Hospitality & Tourism

Here’s something that should be obvious: People don’t like to have their grievances downplayed or dismissed. When that happens, even the smallest irritations can turn into an obsessive crusade. Imagine you’re staying at a hotel, and the air conditioning isn’t working right. You call the front desk to mention it, and they say, oh yeah, they know about that, and someone is going to come fix that next week (after you’ve left). In the meantime, could you just open a window (down to that noisy, busy street)? Not a word of apology, no tone of contrition. Now what was a mild annoyance – that it’s 74F degrees when you like to sleep at 69F – is suddenly the end of the world! You swell with righteous fury, swear you’ll write a letter to management, and savage the hotel in your online review. Jean-Louis Gassée, who used to run Apple France, describes this situation as the choice of the two tokens. When you deal with people who have trouble, you can either choose to taken the token that says “it’s no big deal” or the token that says “it’s the end of the world”. Whichever token you pick, they’ll take the other. The hotel staff in the example above clearly took the “it’s no big deal” token, and as a result forced you to take the “it’s the end of the world” token. But they could just as well have made the opposite choice. Imagine the staff answering something like this: "We’re so sorry. That’s clearly unacceptable! I completely understand how it must be almost impossible to sleep when it’s so hot in your room. If I can’t fix this problem for you tonight, would you like me to refund your stay and help you find a different hotel room nearby? In any case, while we’re figuring out the solution, allow me to send up a bottle of ice water and some ice cream. We’re terribly sorry for this ordeal and we’ll do everything to make it right." With an answer like that, you're almost forced to pick the "It's no big deal" token. Yeah, sure, some water and ice cream would be great! Everyone wants to be heard and respected. It usually doesn’t cost much to do either. And it doesn’t really matter all that much whether you ultimately think you’re right and they’re wrong. Arguing with heated feelings will just increase the burn. Keep that in mind the next time you take a token. Which one are you leaving for the customer? —— This essay was republished from our book "It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work". https://lnkd.in/emPCjAA

💥 Tourism’s Breaking Point: A Wake‑Up Call for Hotels 💥 Yesterday, cities across Southern Europe hit a boiling point. From Barcelona to Lisbon, Venice to Palma de Mallorca, residents took to the streets with water pistols, banners, and smoke bombs — a dramatic cry for help. The target? A tourism model that no longer works. ⸻ This isn’t about hating tourists. It’s about resisting a system that floods cities, chokes infrastructure, prices out locals — and burns out hospitality professionals in the process. 📈 Exploding volumes: Spain welcomed 94 million international visitors in 2024, aiming for 100 million this year. 🏘️ Housing crisis: Barcelona rents are up 68% in a decade. The city will ban all short-term rentals by 2028. 🏨 Hotel pressure: In EU urban centers, hotels represent 63–80% of overnight stays — and now face growing backlash alongside platforms like Airbnb. ⸻ 🔍 Why this matters for hotels: 1. Local frustration is real — and increasingly visible. 2. We’re no longer outside the conversation. We are the conversation. 3. Solutions are demanded—and fast: • smarter tourism management • yield-over-occupancy strategies • deeper local integration 4. This is a leadership moment. Support policies that serve both your hotel and the community that surrounds it. ⸻ As hoteliers, we must ask ourselves: • Are we growing demand or managing it? • Are we delivering value or fueling volume? • Are we building a long-term ecosystem, or just chasing short-term gains? ⸻ Across the continent, cities are responding: 🔒 Airbnb bans (Barcelona) 💸 Visitor fees (Venice, Trevi Fountain) 🚫 Overnight stay caps (Lofoten, Portofino) 📈 Tourist tax hikes (Balearics, Italy, Norway) It’s time we stop blaming OTAs and cruise ships and start stepping into the solution: ✅ Better yield, not just occupancy ✅ More local integration, less commodification ✅ Smarter pricing, smarter planning ⸻ 👉 Call to action: We can no longer afford to be passive players. This is about stewardship, community investment, and responsible growth. Let’s lead the shift toward measured hospitality — before the backlash defines us instead. #Hoteliers #Overtourism #HospitalityLeadership #UrbanTourism #SustainableTravel #HotelStrategy #RevenueManagement #TravelTrends #Barcelona #Venice #Lisbon #MeasuredHospitality #RegenerativeTourism

