6 Travel & Hospitality Brands with Decision Makers on the Move

Q2 is a critical time for revenue generation in the travel and hospitality sector. As the weather warms up and students are off for Spring Break and summer holidays, the industry’s business strategies, promotional activities, and resource allocation begin to heat up as well. Combine that annual boom with decision-makers on the move and travel and hospitality is ripe for agency opportunities.

As you know, when fresh talent takes the reigns, they tend to evaluate current efforts and start making changes within a three to 12-month window. If you keep track of these shifts and start engaging new decision-makers right away, you’ll have a major advantage in securing new work and revenue ahead of your competition. Keep reading to discover six travel and hospitality brands making major changes in their C-suites and what doors this opens up:

1)  Expedia promotes top marketer

Sales lead: This DM shift will affect the company’s marketing strategy & agency roster. Expedia Group promoted Jochen Koedijk to CMO, effective March 2024 after joining the company in 2021 as marketing SVP. Jon Gieselman, who previously handled marketing, is stepping down on June 1st.

Target demographic: Millennials & Gen-Xers with a Hispanic skew

Expedia will likely:

• Increase ad spending
• Try new marketing channels
• Make agency changes

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: Expedia spent about $25.4m on national TV ads YTD, a 31% increase from $19.4m spent in this channel during 2023.
• 2022-2023 spend: Full-year spending fell by 53% from $73.7m in 2022 to $34.4m in 2023.
• Ad programming: It placed ads during programming such as NFL Football, College Basketball, NHL Hockey, ¡Despierta América! [Spanish] and Fútbol Mexicano Primera División.

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: $5m
• 2023 spend: $28.3m
• YTD data: 687.4m impressions via Programmatic (88%), Direct (11%), and Ad Network (1%).
• Ad location: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, aviewfrommyseat.com, and espn.com.

Agency analysis: Reach out to the recently promoted CMO now to secure top priority. Current roster:

• Team One: Creative AOR
• Publicis.Sapient: Digital AOR
• JAR Audio: Digital

2)  Seabourn brings in a new top marketer

Sales lead: Contact the new CMO now to be top-of-mind. Seabourn Cruises hired former CMO of Canyon Ranch, Mike Fulkerson, as its newest CMO in March 2024. In his new role, Fulkerson is responsible for marketing strategy, brand management, performance, PR, and communications.

Target demographic: Affluent Gen-Xers & Boomers

Seabourn will likely:

• Revise marketing strategy
• Keep increasing digital spend
• Review the current agency roster

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: Seabourn spent just $5.3k on national TV ads YTD, a massive decrease from $362k spent in this channel during the same period of 2023.
• 2022-2023 spending: Full-year spending jumped from $163.6k in 2022 to $1.2m in 2023.
• Ad programming: It placed ads during 2024 BNP Paribas Open Tennis. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: Seabourn spent around $721.6k on digital display ads YTD, a significant increase from $270.9k spent in this channel during the same period of 2023.
• YTD data: 93.3m impressions via YouTube (86%), Facebook (7%), Instagram (5%), and desktop display (2%).
• 2022-2023 spending: Full-year spending fell by 33% from $2.4m in 2022 to $1.6m in 2023.
• Ad location: It placed 99% of these ads directly onto YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, robbreport.com, and dirt.com. It placed 1% of these ads indirectly through BlogHer on sites such as robbreport.com, cruisecritic.com, tab.gladly.io, imgur.com, and pgatour.com.

Agency analysis: CMO hires are the number one sign of upcoming agency reviews. Current roster:

• Grace Creative: Creative AOR
• Publicis.Sapient: Digital and media buying
• Hawkins International: PR
• PHD USA: Media buying and planning

3)  Wyndham creates a new top marketing position

Sales lead: This leadership restructure will affect the company’s marketing strategy and agency roster. Wyndham Hotels & Resorts recently created a new position by naming Scott Strickland chief commercial officer. Strickland joined the company in 2017 as chief information officer and is responsible for global sales, revenue generation, marketing, communications, loyalty, and technology. Wyndham’s CMO, Lisa Checchio, will leave the company.

Target demographic: Gen-Xers with a male skew

Wyndham will likely:

• Revise marketing strategy
• Keep ramping up spend
• Review the current agency roster

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: Wyndham spent nearly $4m on national TV ads YTD, an 11% increase from $3.6m spent in this channel during 2023.
• 2022-2023 spending: Full-year spending skyrocketed from $89.1k in 2022 to $14.8m in 2023.
• Ad programming: NHL Hockey, 2024 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, NBA Basketball, WWE Friday Night SmackDown, and American Idol. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: Wyndham spent about $490.2k on digital display ads YTD, more than double the $222.6k spent in this channel during the same period of 2023.
• YTD data: 110.3m impressions via Programmatic (97%), Ad Network (2%), and Direct (1%).
• 2022-2023 spend: Full-year spending increased by 26% from $7.2m in 2022 to $9.1m in 2023.
• Ad location: ESPN (Android), milb.com, aarp.org, Facebook, and Video Audio Cutter (Android).

