As a freelancer, there is no better advertising than having friends and past clients who will vouch for you. Careers are built on good relationships with good people. It’s how I’ve gotten 99% of my work for the last eight years. I’ve had past co-workers and clients, friends, vendors, and even the Global Head of Asset Management for one of the largest hospitality asset management firms in the world say some nice things about me that I’ve been able to leverage for new business.
On this occasion, it was a past co-worker needing some help. I’d onboarded her as a property marketing manager years ago when she got her start in the resort space at Paradise Point in San Diego. It didn’t take her long to become one of the biggest rock stars in the company. Over the years, our paths crossed a few times, but I never had the opportunity to work directly with her. She’d called me during Covid to tell me she was going out on her own, and it didn’t take long for her punch card to fill up.
So when she reached out last summer to say she was needing someone to take over her contracts in Q4 while she was out on mat leave, I was over the moon to help.
Alila Napa Valley and Alila Marea Beach in Encinitas are two of three Alilas in the US, with the third in Big Sur. Managed by Hyatt, all other Alilas are located in some of the most stunning destinations in all of Asia. My job was to step in for Dana and help manage marketing tasks while she was out of pocket. So for the last three months, I’ve been:
- Writing new offer names and copy
- Developing and sending eblasts
- Helping to manage website updates
- Developing campaigns to drive holiday business (rooms, F&B, and spa)
- Developing collateral leisure sales one-sheeters, menus, graphics, check stuffers, etc
- Collaborating with the team on strategies to garner votes for award season
- Developing visuals for organic social
- Providing the team onsite with ideas to garner local business (F&B and spa)
- Collaborating with leadership on PR ideas to drive short-term revenue and impact 2023 business goals
- Contributing to calls with PR and digital agencies
Pretty straightforward stuff. I had a ball working with the teams at both of these resorts and am pretty jealous my friend has a long-term contract with them….would do it again in a heartbeat.