Hotels are betting on longevity. Let’s break it down: High-end hospitality is evolving. Guests aren’t just coming for rest, they’re also coming for optimization. The rise of "wellness tourism" means the top hotel brands are becoming centers for diagnostics, recovery, and peak performance. But creating a true health destination takes more than just a "sauna" or "juice bar". Here’s the real model: ✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿 Bloodwork, biological age testing, VO2 max, microbiome kits. Low infrastructure, high insight. It’s the unlock for personalization, and loyalty. ✅ 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻-𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 MDs, NPs, and functional health pros alongside movement and nutrition experts. Guests don’t want a list of services, they want a plan that makes sense. ✅ 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 Hormone therapy, hyperbaric, NAD+ IVs, red light, breathwork. From luxury to longevity, this is what turns guests into long-term clients. ✅ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 Generic retreats are out. Tailored protocols based on biomarkers and goals? That’s what brings them back. ✅ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗰 Offer re-testing, app-based progress, supplement delivery, remote consults. Guests leave with a roadmap, not just a short-term experience. 🏨 Early movers: → SHA → Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas → Lanserhof Group → Aman → Equinox Hotels The future of hospitality isn no longer just about five-star service. These are places to recharge. Longevity isn’t a trend. It’s becoming the new standard for wellness travel. And the best hotels are getting ahead of it. 👉 Which brand do you think will get there first? ♻️ Repost if you see this shift coming, and follow Delphine Le Grand for more on where hospitality meets healthspan.

You know you should network. But you probably don’t know what to say or how to get on people’s radar. Here’s an easy 7-step LinkedIn networking strategy (that anyone can use): 1. The 3 Principles Of Good Networking If you want to network effectively, you need to:  - Have a way to reach people  - Have a way to add value to them  - Have a way to keep the engagement going This strategy does all three! 2. Make A List Of Job-Related Keywords Think of keywords, skills, phrases, and jargon that align with your target role. Ex: If you’re in sales, that might be “sales,” “leads,” “pipeline,” “sales cycle,” etc. Make a quick list of these. 3. Run A “Post” Search On LinkedIn Start with one keyword (or the job title itself). Run a search for it on LinkedIn. From the “Filters” option, select “Posts.” Then change “Date Posted” to “Past Week.” 4. Filter By “Author Company” Click on “All Filters” to find the “Author Company” filter. Add all of your target companies to this filter. This will give you a list of all the posts related to your target role, written by people at your target companies, posted in the past week! 5. Analyze Posts & Authors Scroll through the posts. When you find one that resonates? Click the person’s profile and check to see if they post consistently (at least once / week). If they do? Bookmark their profile in your browser. 6. Leave A Value Driven Comment For each author you find that posts regularly in your target space? Leave a comment on their post recent post that is:  - Supportive  - Postive in tone  - Offers your own take / value  - Is more than one sentence Repeat for each author. 7. Rinse & Repeat Daily Every day, click through the author profiles you have bookmarked. See a new post? Leave a new comment. Repeat this process every weekday if you can. But aim to leave at least one comment / week at minimum. 8. Why This Works Content creators love engagement. By cosistently offering that in a positive way, you’re going to get on their radar. And when you’ve done this for a week or two, the likelihood of getting a “yes” to a coffee chat, or even a referral, goes WAY up. Give it a shot today!

The most exciting project I worked on in 2023 was boosting registrations for an event. Here is what we did: Context: 5 weeks before the event. Message We benchmarked the event against the competition. We diversified the message, in this case, to move from education to networking and entertainment. Early bird canning This event overdid early birds. Our recommendation was to start marketing price increases instead of price reductions. Inverse psychology that, while stimulating FOMO, contributes to the overall perception of the event. Destination Leverage The destination was under-leveraged. We crafted email and social messages to showcase what the destination offered to stimulate last-minute sign-ups. Reg Software In most cases, reg is not optimized. Making sure every single option to sell better is turned on is paramount. We set up remarketing pixels and group codes. Social We coordinated a campaign to get the whole team to share the event on LinkedIn to boost last-minute peer pressure. LinkedIn is often ignored and it has a major impact on last minute conversions. Ambassador tech We recommended using referral platforms such as InGo, Snoball, or GleanIn. These platforms can be very different in their impact, and some integrate better with specific software. We projected a 30% increase in reg based on a proper implementation. Cart abandonment We found hundreds of abandoned carts and created a sales and email strategy to reach this audience. Understanding why they are not committing or proposing a discount code does wonders. Sources We optimized higher sources of conversions. In this case, email. We devised an email campaign with different levers to pull (community, team discount opportunity, destination showcase). This was key to diversifying the message. We turned this around in two weeks. Objective: achieved. Steal these tactics for your event.

