Hello,

Work is back, I just realized that the newsletter never stopped. I actually enjoy writing them (it’s part of the observation I do for marketing – see more in my column below). I’m looking forward to 2025, but then I’m always looking forward to what’s coming next. PS: Don’t forget to leave your thoughts on the Hotel Brand Pyramid

Best, Martin

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Can Consumer Brands Revolutionize Hospitality?

The noise on hotel brands never really ends. As far as I’m concerned, as long as brands aren’t maintained frequently enough, there will be strange discrepancies and brands will not really be brands. Can consumer brands fix it? As a one-off hotel, of course they can make great hotel brands, in fact anybody can. Can they scale it to a global experience over 20 years? That’s really the biggest issue with hotel brands.

BRAND ENTRY INTO HOSPITALITY

Is Travel Really Transformative?

“The Case Against Travel” argues that travel often leads to the worst versions of ourselves while convincing us we are at our best. It references historical figures and philosophers who criticize travel for its superficiality and lack of genuine human connection. Of course we can take a negative view. But I believe that no matter how superficial our travel is, it will always be better at generating actual understanding of different cultures than not traveling. True the best is to go an live like a local for a few months. But understanding that you’re a foreigner in another’s culture is humbling even for a few hours.

TRAVEL PHILOSOPHY CRITIQUE

About me: I'm a fractional CMO for large travel technology companies helping turn them into industry leaders. I'm also the co-founder of 10minutes.news a hotel news media that is unsensational, factual and keeps hoteliers updated on the industry.

The Megatrends of Skift

Skift has produced a gorgeous Megatrends page with amazing artwork and a great selection of articles. There are two things I’ve observed however, (a) Media companies (not necessarily Skift) can report megatrends but they rarely understand them. Example, the media for years had been reporting on internet – yet it took most of them out of business. Media had been reporting about “metoo”, yet some of the worst offenders were in media. I also learned that (b) Media companies have editorial guidelines, social circles and sponsors. So trend reporting will be biased. But it is still a beautiful read.

TRAVEL MEGATRENDS FUTURE AN EPIC TRENDS POST

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AI-Online Travel Like’A Dam Breaking’

At Skift’s Megatrends 2025 event, Kayak’s CEO Steve Hafner discussed the impending impact of AI on the travel industry, predicting a significant AI partnership in 2025 that will set a precedent for others. He emphasized the importance of understanding how AI bookings will be credited and the potential shift in consumer behavior towards AI platforms and social media for travel arrangements. The change is coming. But not all use travel booking use cases are better with AI.

AI ONLINE TRAVEL IMPACT AI BOOKING

Google Ad Dominance, again

GetYourGuide isn’t happy with some of Google’s Travel Ads. It is the usual story of conflict against the dominant player in the space. Of course we need to ensure these things get sorted out. But I think too few people realize that the reason Google is dominating is that nobody is innovating their ad products like Google is. Having been on the buyer side when Hotel ads were dominated by TripAdvisor and Trivago, Google was the only one actually looking to build a better system. At the time, the other players mostly contended to being the leaders and tried to change and improve nothing.

TRAVEL ADS FAIR PLAY

Podcast: I was invited on the Hospitality Daily Podcast and spoke about technology in hospitality, some thoughts on what wont change in hospitality, and why I co-founded 10minutes.news. Best, Martin

Opinion

Marketers, stop thinking and start looking.

Most marketers start by thinking—throwing around ideas, holding brainstorming sessions, and filling up whiteboards. It’s fun, it is what creatives are known for. But truly effective strategies begin with looking: studying analytics, speaking to customers, and seeing the actual situation on the ground. And because strategy is a greek military word, let’s think of an Ancient Greek general planning a battle: you wouldn’t want him to send soldiers on a hunch only to discover “oops” that was the best defended flank. We’d expect them to gather intel and look first.

Of course, you still need a big, creative idea. But here’s a little secret, the best “big ideas” are sparked from looking at the data and facts. Observe that the hotel’s guests keep raving about the location (in a location that was assumed bad), now find out why, and you get something unexpected to make position the hotel.

And while data shows you the “what” and “why,” you also have to consider additional data, the resources at your disposal. There are 3 key resources:

1. Talent – What skills does your team have, and what can they realistically create or execute?
2. Time – How quickly do you need results, and how much time can you invest in each tactic?
3. Money – What budget is available, and will it stretch far enough to cover the “big idea” you envision?

No matter how innovative or compelling your strategy appears on paper, it won’t succeed if you ignore the resources. Figuring out that a TikTok campaign would be great is possibly true, but if you have nobody on the team that can execute and no money to hire it’s just an empty idea.

Ultimately, a great strategy is one that’s built on observing the current situation and data and crafted to be executable with your Talent, Time, and Money. When those elements line up, you get a proper “big idea” and you get a marketing plan people can actually execute, delivering real, measurable results. I would argue that anything that isn’t done based on real observation of data and facts isn’t a “big idea” it’s just an idea.