Writing For Food Industry

If a GM called me today and said, “Scott, every marketing effort we’ve tried in 2025 is failing, and I need you to come in and fix it so we don't go through the same thing in 2026,” here’s exactly how I’d start creating real change. These are the first ten things I’d do starting today: 1️⃣ Audit the foundation. Before changing anything, I’d study every digital touchpoint. Website, booking engine, social media, CRM, and OTA listings. You cannot fix what you don’t understand. 2️⃣ End autopilot marketing. Too many hotels copy each other. I’d stop every cookie-cutter campaign and rebuild creative that actually connects with people. 3️⃣ Rebuild storytelling from the inside out. I’d get every department involved. Every housekeeper, bartender, and concierge has a story. Let them tell it. That’s how your brand becomes human again. 4️⃣ Go all in on video. Short-form, long-form, drone, behind the scenes, chef stories, real guest reactions, all of it. In 2026, video isn’t optional. It’s how people discover you. 5️⃣ Dominate your local market. I’d run micro-campaigns targeting locals with spa days, dining experiences, and staycations. When locals love you, they sell you better than any ad. 6️⃣ Make data your foundation. I’d stop guessing and start tracking. Every post, ad, and campaign must be built on data and analyzed weekly to find what truly drives revenue. 7️⃣ Reinvent influencer partnerships. I’d stop the free-stay culture and build real collaborations that measure reach, conversions, and storytelling impact. If it doesn’t drive ROI, it’s not marketing. 8️⃣ Turn guests into content creators. Every guest has a phone and an audience. I’d launch a campaign that encourages guests to tag, share, and co-create content. That’s authentic marketing you can’t buy. 9️⃣ Redefine internal marketing culture. I’d move meetings from the office to the lobby. Let ideas breathe in the energy of your guests. The best marketing ideas come from proximity to real hospitality. 🔟 Build for AI and voice search. Travelers are already asking AI where to stay. I’d optimize every piece of content so that your hotel is the one that shows up first. The hotels that start executing on these things now will dominate 2026. The ones that wait will spend the next five years trying to catch up. --- If you like the way I look at the world of hospitality, let’s chat: scott@mrscotteddy.com

We’ve spent decades removing friction for guests. Maybe that’s now becoming a problem. Hospitality has been obsessed with “frictionless” service, streamlined check-ins, and polished efficiency. But here’s the catch: when everything is easy, nothing is memorable. Gen Z and younger luxury travelers are tired of skating across glossy surfaces. They crave meaning, stories, and belonging, and meaning often comes with a little effort. Cultural brands already get this. Bon Iver’s album launch sent fans smoked salmon with a poet’s insert, a candle that smelled like a winter cabin, and an app guiding them to intimate listening parties. Many entry points, each a breadcrumb leading you deeper. Some hotels are rewriting this playbook. Aman Tokyo’s tea ceremony is an intentionally slow, ritualized welcome. It’s not convenient, but that’s the point. The friction makes it sacred, and guests leave with a story that outlasts any room amenity. — 5 Ways to Design Joyful Friction in Hospitality 1. Name your rituals. Stop hiding magic behind generic labels. “Turndown service” becomes “Night Script.” The “welcome drink” becomes “The First Pour.” Language signals intention and gives small moments emotional weight. 2. Multi-sensory storytelling kits. Borrow from cultural launches: On arrival, offer a mini city-scent candle, a handwritten poem from a local artist, and a ticket to an intimate lobby performance. Guests engage through touch, scent, and story, each doorway into your brand narrative. 3. Ask, then delight. Have guests complete a three-question “mood card” pre-arrival. Match it with a curated in-room surprise, a book, cocktail, or soundtrack. Effort makes them feel seen (backed by the IKEA effect: effort increases attachment). 4. Create scarcity with care. Design one-hour windows of magic: a nightly martini ritual, a chef’s table for four, or a password-protected dessert. Scarcity raises perceived value while making participation feel earned. 5. Ladder your story over time. Instead of trying to impress all at once, let the brand unfold: Visit 1: A custom coaster. Visit 2: A staff pin unlocking a library room. Visit 3: A seat at the chef’s counter. Each stay deepens their connection and drives return intent. "When everything is effortless, nothing is extraordinary." — Why This Works Choice overload studies prove curated experiences are more satisfying than endless options: - The scarcity principle shows limited access elevates perceived worth. - The IKEA effect reveals guests value what they invest in. Luxury travelers aren’t chasing convenience anymore. They want layered experiences that feel personal, not packaged. — Final Thoughts Hotels that dare to introduce meaningful friction don’t feel cold or inaccessible; they feel alive. Because in hospitality, perfection isn’t about smoothing every edge. It’s about designing edges worth touching. #LuxuryHospitality #GuestExperience #BrandStorytelling #ExperienceDesign #EmotionalDesign