Last month, Storylane drove over 700,000+ impressions through influencer marketing. And at the start of the year, I had no idea how to make this channel perform consistently. I had no playbook, no proven process, and no ideas. So, I experimented. A lot. And while we’re still figuring it out, here’s what I’ve learned so far: 1. Smaller creators are outperforming larger ones for us Smaller creators often produce better, more authentic content. They’re typically more affordable, work harder, and deliver results with a hyper-focused audience. Larger influencers charge a premium, and the content often feels average. Exceptions exist, but they’re rare. 2. Build a curated influencer portfolio. There are more great influencers out there than your budget can handle. Start small, experiment, and refine a curated portfolio of creators who align with your goals, budget, and audience. This takes trial and error, so don’t rush it. Your “go-to” influencers will emerge over time. 3. Three months is enough to evaluate an influencer. In three months, you’ll know if the partnership is worth continuing. It’s enough time to assess content quality, audience engagement, and impact. 4. Set up clear contracts with influencers Include everything in writing: - Who owns the content? - Can you run ads with it? - Will they engage with your posts? - How many posts will they deliver? Clarity now saves confusion later. 5. Influencer costs vary... a lot. Pricing is all over the place, but here's a starting point. For this platform, expect $500–$2,000 per post for influencers with fewer than 100K followers. Bigger names might quote $5K or more. The highest I’ve seen is $650k per post (no joke). Decide what’s worth it based on your goals and their audience quality. 6. Influencer onboarding matters. Hop on a 1:1 call to align. Share your knowledge, past successes, and internal data. Learn their creative process and set expectations. The better you collaborate upfront, the smoother the partnership. 7. Influencer program management is a full-time job. I tried juggling this alongside my other responsibilities, and it’s a lot. Between sourcing, contracts, payments, content review, and feedback, the workload multiplies with every creator. Bring in outside help if you can afford it or upskill someone internally. 8. Give creators creative freedom. Over-controlling a creator’s content kills authenticity. Work closely on the brief to give them all the context they need, but let their voice shine through. The results are far better when they feel trusted. 9. Ethics build trust (with influencers and your buyers) Always disclose influencer partnerships (FTC compliance isn’t optional). I see a lot of brands and creators not disclose these partnerships (on LinkedIn, in private communities, Slack groups etc.) and it's WRONG. Don't trick your buyers. Be honest. We’re still learning, but this channel is showing promise, and I plan to scale it further in 2025.

Last week I shared how AI helped analyze our retreat feedback survey data in minutes. Today, I want to highlight the three elements that our team rated most impactful from our recent company retreat in Ireland... - [New addition] "Connection Court": We created a dedicated space in the castle with games, snacks, and comfy seating that was open throughout the day and late into the night. This gave people a relaxed place to connect in case of bad weather and removed the pressure to drink or socialize in high-energy environments. This was great for introverts and those who don't enjoy the bar scene and provided more inclusive evening activities that worked for everyone. - Doist Build (our company hackathon) hit different this year: We surveyed the team for "hack-worthy" topics ahead of the retreat, pre-selected the top 10 we felt could make an impact on the company, and revealed them the day before so people could start brainstorming. Morning of, it was first-come-first-serve with limited seats per topic, which created some incredible energy to start the day. Best part? The winning team's project was implemented right there at the retreat and immediately improved our onboarding metrics 🚀 - "Choose your own adventure" itinerary structure: Instead of forcing everyone into the same activities, we offered parallel options during free time. We balanced physical activities (hiking, sports), cultural experiences (castle tours, local music), and team building events (escape rooms, group games). This approach let people naturally form smaller groups around common interests, creating deeper connections through shared experiences. After organizing multiple retreats over the years, one principle stands out: create a flexible structure and trust your team to find meaningful ways to connect. When people have the freedom to choose activities that align with their interests and energy levels, authentic relationships naturally develop. Hope this is helpful and I'd love to hear what's working for other teams as well 👇

TikTok just rolled out a feature that could disrupt the whole hospitality industry. Meet TikTok Go: The first major step toward social platforms becoming full-fledged booking engines. We've been saying it for years, social media has become the primary discovery engine for modern travelers. 81% of travelers use social for travel inspiration. Gen Z and millennials aren't starting on Booking.com or Expedia - they're scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, getting inspired by content. But until now, there's been massive friction in the discovery-to-booking journey. A potential guest discovers your property on social media, gets excited, wants to book, but then has to click through your profile, find your website, navigate to booking pages, and enter dates. At each step, you lose potential guests. But TikTok Go changes this completely. Here's how it works: Eligible creators can partner with hotels to create content and earn commissions when that content drives bookings. Users can now book hotels directly inside TikTok through a Booking.com integration. Each participating hotel gets a dedicated landing page showing prices, amenities, reviews, nearby attractions, and related TikTok videos. This is a fundamental shift creating several massive advantages: 1. Seamless Discovery-to-Booking: Guests inspired by your content can book immediately, eliminating the friction that kills most social media conversions. 2. Potentially Better Attribution: For the first time, we could have clear tracking from social content to actual bookings, solving the attribution blindspots that have plagued social media ROI calculations. 3. Creator Economy Leverage: You can tap into established creator audiences without building your own following from scratch. The program is already active in Indonesia and Japan, now rolling out across the U.S., with plans to expand beyond hotels into food, wellness, and other local services. We're witnessing social media platforms taking their first major step toward overtaking OTAs. The exact mechanics will evolve, but the change has been set in motion. Every major shift in hospitality creates a brief window where early adopters capture outsized returns. Websites in the 90s. Mobile booking in the 2010s. Social commerce in the 2020s. The hotels building serious social media followings today will be best positioned when these booking features become standard across all platforms. While most properties post occasional content and hope for the best, smart operators are treating social media as their primary guest acquisition engine. TikTok Go is just the beginning. What are your thoughts?