Agency analysis: DM shifts commonly lead to agency reviews, so get in touch to be top-of-mind. Current roster:

• Tom, Dick & Harry Creative: creative AOR
• Citizen Relations: PR AOR
• Questus: Digital and social
• WillowTree: Digital

4)  OMNI Hotels creates a new top marketing position

Sales lead: Contact the new top marketer to offer ad space and agency assistance. OMNI Hotels created a new position by naming Jeff Doane as chief commercial officer. Doane previously served as CCO of Accor and is now responsible for brand marketing, PR, partnerships, social media, and digital platforms.

Target demographic: Male Gen-Xers & Boomers

OMNI Hotels will likely:

• Conduct agency reviews
• Implement new marketing tactics
• Continue ramping up national TV spend

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: OMNI spent nearly $231.2k on national TV ads YTD, a significant increase from $2.8k spent in this channel during 2023.
• 2022-2023 spend: Full-year spend dropped from $223k in 2022 to $139.6k in 2023.
• Ad programming: PGA Tour Golf, PGA Tour Special, Today 1, The Young and the Restless, and NBA Basketball. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: OMNI spent about $93.5k on digital display ads YTD, down from $264.5k spent in this channel during the same period of 2023.
• YTD data: 25.4m impressions via Ad Network (75%), Programmatic (16%), and Direct (9%).
• 2022-2023 spend: Full-year spend fell from $612.4k in 2022 to $547.4k in 2023.
• Ad location: steelers.com, nba.com, dallascowboys.com, resortcams.com, and golfpass.com.

Agency analysis: The new CCO will likely review OMNI’s roster, so get in touch to be top-of-mind. Current roster:

• TRG: Media AOR
• Magrino: PR and programmatic AOR
• Buffalo.Agency: Golf PR AOR

5)  Vail Resorts completes CMO search

Sales lead: Reach out to see if you can provide ad space or agency services. Vail Resorts announced that Courtney Goldstein would join the company as EVP & CMO on April 29th, 2024. Goldstein joins from Comcast where she served as consumer marketing SVP. As Vail Resorts’s CMO, she is responsible for marketing, digital, experience, and data/analytics and fills the CMO vacancy that opened last October.

Target demographic: Millennial and Gen-X tourists

Vail Resorts will likely:

• Continue increasing digital spend
• Try different marketing channels
• Seek agency assistance

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

• YTD spend: VR spent almost $1.6m on digital display ads YTD, equal to the amount it spent during the same period of 2023.
• YTD data: 249m impressions via Direct (98%) and Google AdX+AdSense (2%).
• 2022-2023 spending: Full-year spending jumped from $3.3m in 2022 to $7m in 2023.
• Ad location: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and yahoo.com.

Agency analysis: This hire will likely lead to agency appointments, so get in touch now to be top-of-mind.

6)  Spirit Airlines’ CMO departs

Sales lead: Watch this company closely because a CMO hire will affect its marketing strategy & agency roster. Spirit Airlines is losing its CMO, Bobby Schroeter as he heads to Frontier Airlines to be the chief commercial officer. He joined Spirit in 2005 and worked his way up the marketing ranks.

Target demographic: Gen-Zers & millennials

Once it hires a new CMO, Spirit will likely:

• Experiment with new marketing channels
• Keep increasing spend
• Review the agency roster

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)

• YTD spend: Spirit spent about $509.4k on digital display ads YTD, up from $199.9k spent in this channel during the same period of 2023.
• YTD data: 94.8m impressions via Instagram (40%), Facebook (40%), and desktop display (20%).
• 2022-2023 spend: Full-year spending jumped by 73% from $692.8k in 2022 to $1.2m in 2023.
• Ad location: It placed 81% of these ads directly on Instagram, Facebook, usatoday.com, Pinterest, and weather.com. It placed 19% of these ads indirectly through Display & Video 360 and Google AdX+AdSense onto sites such as yahoo.com, finance.yahoo.com, biblegateway.com, indiatimes.com, and news.yahoo.com.

Agency analysis: Start working on your pitches so that you are ready once Spirit hires a new CMO. The current roster is just composed of Cramer-Krasselt for creative, digital, and media AOR.

Looking for a way to keep track of decision-makers on the move at top advertisers, agencies and even entire industries? If you’re a Winmo customer, you can set up alerts to get push notifications about these changes in real-time.

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