Summer: Trampoline or Trap for Your Tourism & Wellness Brand? Avoid These 3 Crucial Strategic Mistakes
Summer strategy: Avoid 3 crucial mistakes for tourism & wellness brands. Boost your tourism, hospitality & wellness brand! Discover why summer hides strategic pitfalls. This guide reveals 3 critical errors in planning and offers actionable solutions to ensure growth, improve customer loyalty, and maximize your off-season potential. Essential reading for CEOs, GMs & marketing teams in APAC/EMEA.
Summer, with its vibrant energy and influx of visitors, often sweeps us up in the whirlwind of daily operations. For many tourism and wellness brands, and especially for the hospitality sector, it's a season of peak activity. However, behind the apparent calm of the sun and holidays, lies a common trap that CMOs and marketing teams should not overlook: the tendency to push strategic planning for the future to the back burner. If you're looking to move beyond daily operations, discover how our strategic consulting can boost your brand.
While it's easy to get caught up in the "here and now" of the high season, now is precisely the ideal time to plant the seeds for next season's success. How we manage summer can determine not only our immediate results, but also the resilience and revenue growth of our brand in the coming months, whether we operate in APAC or EMEA.
Avoiding the following three common mistakes can be the difference between thriving and watching valuable opportunities slip away. Is your tourism and wellness strategy ready for the challenge?
The 3 Profit Killers Your Hospitality Brand Must Avoid:
1. Forgetting Your Local Audience When International Season Slows Down
When the international high season begins to slow, it's tempting to focus exclusively on attracting the few remaining travelers. However, many hospitality brands make the mistake of neglecting their local audience. This is a lost golden opportunity. Your local community is a base of loyal customers, a driver of word-of-mouth, and a constant source of business throughout the year, especially during low seasons for international tourism.
What to do? Keep the connection with your local audience alive through special offers, exclusive events, loyalty programs, and continuous communication. They are your ambassadors and your vital support when tourist flows decrease, and a key for hospitality customer loyalty.
2. Failing to Analyze Summer Data: Your Goldmine for Off-Season Planning
Summer generates an immense amount of data: which services were most popular, where your customers come from, which promotions worked best, demand peaks, operational pain points, etc. Not thoroughly analyzing this information is like leaving a goldmine untapped. This data is key to understanding your customers' behavior and optimizing your off-season strategies or post-season planning, as highlighted by recent UNWTO reports on tourism resilience. Hotel operations optimization directly depends on this analysis.
What to do? Dedicate time to review sales metrics, customer preferences, the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns for hotels, and feedback. Identify patterns, what worked well, and what needs improvement. Use this information to refine your services, adapt your messages, and plan your promotions for the slower months, thus boosting hotel performance and wellness revenue growth.
3. Pausing Content Creation During Summer, Just When Your Audience Is Most Receptive to Stimuli
With daily activity at its peak, content creation is often perceived as a secondary task that can be postponed. Big mistake! During summer, many people have more free time, are more relaxed, and are therefore more receptive to consuming inspiring, educational, or entertaining content. It's the perfect time to capture their attention and keep your brand on their radar. This is vital for your tourism branding and positioning.
What to do? Plan your content strategy in advance. Even if you're busy, you can schedule posts, repurpose existing content, or create light, seasonal content that resonates with your holiday audience. Maintain consistency across your social media, blog, and newsletters. Remember, the engagement you build now can translate into future bookings and visits, contributing to tourism digital transformation and effective hotel management.
Is Your Strategy Ready for Success in APAC and EMEA?
Summer is not just a season for working hard, but also for working smart. By being aware of these common tourism strategy mistakes and taking proactive measures, you can transform this season into a springboard for continued success. Don't let opportunities slip away while you're busy; instead, use them to strengthen your brand and secure a prosperous future. If you need support with APAC tourism strategic planning or EMEA hotel marketing consulting, do not hesitate to contact a specialized hospitality consultant like us.
Transform Your Brand: Strategies for Hospitality, Tourism, and Wellness Success
Unlock strategies that can transform your brand's presence in hospitality, tourism, and wellness. Learn how to build meaningful connections, long-term strategies, and sustainable practices that resonate with today’s consumers.
