traffic, a huge moneymaker for the city, has declined, and international visitors are also down, particularly from Canada and Mexico. (LiveNOW from FOX)
TravelBoom’s Room for Improvement: Fixing Hotel Failures
https://www.reddit.com/r/hotels/comments/1mf135c/just_checked_into_a_resort_in_north_myrtle_beach/
The Main Topic: The Influencer Playbook: 3 Simple Wins for Independent Hoteliers
To kick off the main topic, we’re going to have a little Q&A session with Nick and get a better understanding of influencer marketing for hotels. First and foremost, I’d like to get your thoughts on a question we get all the time.
What is Influencer Marketing?
- What does influencer marketing actually mean for hotels today? Does it really matter? It seems to be awesome for products and and how has it evolved over the past 5 years?
- Lots of our clients are skeptical of the power of influencers. They get tons of random requests for free nights to “post to Instagram,” but rarely does this pay off. Are hoteliers doing it wrong?
- How can independent or boutique hotels — with limited budgets — actually generate direct revenue through influencer partnerships?
- On the flip side, how should larger hotel groups approach influencer marketing differently to get measurable ROI?
Picking the Right Influencer
- With so many influencers out there — literally anyone with a phone — how can hoteliers separate the legit partners from the noise?
- What red flags should a hotel watch for when approached by an influencer?
- Are there specific social platforms that are more effective for hotel influencer marketing in 2025? (Instagram, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, etc.)
- What are some common mistakes you see hotels make when running influencer campaigns — and how can they avoid them?
- How do I protect myself from fake influencers or scams?
- So sounds like it all comes down to having an actual marketing agreement. What should be included in a clear-cut influencer agreement before any content is created or comp is offered?
3 Simple Wins You Can Do TODAY:
Thanks for the discussion Nick, we’ve all learned a lot today. However one thing we always want to do is leave our listeners with specific, actionable, things they can do now. So here’s the final question. What are three things every hotelier can do right now to help kick off their influencer marketing program?
- Create a short influencer brief – One-pager: who you are, who you want to work with, what you’re offering.
- Understand why you want to work with influencers – we all want conversions and heads and beds, but think more strategically on how you can activate influencers – content for ads, email database growth, there are a lot of ways influencers can be a huge marketing partner.
- Send 5 DMs today – Find 5 creators who’ve posted about hotels like yours. Start the convo – not the pitch. Make them authentically excited to work with you and give them an experience and, more importantly, an opportunity to show why your hotel space is worth the visit.
Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to @_travelboom or info@travelboommarketing.com.