Google just changed the game for event marketing. The big winner? Publications and associations. I’ll explain. But first. How are events discovered? Whether you want to admit it or not. It’s word of mouth. You hear about an event. You google it. Well ‘googling it’ is changing. On Monday, google released “AI Mode”. It hasn’t replaced the default search…yet. But it will. Showing up in AI Mode isn’t the same as ranking on google. Here’s what you need to do: 1. Get event page schema right Crawling a site is expensive. It uses token. The easier an event site is to crawl, the sooner it will get picked up. Add schema. org/Event, FAQ, and How-To markup to your reg page. Feed it clear dates, speakers, prices, and “Get tickets” actions. No markup = no mention. Event platforms like Accelevents do this automatically. 2. Earn citations, not backlinks AI Mode loves credibility. Niche trade publications & associations matter again. Land guest posts, podcast, speaker quotes. Visibility first, referral traffic second. 3. Keep Content Updated Stale pages will be punished. Update schedules, seat availability, and pricing in real time. AI Mode surfaces up-to-the-minute info. 4. Drive user-generated content Get attendees to share “One thing I learned at YourEvent” posts. AI Mode loves human content from social, reddit, quora, etc. The volume of brand mentions matters. 5. Tighten the trust signals Keep speak bios consistent. Link to verified social handles & get mentions from them. Credibility & authority are huge ranking factors. 6. Answer the long tail & hard questions Create an event FAQ (using schema markup) E.g. “Is XYZ Summit worth it?” “What’s the ROI of attending?” Publish cost-breakdowns, who your event is and isn’t for, etc Control the narrative. Better you than someone on Reddit. Simply put. When people hear about your event. Make it easy for them to find it. How are you adjusting your event discovery strategy?

If you think the talent gap in hospitality is someone else’s problem, you are the problem. Stop blaming HR, stop blaming “the new generation,” and stop pretending this is going to fix itself. The industry is in a full-blown leadership crisis, and the clock is ticking. Thousands of GMs and department heads will be needed in the next five years, but the talent pipeline is almost empty. Properties are opening faster than leaders are being developed, and the truth is simple, this is the direct result of years of short-term thinking and cutting corners on people. We obsessed over RevPAR and labor costs instead of developing leaders. We burned out young talent with long hours and no mentorship, then acted shocked when they left. We let toxic mid-level managers drive people out. We told ourselves “great hospitality people are born, not made” and used that excuse to skip proper training. Now, the best people are leaving for other industries, and the next generation does not want to join us. You want to fix this? Start acting like a leader, not a placeholder. Here is the hard truth, no one is coming to save you. If you own, manage, or lead in this industry, this is on you, and here is exactly what you need to do: 1. Mentor, every single week. If you are not actively mentoring at least two people, you are failing. Take real time to guide, coach, and grow them into future leaders. 2. Show the career path, publicly. Post about it, talk about it, celebrate people who move up. If young talent cannot see a future, they will not stay. 3. Stop treating training like an expense. Build real leadership programs, partner with hospitality schools, create internships that teach more than how to fold napkins. 4. Fix your culture fast. People leave managers, not companies. If you have toxic leaders, replace them or train them properly. Hold managers accountable for how they treat their teams. 5. Rebrand what it means to work in hospitality. Right now, the perception is burnout. Start showing the real success stories, the lifestyle, the global opportunities. You have to make this career aspirational again. The brands that own the next decade will be the ones that get this right, now. Not next year. Not “when budgets allow.” Now. This is not a staffing issue. This is a leadership issue, and the future of this industry depends on how we invest in people today. --- I am Scott Eddy, keynote speaker, social media strategist, and the number 15 hospitality influencer in the world. I help hotels, cruise lines, and destinations tell stories that drive revenue and lasting results, through strategy, social media workshops, content, and unforgettable photoshoots. If the way I look at the world of hospitality works for you, and you want to have a conversation about working together, let’s chat: scott@mrscotteddy.com.