They are everywhere, whether you love them or not. The travel world is reopening and influencers will be back in action.
This is good news for hotels such as the Langham Hotel on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
Louise O’Brien is the regional director of public relations in the Americas for Langham Hospitality Group. She says, “Ninety percent” of the people she works with are exceptional, diligent, and do the right thing.
She says that “they know how to monetize what they are good at, which is content creation and photography.”
O’Brien claims that the Covid-19 pandemic forced the hotel to be proactive rather than reactive in reaching out and contacting industry influencers for staycation-related content. He believes this dedicated approach will continue to be a success.
However, not all hotels share O’Brien’s enthusiasm.
Gail Behr, the owner of Dorp Hotel in Cape Town, says that they are called influenzas. She claims she is contacted by people who oppose what the hotel stands for five to six times per week.
She explains that “posing and wearing very little in a hotel room does not work for us. It’s not the clientele that we want.”
It is easy to see why by looking at the website. It boasts a carefully designed interior, with inviting spaces and warm colors.
Behr said that online everything is hyped up and presented as glamorous or magical. She contrasts this with her daily efforts to capture the magic happening in her hotel. For example, staff singing happy birthdays or discovering chameleons in the garden.
“If someone wrote me and said, “I’m overweight and can’t look glamorous at your hotel, but I wear black because it’s more comfortable for me, and I have a few missing hair pieces, but I’m just obsessed with Dorp so I would love to go,’ I’d say yes, someone with a sense humor and who is real and genuine,” she says, regretting that the term “authenticity” has become a fake buzzword.
Richard Hanlon, the owner of Udaipur’s majestic Bujera Fort, India shares a similar view.
He says that the problem with influencers lies in their lack of quality control. “Someone needs to create a TripAdvisor rating system for them.”
He describes the bizarre requests he receives from clients, including five rooms for three nights and free airport transfers.
He says that most people who contact him are 18-year old girls on their gap years, trying to get a freebie. “Looking them up on Instagram will show that they have bought their followers and paid for their advertising.”
“Don’t go in it for the free nights”
Hanlon and Behr both quickly state that they appreciate professional journalists and publications who are here to stay, and have enjoyed great success with these types of partnerships.
Hanlon cites a House & Garden article as an example. He explains that the journalists were “deeply professional” and that bookings started coming in just hours after the magazine was published.
He says, “Those publications don’t want freebies. In fact, some of our most useful coverage has been from paying customers. We only discover that they are ‘influencers half-way through their stay.”
Jessica Wright, a long-time influencer and better known as @bontraveler on Instagram, agrees.
“I tell people who want influencers that they shouldn’t do it for the free stay. If you don’t provide value, you won’t get the benefits.”
Wright, who began her career in 2014, believes that the freeloaders are a disgrace to the true influencers and that people underestimate the value she provides.
“When we are on property, we are out photographing non-stop from sunrise to sunset. It’s my job to capture the destination, inspire people on social media, and inform them on the website and blog,” she said. She compared the experience to a sales journey that guides people through all the various platforms before they book their travel.
As an example, she cites a TikTok clip she made for the Geneseo Inn Paso Robles hotel in September 2020. It went viral with 1.7 million views and 190.6k likes. There were 1,107 comments.
Wright claims that Wright’s hotel phone rang for several weeks and provided a clear return on her investment.
Brands have been partnering with social media influencers for years. In 2015, the Marriott group signed an exclusive deal to partner with Jackson Harries of JacksGap. This YouTube channel has over 4 million subscribers and Jack created short videos about Marriott destinations.
This brand continued to build on the success of that partnership with other influencers via their Snapchat platform. They even launched a TikTok contest earlier in the year to find three people who would complete a “30 stays, 300 days” tour of their properties around the world. Ace Hotel, another hotel chain, receives so many requests for influencer stays that they have created a simplified process using specific online forms.
An industry that is growing
Research from the Influencer Marketing Hub shows that these partnerships are a huge business and will only get bigger as travel opens up after the pandemic. The industry will grow to $16.4 billion in the next year, according to experts. 75% of brands have dedicated a budget to influencer-related services.
This has created an opportunity for a new type of business to flourish in the market — consulting businesses such as Sidewalker Daily and Travel Mindset, which straddle both the world of influencers or the brand/marketing sector.
Sidewalker Daily co-founder Nina Zadeh says there is a huge gap between what people think influencers do or as they are called content creators.
