The Travel Leader Podcast: Growing Self-Awareness with Stephanie Smith
On the latest episode of The Travel Leader Podcast Rachel Vandenberg asked about Stephanie’s story which is one of self-reflection, growth and pushing boundaries. Stephanie learned from her early hotel career experience what kind of leader she did not want to be. Now on her own forever entrepreneurship journey she cultivates a candid and supportive […]
Hospitality Organizations and Resources for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Previously, we published the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Defined article by Gissell Moronta, which gave you an understanding of the terminology and why DEI is important. The next step in learning more about DEI is to get involved. It doesn’t matter where you start, but you need to begin. We have compiled a comprehensive list […]
Create Your Hotel Digital Marketing Strategy Before Jumping Into Tactics
Owners and operators know the importance of online presence, however, they don’t always know how to efficiently and effectively impact revenue-generating change. Guests in the pre-booking phase, either transient or group, have so many touchpoints throughout their journey, where do we, as marketers, start? Understanding the Entire Online Space While we ideally want all guests […]
Are Sub-Optimal Reviews Sabotaging Your Hotel Marketing ROI?
Adele Gutman and Stephanie Smith on Get Great Reviews podcast discuss how your hotel reviews can either work to improve your ROI or sabotage it. Stephanie introduces a 30-point checklist audit to assess a hotel’s total online presence, where reviews are considered a foundational part for understanding their impact on conversion rates and the customer […]
Guide to Setup your Hotel’s Online Presence For Exposure
Your hotel’s digital presence is more than just your website. Studies show that people check between 7 and 35 sites before booking a hotel. Therefore, potential guests need to see you multiple times before your hotel is a part of their consideration set. Your hotel needs both exposure to the right target audience as well […]
To Drive Top Line Revenue, Hotel Sales Must Think Like Marketing
Stephanie Smith from Cogwheel Marketing & Analytics and Trevor Grant from Revenue Hub joined together for a discussion, where they explore how hotel sales and marketing can seem disconnected when looking at how to drive topline revenue. With the continual change in traveller behaviour, and how they go about researching, and subsequently booking their travel, […]
How Companies Can Use Big Data to Make Better Action Plans for Their Digital Marketing
In today’s digital age, businesses inside and outside the hospitality industry are generating more data than ever before. This data is a valuable asset, and should be used to gain insights into customer behavior and make better decisions about marketing campaigns and the customer journey. Owners regularly receive digital marketing performance reports or reports from […]
Hotel Marketing KPIs Must Change to Achieve Commercial Strategy
If you are measuring your marketing success today the same way you did last year, you are not providing the value that your external stakeholders and ownership expect and that your internal business partners, like sales and revenue strategy, deserve. It is not enough anymore to measure how many guest rooms are booked per dollar […]
HSMAI Marketing Strategy Conference 2023 Highlights
“HSMAI Marketing Strategy Conference is my favorite conference of the year! It’s not only a reunion of the best and brightest advancing digital marketing for hotels, but I also love the lightning rounds and jam-packed sessions,” said Stephanie Smith, CEO at Cogwheel Marketing & Analytics. While it was impossible to attend all the sessions, here […]
Navigating Traveler Behaviors: Key Insights for Hotel Marketing Pros
Stephanie Smith, CHDM, CEO and Digital Matriarch, Cogwheel Marketing, HSMAI Marketing Advisory Board Member Recently Expedia Group released their 2023 Q1 Traveler Insights Report. I brought this interesting piece of research to the great minds at the HSMAI Marketing Advisory Board to discuss the trends and explore if they align with what we are seeing […]