What Capella Hotels and Resorts teaches about building a luxury brand that grows through word of mouth Context if you’re new to the brand: Capella is a design-led luxury group, named Travel + Leisure’s Best Hotel Brand for multiple consecutive years, with several Forbes 5-Star properties and entries in the World’s 50 Best Hotels. I’ve been studying how Capella built its reputation, and there are some very smart things they do that any hotel can learn from: 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗮 “𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿,” 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲. Their Culturist program, the way they curate experiences, that Living Room concept. These aren’t just marketing lines. They’re moments that stick with guests and get retold at dinner. Every hotel should have at least one signature thing only they do. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. It’s easy to put values on a website, but Capella weaves theirs into everything. How staff greet guests, how rooms are set up, the food they serve. If your brand pillars don’t change how you operate day to day, they’re just decoration. 𝗚𝗼 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽. They have fewer rooms but a stronger sense of place. Not every hotel can shrink its footprint, but you can always get more specific about your location. Lean into local design, partner with neighborhood spots, tell stories that only make sense where you are. 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 (𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆). They’re good at spotting strong user-generated content and asking permission to use it. Treat those guest posts and stories like valuable assets. Organize them and repurpose them in your advertising and sales materials. 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.When your team sticks around and genuinely cares, service becomes consistent. And consistency is what makes people recommend you without thinking twice. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀. Those “World’s Best” awards and magazine features create social proof people want to share. Sometimes being exclusive and newsworthy works better than a traditional rewards program. I’ve been thinking about putting together a deeper analysis of their approach. Maybe some templates and practical examples for hotels that want to try similar strategies. If that sounds useful, let me know and I’ll work on it.

The playbook for real luxury hospitality. Everyone  throws around the word “luxury.” Very few know how to build it. Here’s the unvarnished playbook I’ve learned by working with the rare assets that actually compound. 1. Scarcity before scale. True luxury is built on the impossible-to-replicate. A clifftop in Sardinia. A vantage point over the Mara. A lodge so small that every guest feels chosen. Once scarcity is secured, scale can be considered — but never the reverse. 2. Identity over aesthetics. Design is not wallpaper; it’s memory. If the only thing your guests remember is the Instagrammable lobby, you’ve failed. A luxury asset must create a story people carry with them — one that becomes part of their identity. Guests don’t remember the lighting. They remember nearly crying when they opened the armoire and found a letter written by a local poet — dated the week they were born. Or laughing as a chamber ensemble played Vivaldi in the courtyard and the conductor handed the baton to their five-year-old, who took a bow like royalty. That’s what you’re building — not a photo,  not a space they admire, but a story they’ll tell for the rest of their lives. 3. Price discipline is non-negotiable. Discounting destroys luxury faster than any operational misstep. In downturns, the midmarket floods its rooms with points and packages. The icons hold rate. That discipline is why their value widens in every cycle. 4. Talent is brand. Guests don’t tell stories about the revenue manager. They tell stories about the butler who sourced a first edition of their grandfather’s favorite novel — and had it waiting, inscribed, on the nightstand.  They remember the manager who rerouted a glacier helicopter mid-flight so a guest could scatter ashes in the place he proposed thirty years earlier. Real luxury assets invest in people who are storytellers as much as operators. 5. Investors must understand the math of memory. A spreadsheet cannot capture what compels someone to pay 14x EBITDA for a 30-key inn. But they do — because memory compounds. Each story told by a guest is marketing spend you’ll never have to fund. That’s why returns on true luxury dwarf those of the fake kind. This is the real playbook. It is not about brand flags, marketing gimmicks, or the next press release announcing yet another “luxury collection.” It’s about assets no one else can build, at prices no one else can hold, with stories no one else can steal. That’s what allocators miss when they chase scale: the quiet, durable power of being unforgettable. If this all sounds like fluff, we’re not for you. But if it sounds like truth, you’ll want to read Unspoken Hospitality: https://lnkd.in/gRc4FKKA

