If you manage a resort, you already know that creating an exceptional guest experience requires attention to everything from accommodations and dining to amenities and service. What is often overlooked, is that some of the most important moments in the guest journey happen long before travelers ever arrive on your property.
That’s why effective resort public relations strategies are about much more than generating awareness. They’re about helping shape the experience before check-in even begins.
Think about your own travel habits. Once a vacation is booked, the anticipation starts building. Families planning a beach getaway spend months browsing photos, watching resort tours on YouTube, reading destination guides, and researching activities they’ll want to experience when they arrive. Couples planning a romantic escape do the same thing as they count down the days until departure.
By the time guests step onto your property, they have often spent weeks or even months imagining what their stay will be like.
Anticipation is part of the vacation
Travel is different from many other purchases because guests invest significant time, money, and emotion before the experience ever takes place. They aren’t simply booking a room. They’re picturing mornings by the pool, dinners overlooking the ocean, family memories they’ll talk about for years, and the feeling of finally stepping away from the stresses of everyday life.
Those expectations don’t develop in a vacuum. They are shaped by the content travelers consume throughout the planning process, whether that’s a travel article highlighting the best all-inclusive resorts, a feature about unique guest experiences, or a story that helps them better understand what makes a property special.
The anticipation travelers feel before a trip isn’t separate from the vacation experience. In many ways, it’s the beginning of it.
Your story helps build excitement
When travelers research a destination, they’re looking for more than room categories and amenity lists. They want reassurance that they’ve made the right choice, and they want reasons to get excited about the trip ahead.
This is where resort public relations can have a meaningful impact.
Media coverage gives travelers opportunities to discover your resort through trusted third-party sources rather than through advertising alone. Whether an article highlights your culinary offerings, family-friendly experiences, wellness programs, sustainability efforts, or connection to the local culture, those stories help potential guests understand what makes your property worth visiting.
More importantly, they help guests picture themselves there.
The vacation starts before check-in
The most successful resorts understand that the guest experience extends far beyond the time travelers spend on property. Long before guests arrive, they’re already imagining the experience, researching the destination, and looking for confirmation that they’ve chosen the right place for their vacation.
Resort public relations helps ensure your brand is part of those moments.
Because the vacation doesn’t begin when guests receive their room key. It begins the moment they start dreaming about the trip.
If you’re ready to put your resort’s story in front of more travelers, contact us here or call (865) 977-1973.