How Hotels Build Experience-Led Campaigns That Drive Revenue

“Rate-led marketing is a tactical instrument. You reach for it when you need to fill a need period, backstop a group that might wash, or close a gap in pace. It sits at the bottom of the funnel and works on people whose intent is already forming. Experience-led marketing operates on a different part of the brain. It lives at discovery, before the guest is searching, and its job is to manufacture desire rather than respond to it. One creates the reason to travel. Rate-driven efforts convert someone who has already decided to. Treating the two as interchangeable levers is where most hotel marketing teams go wrong. They end up discounting demand they already had while starving the top of the funnel that would have produced tomorrow’s demand.”

“Rate-led campaigns attract guests who will book somewhere else next time for €10 less. Experience-led campaigns work backwards from why someone is travelling. A couple looking for a weekend away wants something that feels right. Your marketing needs to meet that emotional state, not bypass it with a discount. It’s about leading with moments instead of price. A hotel with a strong F&B story might lead with a unique dining experience. The room is part of the story, not the headline.

The challenge is that experience-led campaigns rarely show clean revenue attribution, due to the typically fragmented booking journey. So you would need to track broader signals instead. Branded search volume for example is an indicator whether the brand is building momentum over time.”

“For higher-income guests, rate-led campaigns are a race to the bottom you don’t want to win. Anyone can match a price; nobody can copy a story. With our hotel clients at opensmjle we typically run two distinctly different playbooks.

Rate-led campaigns belong in performance channels with high commercial intent – Google Hotel Ads, Bing Ads, metasearch, and brand-protecting SEA. Here, speed, parity, and conversion-rate optimisation on the IBE matter more than emotion. We pair these with conversion tools of partners like The Hotels Network, Hotelchamp or our own solutions for customer websites to recapture price-shoppers.

Experience-led campaigns, on the other hand, need a different stage. They live on the website, in social, in CRM-driven journeys, in gust communication (ReGuest, Chatlyn, HiJiffy, Bookboost, etc.) and increasingly in GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation) – making sure that when someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity for “a quiet design hotel in the Black Forest with great food,” your property is the answer.

We build for example conversion optimised dedicated landing pages around themes (family excursions on weekends, dog lover experiences, slow travel, romantic couple suites with chef’s table), feed them with strong photography and editorial copy, and ideally connect them to the CRM so guests can be upsold pre-arrival matching ancillaries: the private tasting, the late checkout, the spa slot.

The trick is sequencing. A guest first falls in love (experience), then compares (rate). If you only show up at step two, OTAs might win causing higher commissions respectively higher sales cost.

My practical tip: every quarter, define 2-3 “signature experiences” per property, build a campaign cluster around each (landing page, paid social, CRM flow, upsell module), and measure them not by CPC but by ADR uplift and ancillary revenue per stay.”

“It depends on where the customer journey is you are targeting. If you are going for awareness or inspiration, rate is not a consideration. You can’t skip from zero awareness straight into expecting an offer transaction. Most video ads (either on YouTube, Social or OTT) should be considered based on impressions and engagement to a targeted audience as KPIs, not shopping of rates.”

“Personalisation needs to be more nuanced than that. We must focus on the integrated experience. In today’s technology-enabled environment we are able to gather and analyse a vast range of data points to support personalisation efforts. This is in a real-time digital approach – most important – and a static post digital or physical engagement follow-up. Important, but slightly less so. In the environments I operate, the key focus areas are optimisation of the full digital shelf and leveraging the breadth of product and services against data sets to pinpoint personalisation. Key to this delivery is a single digital environment and full control of the commerce journey Widgets, and disparate digital platforms decrease or remove the value and opportunity for genuine personalisation, which is why most of today’s examples are offline and static. To be effective, we need to meet the customer at the point of purchase with relevant products. Rate based approaches are in my view clumsy and well short of technical capability today.”

“The most effective experience‑led campaigns start with intent and context, not price, using guest data to surface emotionally compelling outcomes rather than discounts. This style of campaign should lead with narrative and aspiration across owned channels (direct web, app, pre‑arrival comms), using price as an enabler rather than the hook. Hospitality personalisation research consistently notes that guests respond more strongly to relevance and recognition than to generic promotions, while rate‑led campaigns increasingly train guests to wait for discounts. Finally, the introduction of Agnetic AI will let us truly realise granular personalisation capabilities that will astound the guest.”

“One of the biggest mistakes I see in hotel marketing is this: we talk about personalisation, but we still sell like it’s 2010.

Most campaigns are still rate-led, just wrapped in slightly better design. Discounts, limited-time offers, and urgency tactics. They work, but they also quietly erode brand equity and train customers to delay decisions.

The uncomfortable truth is that if price is your strongest lever, you’re already losing.

I learned this the hard way earlier in my career. We drove occupancy through aggressive offers, but margins dropped and repeat guests became increasingly price-sensitive. We were filling rooms, but weakening the brand.

The shift happened when we started building campaigns around intent, not inventory.

For example, instead of pushing “Stay 3 Pay 2,” we repositioned the same offer as a curated wellness escape with structured experiences across the stay. Same rooms, same base economics, but higher perceived value, longer stays, and stronger ancillary revenue.

Experience-led campaigns work because they are harder to compare and harder to replicate. They move you out of the OTA price war.

Another contrarian view: most hotels introduce experiences too late. If your first touchpoint is still a room and a rate, you’ve already lost the narrative. Experiences should lead discovery, not sit as add-ons post-booking.

Rate-led campaigns have their place for tactical demand generation. But if they are your default strategy, you are building a fragile business.”

“The shift toward experience-led campaigns reflects a bigger change in how higher-income travelers define value. Price still matters, but it is no longer the primary decision driver – relevance and memorability have become more important.