David vs Goliath or how independents can beat the OTAs at their own marketing game In 2024 Expedia spent on marketing $6.8 billion, which represents 49.6% of revenue, while Booking Holdings spent $7.3 billion which was 31% of revenue. These two mega OTAs spent on marketing a total of $14.1 billion. In total, last year the two mega OTAs spent on marketing $14.1 billion Many hoteliers feel defeated by this marketing might and give up on their own direct channel marketing. “We cannot outspend the OTAs, why even try?” But if you do a simple math, you will see that the OTAs spend on marketing approximately $250 per month per hotel available on their platform. This is it! Now, the question is, can even a small hotel spend $250/month to increase its Internet presence and steer people to book direct? Of course! Independents - even smaller properties - need to spend on marketing at least 4% of their room revenue. Hoteliers have tremendous advantages over the OTAs - the know their destination, location and product far better than the OTAs do. In addition, using the Pareto Principle, hoteliers can focus on their feeder markets and customer segments that generate 80% of their business thus being much more efficient than the OTAs. Where do you start when you are an independent hotel, even a property with smaller budget? 1. Fix your website! Is it mobile-first? Is the textual, visual and promotional content fresh, unique and truly representing your product and property? 2. Does the website SEO: on-page, back links and technical - fully optimized? 3. With the explosion of AI search, is your website ready for AIO (Artificial Intelligence Optimization)? 4. Implement CRM technology and Guest Appreciation Program to increase significantly your repeat business. The fully automated CRM initiatives keep “the conversation going” with your past guests, keep them engaged and steer them in the right direction: to book your hotel when they visit your destination again. 5. Establish solid social media presence with original posts and tons of user-generated content and customer reviews and comments. 6. Take advantage of all the freebies out there: free Google Business Profile, free booking links on Google Hotel Ads, free business directories, CVB listings, Chamber of Commerce listings, etc. 7. Launch Google Ads (GA) campaign for your branded keyword terms to capture all friends and family referrals, repeat guests, etc. the goal is to “own” 100% SOV (share of voice) You will be surprised how inexpensive these search campaigns are! 8. Invest in Content Marketing, the least expensive from all digital marketing initiatives. Content Marketing engages and entices the travel consumer in the Dreaming and Planning Phases and creates ready-to-book customers for the Booking Phase of the digital customer journey. 9. Hire a knowledgeable digital marketing agency to handle all of the above and help you steer through the complexities of the digital world we live in.

Hotels don’t create demand. Destinations do. If your marketing starts with room size, mattress brand, or buffet variety… you’re competing on commodities. Guests don’t travel for thread count. They travel for meaning. They don’t wake up dreaming of a “deluxe category.” They dream of a sunrise over a historic skyline. A street that smells of jasmine and coffee. A moment that becomes a story. A hotel is the stage. The destination is the hero. Think about it. When someone says Paris, you see romance and the Eiffel Tower glowing at night. When someone says Kyoto, you imagine shrines and cherry blossoms. When someone says Dubai, you picture ambition rising beside the Burj Khalifa. The city creates desire. The hotel fulfills it. Yet in many emerging markets, we reverse the equation. We build beautiful hotels… Then ask why occupancy is soft. Because guests don’t travel to hotels. They travel through them. If I’m marketing Chennai, I’m not leading with a lobby render. I’m leading with: • Marina Beach at dawn • Temple trails and spiritual circuits • December music season • The revival of Pallikaranai marshland • A city that moved from colonial Madras to global tech hub The hotel becomes the gateway, not the headline. Here’s the strategic truth: Destination branding drives: ✔ Higher ADR ✔ Longer stays ✔ Stronger emotional loyalty ✔ Repeat visitation When guests fall in love with a place, they return. When they fall in love only with a property, they compare. The future of hospitality is not inventory. It is narrative. Tourism boards, hoteliers, airlines, artists, chefs, storytellers — we must co-create ecosystems, not isolated buildings. Because in the end, no one remembers the pillow menu. They remember how the destination made them feel. So here’s the leadership question: Are you selling rooms? Or are you selling a reason to travel? #HospitalityLeadership #DestinationStrategy #ExperienceEconomy #TourismGrowth