She says that people tend to think of influencers as those who just sit at the Four Seasons and enjoy the sun all day. But the travel influencer market is really, really exhausting.
She describes the work involved in early morning shoots, “to get the perfect sunrise shot above in the mountain where there is just a volcano in the background”, and the long press trips that require creators to be present at all times.
She adds, “You’re at work, and you’re there for a set number of deliverables to your client.”
Zadeh said that the industry had been used to having higher barriers to entry. For example, hotels would hire photographers to shoot a full production. This would have cost thousands of dollars.
She explains that brands can now take a full production budget and collaborate with other creators in the photo or video space that can capture the perfect underwater shot or drone shot to show off the property.
This is high-quality production at a very affordable rate compared to what you were paying for once-a-year photo shoots. These influencers have the audiences these travel brands desire and have the trust of their communities.
Jade Broadus is vice president of Travel Mindset and says that the statistics support it.
“Our blog posts by influencers have a time on-site of about 3-plus minutes compared to less that :53 seconds for some travel websites. In almost all situations, the posts get significantly higher engagement than traditional publishers — which can be a lot more expensive.”
She continues, “A lot brands assume that influencers are equal to Instagram posts. But it goes so much beyond that.” There are so many deliverables you can give influencers to showcase your property. A one-page advertisement will cost you around $50,000. It’s only one shot.
“But an influencer can show your property in a gazillion different ways if they’re there for two nights or whatever.”
Broadus claims her company uses proprietary software to identify and vet the best type of influencers for each job.
What did the pandemic do to the industry?
Both influencers as well as hotels agree that the relationship between them must be mutually beneficial. However, this doesn’t mean that the industry’s future is easy. Although the pandemic did not change the game, it did alter the landscape.
Scott Keyes, the founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights, says that a year ago, selling travel was like selling snow to an aspen avalanche.
He explains that instead of working with influencers who would take photos on a beach, he found a way to help people by educating them on their rights as travelers.
Their platform was created to help people know what rights they had in regards to refunds or Covid-19.
Keyes said that they started working with writers to profile off-the-beaten-path places that people could travel to in the future. This was to create excitement and inspire future travel. They were able to achieve great success with their efforts, and they plan to continue.
Smart influencers had other options when the pandemic struck. Jen Ruiz, a social media influencer known as jenonajetplane on Instagram, had to change her twice-monthly travel trip for other income streams after borders were closed in 2020.
She switched from blogging to writing a book, and began looking for a publishing deal. She says, “I got a five figure deal and am now writing my memoir.”
Ruiz believes that business is rebounding now that travel is back on track. She’s now having to decline certain trips because she has to balance her travel requests and book contract obligations.
It doesn’t take much to convince people to travel now.
Thomas Talucci, the owner of Desa Seni wellness retreat in Bali, said that despite being overwhelmed with requests, the pandemic has made him less willing to pursue partnerships.
“After the pandemic, my vision and philosophy here, continuing to support all of the good work we do, losing money over two years, and finally reopening, it seems a bit irresponsible for those people to ask for free stays. Zero percent tourism is a visionally aligned group that would support local communities and give back to them, especially after this period.” He says he is tired of seeing “sexy, doctored pictures of people”.
These nuanced changes are viewed by Zadeh and her consulting firm as more positive. Her clients should be open-minded and accept that hotels may not pay for your stay. Instead, she suggests to them to get a brand to compensate you.
She explains that there are many ways to make money from these trips. An influencer can either sell to the hotel only or pitch to other verticals.
They can pitch Sephora and say, “hey, I’m going in Turks and Caicos. I want to show you my new summer blush line from this brand.”
Zadeh says, “You just have to make the connection.” He tells the story of a beauty blogger who was able to work with a hotel through finding a mutually advantageous angle to cover a stay. “The creator economy is rapidly approaching, that’s where social commerce is taking place and where people actually buy.”
Broadus concurs that the creator market is growing.
She says, “I just heard that TikTok will start sharing brand deals for creators.” “So, if your TikTok creator is a big one, especially if they’re creating longer videos, the potential isn’t just from your brand deals. It’s also from people who pay TikTok directly.
Keyes seems to be able to capture this moment in the best time. He says, “It doesn’t take much to convince people right now to travel — all marketing channels have tail winds.”
Whatever sector of the travel industry your are in, the world may be your oyster right now.