A key best practice is to start with guest intent segmentation, not demographic segmentation. Instead of targeting “luxury travelers” broadly, identify micro-moments, such as wellness seekers, culinary explorers, or celebration travelers, and build packages around those intents. For example, a resort might bundle a private chef experience, local wine tasting, and late checkout into a “weekend immersion” rather than discounting the room itself. This increases perceived value without eroding rate integrity.

Second, integrate dynamic ancillary pricing into the campaign. Rather than offering static add-ons, use booking data and stay patterns to surface relevant upgrades at the right moment, such as spa slots during low utilization periods or curated excursions tied to length of stay. This turns personalisation into revenue optimisation, not just marketing messaging.

Third, storytelling matters as much as the offer. Experience-led campaigns should be marketed through narrative and visuals, focusing on what the guest will experience and remember, rather than listing features. This is where many hotels underperform, often defaulting back to price-led messaging.

Finally, rate-led campaigns still have a role, particularly in low-demand or need periods, but they should be used tactically. Over-reliance on discounts conditions guests to wait for deals, whereas experience-led strategies build brand differentiation and long-term loyalty.”

“For hotels it’s important to focus from rate-driven strategies to experience–led campaigns, putting the guest journey and preferences at the centre of everything we do. We are using Canary Technologies, connected directly with Reception and PMS, where guests have the option for mobile check-in and check-out, booking an airport transfer, late check-out or early check-in etc., without losing time on e-mails or phone conversations. Specifications are integrated automatically on our PMS and the Reception is informed prior to check-in regarding guest preferences. We align our messaging across channels – website, email marketing, and OTA descriptions – to ensure consistency.”

“Personalisation, particularly in the luxury space, isn’t just about data or dynamic pricing—it’s about people.
The most effective experience-led campaigns are built from genuine passion and local knowledge. Whether it’s a hotel or a villa, the goal should be to act as an ambassador of your destination. That means bringing the place to life through the people within your business. I’ve always believed that the strongest experiences come from individuals who are deeply connected to what they do—whether that’s a team member who knows every hidden ski route in the Alps, a chef with a distinct culinary perspective, or someone who can share a skill or insight guests wouldn’t typically access.

From a practical standpoint, this means identifying the passions within your team and building experiences around them. Encourage individuals to bring something personal into the guest journey—whether that’s hosting, guiding, teaching, or simply curating moments that feel authentic. Guests don’t just connect to places; they connect to people.

In contrast, rate-led campaigns still have a role, but primarily at the point of conversion. For high-value travellers, leading with price can dilute perception. Leading with meaning, access, and individuality creates far stronger engagement.

Ultimately, the most successful campaigns aren’t built around inventory—they’re built around connection.”

“I think that in many cases, a hybrid approach can work well, especially for properties that do rely on OTAs and therefore rate-led sales to get visibility on these platforms. A good example is wellness resorts, such as Navutu Dreams in Siem Reap. At the top of the funnel, they operate largely a rate-led model, selling rooms on OTAs as a primary entry point. This is particularly important for visibility on search and comparison channels.

However, for a hotel to pivot to experience-led campaigns, this must happen post-acquisition. Once a guest books, the hotel needs to transition into an experience-led model, which is usually done with pre-arrival communication to promote the wellness services, spa treatments and other packages they have available.

Having said this, the best practice here might be twofold. On their website, where they can promote packages, these should take front and centre. This allows the hotel to lead with the outcome rather than the room, positioning experiences such as wellness retreats or yoga immersions as the primary product. This is where experience-led campaigns are most effective, particularly for higher-income travellers who are less interested in room rates and more focused on the purpose of their stay.

Secondly, the property can use data and guest booking behaviour to drive more relevant offers. For example, a guest booking a longer stay or travelling as a couple can be shown more immersive, higher-value wellness packages, while short stays might be offered lighter experiences. This is where dynamic inventory and targeted ancillary offers become commercially powerful, allowing the hotel to package rooms with relevant experiences and present them at the right stage of the guest journey.

Ultimately, this approach works because it separates price-driven acquisition from value-driven monetisation, increasing total guest spend while maintaining rate integrity.”

“Personalisation relies on personal information. When hotels lack personal information, they can only offer customisation, enabling guests to choose what they like. I recommend that hotels think beyond their in-house offerings. Almost all hotels offer yoga and romantic packages, and they are not competing on points of difference. Hotels should build packages tailored to their personas. For example, a hotel near famous museums and theaters can offer packages (room + museum/theater tickets). Hotels should be the local concierge for travelers.”

“The key is to focus on customer mindsets, attitudes and understand what sources customers are using to gain and shape their insights throughout the customer journey. Interactions with hotels are multi-faceted across a range of devices, platforms and change at different stages. The key is understanding the behaviour patterns and then model customer-decision journeys which can lead to useful insights and unique ways to target different audiences. With these insights, more targeted storytelling, experiential elements and how the hotel can add value to the customer can be utilised. Both Marriott and Hilton have adopted these approaches particularly for their loyalty members which are framed as more social listening analysis and mindset marketing. However, my own personal favourite in terms brand messaging, content and ability to tell a story is Aman Hotels.”

“I firmly believe in revamping the random acts of kindness. Many of these ideas won’t break the bank, it just needs creativity and some time to think it through. For all types of hotels there are surprises to be organised/engineered, if you really embrace the idea.

Most hotel marketeers still old-school optimise for conversion (price, availability, certainty). So do I, when not deliberately paying attention; this is easy and fast, the second option takes some time and a buy-in from the other departments to make it happen.

However, the basic experience-led campaigns have become predictable and over-researched.”