Most hospitality brands don’t “overlook” marketing opportunities. They just leave them too late. Everyone knows Christmas, Valentines, or Seasonal events are approaching. Yet somehow, the marketing gets planned… the week before. Here’s the thing: If you want to sell it, you can’t rely on “pics from the night” and hope for the best. You need to plan for it weeks or even months before: - The designs  - A proper content plan - Reels and staged shots - A mini launch event (yep, even months in advance) Oh and one last thing ⬇️ Posting on social media is not marketing. Marketing is an ecosystem: - Email marketing - Loyalty programmes - Retention offers - Paid ads - Sign-up campaigns - Midweek promos If you’re banking on “cocktail o’clock” posts alone… What’s bringing me to your venue? The venues that win are the ones that plan ahead and join the dots. They make people want to book before the event even exists.

Hoteliers, guess what percent of AI answers come from your hotel website? “LLMs trust social media posts and customer reviews more than hotel websites. AI Search bots pull only 25% of answers from hotel website content. The rest comes from reviews, blogs, and publicly available information.” Max Starkov, Hospitalitynet.org Woah. If your plan is “polish the homepage and wait,” you could be 75% invisible where trip planning now happens. The stat is insightful and one to act on. But, it also reveals a great opportunity. That statistic reflects the current state of most hotel websites which, let’s be honest, are under-optimized. The opportunity is this: What if your website could feed LLMs more than 25% of their answers? It’s possible if your site is loaded with helpful Q&A-style content, embedded reviews, and local intel not commonly found elsewhere. This week, I hosted “How to Get Your Hotel Recommended in AI Search.” Attendees left with three low-cost, high-ROI moves built for independents. Key focus areas: - Turn your reviews into proof on key pages (rooms, breakfast, parking, trailheads). - Create insider itineraries guests will actually follow. Don’t hide them in a PDF. - Ask your web developer: “Where are we with schema markup across the site?” - Follow strong page layout: clear headlines, white space, bullets, photos, and video. Your hotel website could still be your direct channel’s biggest asset. Don't let it collect digital dust. Know how to make ChatGPT and Google’s AI Mode notice it? Know how to leverage the other sources that AI pulls from? Yes? Amazing. No? And want to go faster? DM me or hit the Featured link in my profile. — I’m Christine Malfair. I help independent hotels increase revenue with lean marketing that does more with less. This past month, I delivered two Revenue Roadmaps for clients who wanted a clear, prioritized plan - what to fix now and what to do next to drive more revenue and ROI. It's how you go faster, avoid wasted spend, and time.

Stop romanticising your hotel’s social media. Pretty feeds don’t pay the bills. I keep repeating this all the time... Yet many hotels are still obsessed with aesthetics over commercial impact! They hire creative agencies to produce stunning visuals and eye-catching reels, but the result? - Beautiful content but little to no commercial return - No meaningful engagement - No real conversations - No measurable results And what I've seen quite often is: - Internal staff commenting for visibility - A few bots and dumb AI-generated responses - Agency teams liking posts Sounds familiar? It’s time to stop treating social media as a vanity project (or a boosting ego tool) and start treating it for what it truly is: ↳ a revenue-generating tool The goal isn’t just a polished grid, the goal is to drive profitable demand. Social media should function as a social selling engine ↳ attracting your ideal guests ↳ nurturing relationships ↳ and converting browsers into direct bookings Because you don’t need thousands of zombie followers, you need a community of qualified buyers. Here’s a simpler, smarter approach to your social strategy: 1. Define your social selling goal 2. Identify your ideal guest 3. Create content that attracts and adds value 4. Move audiences into owned channels (not rented ones) 5. Measure success based on commercial impact Remember: likes don’t drive revenue, clarity does. So if your hotel's success is still measured by follower counts and vanity metrics, it may be time to rethink your strategy. Quality over quantity. Always. >> What's your current approach to social selling? #hotelmarketing #socialmedia #hospitality