Businesses are constantly evolving, but sometimes these changes don’t benefit the sustainable growth of hospitality, tourism, or wellness brands. With a myriad of tools, technologies, and emerging expectations, it’s easy to get swept away by the latest novelty. The reality is, not all trends deserve your attention. So, which strategic marketing trends truly matter, and how can you implement them without losing the essence of your brand or your peace of mind?
Human-Centered Marketing: From Personalization to Genuine Connection
Forget hyper-automated emails and robotic social media messages. While tools like ChatGPT can be helpful, don't leave everything in their hands. If you’re looking to create a brand with a unique voice that stands out from competitors, relying too much on AI can lead to clichés like "when X meets Y," which are already overused. It’s vital to avoid your brand adopting a similar tone and message as others in the market. What really matters today is connection, not conversion; your guests and customers want to feel seen and understood. Whether you manage a boutique hotel, a luxurious wellness retreat, or a vibrant social club, human-centered marketing involves creating meaningful interactions both online and offline.
Practical Idea:
Organize micro-experiences that blend digital and in-person elements, like pre-arrival WhatsApp check-ins along with a handwritten welcome note. Consider using voice notes or short personalized videos instead of standard email replies.
Strategy over Tactics: The Power of Long-Term Thinking
Brands that will thrive in hospitality, tourism, and wellness aren’t the ones chasing the latest TikTok trends; they are the ones with a clear, adaptable strategy. In uncertain times, reactive marketing drains your team and budget. Strategic clarity creates focus and calm. Avoid the mindset of “everyone else is doing X,” because you are not everyone else. Your target audience, location, purchasing behavior, business management, and brand approach are all different. Blindly following what others do is like jumping off a high cliff.
Practical Idea:
Review your brand’s positioning and core values. Does your current marketing reflect those principles across all channels? Develop or update your strategic plan, beyond just a simple content calendar. Strategic marketing is about understanding the big picture of all your online and offline marketing actions.
The Return of Offline: The Power of Real-World Marketing
In this era of digital fatigue, offline experiences present a strategic advantage. Direct mail, sensory branding, community events, and partnerships with local businesses are not things of the past; they are smart decisions. Wellness centers, resorts, and travel brands that create tangible moments will earn their customers' trust and loyalty. It’s not about putting all your eggs in one basket; it's about knowing which baskets to use and when. This is why it's crucial to work with a strategic marketing professional who helps orchestrate what, when, and how. Many companies hire digital marketers and social media managers but often need a marketing director or CMO to design the overall strategy.
Practical Idea:
Consider co-creating a limited-edition physical product, such as a wellness kit or local map, in collaboration with a partner brand. Alternatively, launch a local ambassador program to promote your venue offline.
Conscious Brands Are Winning: Sustainability and Values Aren't Optional
Today's travelers and consumers care about more than aesthetics or discounts; they seek authenticity and alignment with their values. Brands that prioritize sustainability, inclusiveness, and transparency are gaining market share and, most importantly, customer loyalty. However, be careful not to jump on every trend. If you market yourself as sustainable but produce hazardous waste or have more plastic than refillable water bottles, your message will be misaligned.
Practical Idea:
Communicate your values clearly, but don’t just say it—show it! Highlight your initiatives with pride and clarity, whether it’s sourcing local products, supporting community projects, or using renewable energy.
Consistency Across All Channels: One Story, Many Touchpoints
Guests don’t differentiate between “online” and “offline”; they see you as one entity. Every touchpoint—from your Instagram bio to the signage at your front desk—needs to tell the same story. Consistency builds trust, leading to bookings, repeat visits, and referrals. While it may seem repetitive to a business owner, remember that you’re building a brand that should be recognizable across all channels.
Practical Idea:
Conduct a simple brand audit: Are your tone, design, and message consistent across your website, booking platforms, printed materials, and physical spaces? If not, align everything before scaling any new campaign.
Strategic marketing isn’t about doing more; it’s about doing what truly works for your brand, your values.
www.mariangomez.com
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer and Strategy Consultant Agency | Hospitality, Tourism & Wellness industry