“You’ve got to deal in realities. The market is the market.”

As hotel marketers, we have to deal with the realities of the market.

I’ll be the first to admit, being a Trump branded hotel in the middle of extreme political polarization and the covid pandemic has not been easy. There’s no need to hide from it or sugar coat it.

It was quite literally the perfect storm.

Six years ago, we leaned into our brand. Our tagline was “We Trump Everything.” And you know what? It worked. It worked really well, actually.

But the realities of today’s cultural and economic marketplace forced us to pivot. It’s as simple as that.

Sure, we had a polarizing brand, but as a beachfront luxury condo-hotel on the quiet side of Miami Beach, we also had a great product.

So how did we pivot?

We got back to basics. We got back to good-old-fashioned features and benefits selling.

You know, I’m old-school. I come from the traditional agency world. And back then, we sold on features and benefits.

I learned that you find your story in the benefits. You find your differentiators in the benefits.

For example, instead of just talking about our location and stopping there, we talk about the benefit of being able to walk out the door and onto the beach. When we talk about our spacious rooms, we focus on the benefit of allowing the whole family to be comfortable, being able to make breakfast in the kitchen every morning.

Getting back to those fundamentals of marketing and storytelling actually helped us differentiate ourselves. We tied all of that story back into our digital marketing, from our paid advertising to our website and social media.

And that story resonated.

During and post pandemic, people were searching for nearby vacations, outdoor activities, spacious rooms. We have all those things. We always had them. We just brought them back into the spotlight.

When you can successfully align your messaging with consumer demand, you’ve got all the makings for another kind of perfect storm. The good kind.