Destinations can be noticed in different ways, depending on the media. For Travel + Leisure, for example, customers can nominate their favorite places. Other publications encourage nominations from industry peers, and sometimes lodges may submit their own information to a publication in order to gain media coverage.
“Part of our marketing toolkit is to highlight Tutka Bay Lodge in interesting ways,” says Dixon.
Although media coverage is helpful, Tutka Bay Lodge reaches its customers primarily through travel agents who are uniquely positioned to serve the luxury tourism market. The lodge has only five guest cabins and is more expensive due to its size and very private setting, as well as the twenty-member staff who care for the cabin guests.
“This is quite a rare market niche, so we work with travel agents who are experts in high-end tourism, adventure travel and boutique hotels,” says Dixon. “And they love seeing us mentioned in Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast and other publications.”
Arctic Hive was also surprised by the award and found out about it through an email “out of the blue,” according to Busby. “The magazine contacted us a month before asking for photos and some details to consider us for an award, but we didn't know how it would go,” she says. “The actual functionality was much greater than we had imagined. We felt really honored.
As with Tutka Bay Lodge, Arctic Hive prefers earned media coverage. “We devote the majority of our marketing budget to establishing contacts with journalists and influencers who share our same values of adventure and well-being and the desire to preserve the wild places that we are lucky to call home. with us,” she adds. “We offer multi-night retreat experiences instead of one-night stays. So we like to offer journalists the opportunity to experience our retreats exactly as our clients do, from start to finish. »
Busby adds that Explore Fairbanks and the Alaska Travel Industry Association (ATIA) have been invaluable partners. “We have been proactive in collaborating with Explore Fairbanks and ATIA whenever possible. These partnerships have been very beneficial in spreading the word about Arctic Hive and meeting others in the tourism and travel industry,” says Busby. “Alaska is a huge place and with the distance to literally anywhere, we don't have a lot of time to meet our peers. The relationships we have developed at these events and the media networking opportunities are invaluable.
