How to Deliver on Guest Desires with Branding Guru Samantha Hardcastle

How to Deliver on Guest Desires with Branding Guru Samatha Hardcastle

By Nathan Gawlik

Nathan Gawlik's experience includes being a General Manager of a Hampton Inn and other front line roles such as a Banquet Captain, Front Desk Agent, Housekeeper, Catering Event Manager, and Director of Sales.

Samantha Hardcastle, founder of The Storied Experience and Amore Social, brings a decade of marketing strategy and creative storytelling to hospitality properties and destinations worldwide. With a passion-driven mission to help brands elevate their experience, she guides leaders through the process of deepening the purpose, culture, well-being, and personality across the entire traveler journey.

Samantha and her team humanize and harmonize concepts of your property in an effort to develop an enriching experience for your guests – so their stay meets or exceeds their expectations established through your online marketing.

Samantha joined me in March of 2021 for this interview.

Tell me how you enrich guests' experiences

When we work with a property, we look for opportunities to engage guests through unique sensory touchpoints. How can we increase the value and novelty in what the guest is seeing, touching, tasting, hearing, and smelling? Can we make this moment more interactive, reflective, meaningful, and impactful? We use the stories and symbols of the local culture to deepen the narrative the guest is being immersed into.

Tell me a little bit about you and your background

I was lucky enough to be offered a position as Social Media Specialist right out of college working with nearly a hundred clients. At the time in 2010, the awareness and knowledge of how to harness social media wasn't necessarily commonplace. While I was only there for a year, because I was working with so many clients I really got to learn where I wanted to take my career.

I was exposed to tourism through this role since we were on the Jersey Shore and many of our customers had guests traveling to the region. I worked with so many restaurants and we had a ton of hotel properties so I was able to lean into travel as I started to shape my career.

Shortly after this, I started my own agency, Amore Social. From there I was still working with any businesses that needed my support but slowly I started gravitating towards hospitality. The Storied Experience is more of a spin-off of Amore Social focusing more on the offline experience.

Tell me about the origin of the Storied Experience Brand, and why you started it?

I had the idea to start a company focusing more on guest experiences probably about three years ago when I traveled to Costa Rica. While there I stayed at two different hotels back to back. One was this amazing boutique hotel and it was the best experience I've had at a hotel. I didn't even want to leave.

When I arrived at the next hotel, I was shocked. The way they marketed themselves set me up for high expectations that they failed to meet. They did such a good job of portraying the property but it didn't match the offline experience. As marketers, that's our job - to set the right expectations for our guests. Unfortunately, those promoting a guest stay often have no control of what experience is being delivered. Far too often high expectations are set and seldom met by the property providing the experience.

"Business is Value Exchanged"

The hospitality industry is all about exceeding expectations and if your marketing team isn't setting the proper expectations, it's a serious problem. You don't want to over promise and under deliver. That expectation starts online.

After my trip to Costa Rica, I took a certification course offered by Cornell University in Customer-Driven Marketing and started pursuing the Storied Experience with a couple of colleagues.

So, specifically, what marketing opportunities do you think small boutique hotels and B&Bs have in 2021 and beyond?

I'm so glad you asked that, I keep harping on the fact that property managers need to get away from the heads in beds mentality. For a bed to sleep in, a guest might pay $100 a night but for a transformational experience, a guest might pay $300 or $400 a night. What can you do to bridge that gap? What steps do you need to take so you can increase the value?

Many properties have felt the pinch this last year as fewer people are traveling. This has forced people to raise their rates in some cases, especially for those that want to be targeting that luxury affluent market. For these properties, it is so important to position themselves so they get that attention. That's where I come in. It's not necessarily what you sell, but how you deliver it.

Which leads me to archetypes. There are about 12 different archetypes, of which Samantha uses 9 to describe different types of travelers. Your property might not identify with the Rebel archetype, but properties may wish to attract this type of guest. Perhaps your property feels more like the Joyful or the Explorer archetype. I have a great resource guide explaining archetypes here.

Who do you think is your customer and how might you describe them?

Our sweet spot is the smaller boutique hotel or Inn. But I haven't limited myself as we have worked with hospitality professionals from so many different niches. I've absolutely loved working with multi-concept hospitality companies. For example, I love working with destination restaurants; restaurants that aren't just a place to go to eat. One that I've worked with recently was a restaurant, brewery, and distillery and so you could spend all day there. I love working with Vineyards too so our customers can be accommodation providers, restaurants or anywhere in between.

I don't like to limit myself because the work I do is pretty specific. I know that the work I do isn't going to resonate with everyone. Many properties might say they care about wellness or well-being, but not every property is going to have the desire to take action on it. So the more I can open myself up to different kinds of businesses the more opportunities I'll have. My vision is to make destinations meaningful and transformational for your valued guests. If I only focused on hotels, I would be missing what a destination entails.

As a marketer, for me, character is irreplaceable. When I think of B&Bs, I think they need the most help because their hands are full. They are doing so much already, which makes it hard to create messaging that resonates with guests. The smallest property that I would work with, though, is probably three or four rooms. B&Bs have so much opportunity to differentiate themselves and elevate the customer experience.

Sense of place and blending into the culture is so important - you want to have that cultural feel. But if that is all you do, you can't separate yourself from your competitors. If all your competition is going out with the same mind set of, "how can we provide the ultimate Maine experience?" for example, then you can take all the properties, put them in a hat and draw one with the same personality as the next one.

I often find myself asking, how can we integrate the local culture really well, but also come up with a distinct personality for the property so that when people say your name it stands out. That's what I'm passionate about and it all goes back to positioning.

What services do you offer that are a value add to small B&B owners?

