The Modern Hotelier #235: Elevating Your Hotel’s Digital Presence with Video & Influencers | with Eileen Santiago
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David Millili: Welcome to The Modern Hotelier Hospitality's Most Engaged podcast. We're diving into one of the hottest topics in hospitality, how hotels can truly stand out on social media, leverage video, and make the most of influencer partnerships. 
Steve Carran: Today we are gonna be joined by The Modern Hotelier own social media strategists, Eileen Santiago. Eileen's been helping hotel brands tell their stories in creative and authentic ways that actually are driving engagements, increasing revenue through bookings. It's gonna be a great conversation packed with practical insights for anyone looking to elevate their digital presence. Let's jump in. How you doing today, Eileen?
Eileen Santiago: I'm good. How are you guys? 
Steve Carran: Good. Good. Thank you for joining us. So to kick things off, what are some of the most effective ways for hotels to showcase themselves on social media? 
Eileen Santiago: Honestly, video is king. We find that highlighting the hotel via a real, featuring the rooms lobby, dining, all of those little moments really helps people picture themselves there. You want 'em to almost feel like they're on vacation just by scrolling their feed, that's where influencer collaborations come in. We found a lot of success partnering with local content creators. They really help the hotel expand their reach and connect with audiences in a more relatable way. It feels really authentic. If a friend of yours or someone you follow and trust is sharing their experience, you are more likely to wanna stay there as well. 
David Millili: So what are some of the top qualities or metrics you look for in an influencer before agreeing to collaborate and do you follow a specific vetting process? 
Eileen Santiago: Yes, definitely. We look at a few things. First and foremost, location. The hotel is in Southern California, for instance, and they're looking to promote staycations, we'll look for creators based in SoCal, Arizona, or even Vegas, where you know, a quick getaway makes sense. 
Secondly, we look at their niche. Do they post travel content? Or are they mainly focused on product endorsements? For hotels specifically, we look for creators who focus on travel and lifestyle, especially if their content aligns with our audience, whether that's families, couples, or luxury travelers. Then we look at engagement. Not just how many likes and comments they get, but how much they actually interact with their audience. Do they reply to comments? Are their followers genuinely interested in their content? And then reach. Reach is a big one. How much visibility does their content get? Overall? You wanna make sure as a hotel to get visibility as well. We wanna make sure we're partnering with influencers that can get a stat. And then finally, aesthetics. If you're a luxury hotel, for instance, you might want someone whose content reflects that. Think beautiful lighting, some drone footage, slower pacing, and a more elevated look. So those are some of the the prospects that we look for when looking for influencers. 
Steve Carran: Very well said. And you have worked with quite a few hotels, uh, in your past. So from drawing, from your experience, what have been some of the most successful ways to leverage influencer partnerships for hotels? 
Eileen Santiago: I find that giveaways, believe it or not, have been huge for us. So partnering with an influencer to give away a one- or two-night stay is really a great way to build excitement, and it's a win-win for everyone. The influencer gets to create buzz and engagement with their audience. The hotel gains visibility and the lucky winner gets to experience the hotel for themselves. It's really simple, but a very effective way to leverage that partnership. 
David Millili: Do you believe influencer collaborations always require payment, or are there other forms of partnerships that work well?
Eileen Santiago: You know, not always, and it really depends on the influencer and the type of partnership. For larger influencers, yes, they usually have established rates. For deliverables, but for boutique hotels or independent hotels that might not have a big budget, there are other ways you can collaborate. You can offer a complimentary stay dining credits or tickets to a local attraction. In exchange for content, we find that micro and nano influencers are very open to those types of collaborations, especially if the property fits their content style. 
Steve Carran: Eileen, one thing that we feel like we've seen a little bit more this year is hotels utilizing video over those static images. What have you seen on your end as you're working with hotels to help create videos like that? 
Eileen Santiago: Well, first and foremost, I do think it's good to have different types of content. I still think a static image is good. I think a carousel is amazing, right where we are featuring several images but we find at least that with video it draws a lot more attention, right? People are scrolling through their feed, they see a video, especially if at the very beginning of the video there's a hook. So think of it as either a beautiful image or voiceover that kind of makes you stop while you're scrolling, that's really incentivizing. That really helps people stay and actually watch the entire video. And like I mentioned, it really does help them, cells feel like they're there and it really helps attract more customers and potential bookings for the hotel. 
Steve Carran: For those hotels that are looking to develop any hooks, what are some of the. Better hooks that you've seen when working with hotels? 
Eileen Santiago: Well, there's a few. I mean, you can start off by saying. You know, if you are looking for the best family getaway, this is it, or something that's like makes you stop or stop scrolling. You could literally just say, stop scrolling. We found the best destination. SoCal something that really kind of gets their attention as soon as they're scrolling.
Remember, you're competing with all these other hotels with everyone else on the feed. You wanna make sure that when someone is. Scrolling that there's something that makes 'em stop and makes them wanna see more. 
David Millili: Well, that does it for this episode of The Modern Hotelier Hospitality's Most Engaged Podcast. Thank you for joining us, Eileen, and giving us tips on everything from social media, video, and influencers. Thank you. 
Eileen Santiago: Thank you.