We recently worked on a concept in Washington and came up with a model to speak to guests' inner pioneers. Our conceptual design took advantage of several enhancements like providing a freshly stocked berry bar with Washington berries, herbs, and edible flowers. A serene wind chime garden can be reserved for those needing to escape and the Back in Time weekly dinner offers a nostalgic gathering for their guests. Transformational experiences like these and many more can be found by visiting the Storied Experience.

We adapt our services based on location, desire of the client, budget, and more.

Can you tell me about your Guide to Wellness?

In a recent Skift survey, 75% of respondents reported a growing interest in wellness-related travel experiences (it's an $800 billion industry), with the highest overall interest being mental wellbeing and gaining a new perspective on the world.

We state in our guide to wellness paper that "our mission is to help hospitality and leisure brands create immersive experience narratives that ensure their visitors and guests feel good and flourish." This has been at the core of our business since the pandemic.

It all started about two years ago when I got involved in the Transformational Travel Council. Of course, travel is a means for change. You don't go on a great trip and return the same person. That is how we like to design our experiences. We design for impact.

It could literally be the smallest impact that has a ripple effect. Sometimes it can be a large impact, but more often it's something small and meaningful like a perspective shift or an aha! moment that leads you on a different path.

How we go about this is we work with positive psychology and positive design. Positive design takes into consideration someone's emotions, the guest's current state of being, and the journey we are going to take them on to get them to where we want them to be.

There is a model called the PERMA model which is an acronym for Positive emotions, positive Engagement, positive Relationship, Meaning and Accomplishment. We show our customers how to implement the PERMA model and 6 well-being keys in the 5 Star Pathway Course.

Just to give you an example, one of the well-being keys is Play. Play is a concept that is deeply intertwined with well-being. Play is a means for well-being. We all learn in childhood how to play, children naturally gravitate towards play. And as adults we get inundated with work so when we are looking for a trip essentially what we are looking for is that sense of play.

That is just one aspect that we take into account when we are designing a program. We consider how we are integrating play into this experience. Or even, how are we integrating moments that are playful but also an opportunity to learn? We use the wellness keys as a guideline to create experiences that are valuable, meaningful, and memorable.

What does your typical consultation look like?

It is super dependent on what our client is trying to achieve. You might be looking for a rebranding on your website, you might be looking to create a pop-up experience, you might be trying to integrate a new creative cultural activity at your property. Maybe you need something more on the aesthetic side and need us to look at your spaces and where there is opportunity to engage more of the senses. We might help your property with programming through developing a workshop that runs all year long. We have gone as far as to help properties find local partnerships to make sure those workshops are valuable and cultural.

When people talk about the guest experience, I know a lot of times people are talking about chocolate on the pillow type of thing. That is the bare minimum of elevation that you can offer and we take a completely different approach to leveling up your business. Depending on the client, it could be just one of the things I've mentioned or it could be all of them.

It is all conceptual. It is up to the business to implement it. We give them everything they need and if they can't find the time to make the changes themselves, we will either find someone that is local to them to assist or come out to the property ourselves.

We recently completed an example case study of the Wilcox House Inn offered on our website to show hospitality owners how we add value.

What are pop-up experiences and how can they help your business?

These are often times where a seasonal event might go for a few days to several weeks or even a month. These events can serve as an amazing marketing opportunity. One of my favorite properties is Blackberry Farms that does a ton of pop up events. These unique experiences offer something that isn't always on tap.

What I like about pop-up experiences is that they are very marketable and they are good opportunities for collaboration. For example, say there is another local business that is looking to showcase their product or service and you see an opportunity that weaves into your narrative at your property that would add value to your visitors or guests.

There is almost a sense of urgency created around events like this. If the event is only a week or two weeks long, then guests that may have been looking at the property but haven't booked yet may jump at the opportunity to stay with you before the unique offering has ended.

Pop-up events also serve as a great way to showcase your hotel to other locals that haven't heard about your property. So I really enjoy working with property owners to determine what it is that we need to create to end up with an event that is going to make guests think, ‘I can't miss this'.

I've worked with so many hotels that have tried to come up with concepts like this, but they are one dimensional. I want to make sure that when we are working with a client that the experiences we are creating are really multifaceted and bring all these different elements together to create something that you could never label as boring or mundane. We really focus on pleasing the senses, at least that's the goal.

Can you tell me more about the 5-Star Pathway Course you offer?

The 5-Star Pathway Course helps people with both the online and the offline experience. It marries the best parts of both of my brands, Amore Social and the Storied Experience. The course is really a culmination of so many years of experience. I really poured all my wisdom into this course.

This go-at-your-own pace course has six digital modules to lead property owners through what motivates today's modern traveler and how to captivate and create loyal guests through an immersive story about the destination they have selected.

The best part is that I'm constantly going back and updating the workbook with more relevant information.

Conclusion

Samantha Hardcastle believes that experience driven ‘marketing' is the most successful approach to develop long lasting relationships between hotels and their guests. Samantha saw the disconnects and pain points that often stem from digital presentations that fall flat to in-person audiences. Her brand speaks to her character archetype, Creator.

Samantha is a leader in crafting experiences that enrich restaurants and accommodation properties big and small. Businesses that successfully create a brand that resonates with their guests by providing experiences that fulfill the true needs and desires of visitors, can create a price premium travelers are willing to pay.

Resources

Guide to Archetypes Attraction for Hoteliers
Transformational Travel
Blackberry Farms
5 Star Pathway Course
The Storied Experience
Amore Social
Skift | Defining the new era of wellness tourism trends
Bain & Co and Google study

MARKETING

OPERATIONS

CASE STUDIES

THEORY

MARKETING

OPERATIONS

CASE STUDIES

THEORY