The Socially Awkward Podcast | Strategic Marketing for the Hospitality Industry

Content creators pitching hotels: how hotels choose who to host, so you can pitch the right property, tell its story, and get invited back. Calvin Tilokee, founder of Revpar Media, shares what his agency checks when creator requests arrive every day.Calvin walks through cases like a DJ with 300,000 followers who didn't fit a luxury hotel, and a creator whose hotel video showed him ironing one sock. He also explains why hidden likes end a review and copy-pasted pitches go unread.You'll leave knowing why twenty thousand engaged followers can beat a million who don't care, and how to show the arrival, the room and the concierge. Delivering on time and sending your metrics afterward is what gets you referred to other hotels.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvintilokee/Company: https://www.revparmedia.com/Website: https://www.revparblems.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revparblems/Podcast (The Socially Awkward Podcast episode): https://marketscale.com/industries/the-socially-awkward-podcast/from-green-initiatives-to-guest-loyalty-building-the-future-of-hospitality-through-tree-planting-and-plastic-cleanup-programs/Resource (Lighthouse Hospitality): https://lighthousehospitality.coInterview (Hcareers): https://www.hcareers.com/article/career-advice/social-media-influencer-calvin-tilokee-on-bringing-together-hospitality-professionalsPodcast Guest (Hospitality Daily): https://podcast.hospitalitydaily.com/guests/calvin-tilokee/Podcast Guest (Top Floor): https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/209Podcast Guest (Hospitality.FM): https://hospitality.fm/show/episode/content-marketing-roi-with-calvin-tilokee-of-revpar-media/Podcast Guest (Alex & Annie): https://www.alexandanniepodcast.com/videos/conquer-social-media-and-turn-posts-into-revenue-with-the-ceo-of-revpar-media-calvin-tilokee/#ContentCreators #Hotels #PitchingHotels #HotelCreators #RevparMediaChapters:00:00:00 - Coming up...00:00:28 - How to know if you are actually a good fit for a hotel before you pitch00:04:40 - The research every creator should do before reaching out to a hotel00:06:54 - What a strong hotel collaboration pitch actually includes00:10:17 - The engagement red flag that gets creators ignored immediately00:12:04 - Micro-influencers vs. macro-influencers: who hotels actually choose and why00:16:20 - What separates great hotel content from a typical influencer post00:18:45 - A real example of hotel content that completely failed the property00:20:45 - How to make yourself part of the story without making it all about you00:23:09 - The types of hotel content that tell the strongest story00:28:50 - The fastest ways to lose a hotel's interest during the pitch process00:31:33 - How to behave on property so hotels want to work with you again00:33:57 - What to do after your content goes live to build a lasting partnership00:35:59 - How to move from a one-off influencer to a trusted hotel partnerThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hospitality marketers learn where AI belongs and where human specificity must stay, with Calvin Tilokee of Revpar Media.Calvin shares his 500-hotel sameness test and the story of a laundry room post that became a select service Orlando client's top performer for six months. He draws a clear line between polishing a photo and fabricating one.You leave with a concrete pre-publish checklist and a framework for using AI on research, repurposing, and competitive scans without losing the details that make your brand recognizable.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvintilokee/Website: https://www.revparblems.com/Company: https://www.revparmedia.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/revparblems/Podcast (MarketScale): https://marketscale.com/industries/the-socially-awkward-podcast/origin-of-revpar-media-calvin-tilokee-socially-awkward-podcast/Resource (Hospitality Daily): https://podcast.hospitalitydaily.com/guests/calvin-tilokee/Resource (herTelier feature): https://www.hertelier.com/post/ally-of-the-month-calvin-tilokee-revpar-mediaResource (hCareers feature): https://www.hcareers.com/article/career-advice/social-media-influencer-calvin-tilokee-on-bringing-together-hospitality-professionals#HospitalityMarketing #HotelMarketing #AIContentMarketing #HospitalityContentStrategy #RevparMediaChapters:00:00:00 - Coming up...00:00:32 - Why AI is making hotel brands sound identical00:03:12 - How to use AI for captions without losing your brand voice00:07:31 - The simple test every hotel marketer should run before posting00:08:06 - Where AI genuinely makes your marketing team better00:09:52 - The Bigfoot convention story and what it reveals about hidden demand00:12:29 - How to repurpose existing hotel footage into authentic content00:14:53 - Why your hotel has more content than you think00:18:02 - How a laundry room became a top-performing post for six months00:19:23 - What agencies owe clients about AI-generated work00:21:11 - The pre-publish checklist for keeping AI content on-brand00:23:28 - Why authentic content will only become more valuable as AI spreads00:27:26 - How one raw New York City reel outperformed polished contentThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin: https://itl.ink/revparbookacall 🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media: https://itl.ink/revparlearnmore📩 Connect with Revpar Media: https://itl.ink/revparcontact📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedIn: https://itl.ink/revparLinkedInInstagram: https://itl.ink/revparIGYouTube: https://itl.ink/revparYTFacebook: https://itl.ink/revparFB🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeekhttps://itl.ink/APodcastGeekThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hospitality marketers: Calvin Tilokee of Revpar Media explains why AI-generated content erodes the trust hotels need to sell a real experience.When guests see labeled or synthetic imagery, they start questioning the room and the reviews too. A no-music reel with construction sounds pulled over 2,000 views in one hour for a small New York City hotel, and that result shows why imperfection now signals authenticity.Calvin draws a line between where AI belongs in a hospitality workflow (research, brainstorming, transcription) and where handing it creative control costs you the emotional connection you were building.#HospitalityMarketing #HotelMarketing #AIContent #HotelContentStrategy #CalvinTilokeeThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hospitality marketing best-of: Calvin Tilokee replays the strongest Socially Awkward moments on standing out, direct bookings and moving up.Susan Barry of Hive Marketing explains why no traveler books on thread count. Alex Husner and Annie Holcombe compare hotel and vacation rental marketing, Calvin Stovall walks through his ICONIC framework, and Dury Kim of InnVentures admits moving up takes politicking.You'll leave with a reason to make content that looks different from your comp set and a plan for turning OTA guests into direct bookers. A round of hotel pickup lines with Susan Barry closes it out.Thanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. #HospitalityMarketing #HotelMarketing #DirectBookings #HospitalityCareers #SociallyAwkwardThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hotel marketers and GMs: Calvin Tilokee of Revpar Media breaks down why every piece of content must pass one test, would an actual guest care?Award announcements, renovation reveals, and executive appointments are not finished content. Calvin shows how to turn each one into a story travelers actually care about.The episode ends with practical questions for content meetings, so GMs and commercial leaders can evaluate hotel marketing against audience behavior instead of personal taste.Thanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Calvin Tilokee, hospitality marketer and former hotel revenue management professional, explains why hotels need to stop treating social media as a posting task and start building it as a strategic channel for visibility, trust, and demand. He breaks down the warning signs of a checkbox approach, from generic content and unclear goals to weak measurement and social teams disconnected from revenue, sales, and operations.Calvin explores why “social media didn’t drive bookings” is often the wrong diagnosis, showing how strategy, content quality, budget, measurement, the booking path, and unrealistic expectations can all affect performance. He also explains which metrics matter beyond likes and followers, how competitors build an advantage through consistency, and why even modest-budget hotels can win by understanding their guests, creating focused content pillars, and connecting content to real business needs.For hotel owners, GMs, and commercial leaders planning to invest more seriously in social media, Calvin lays out a practical first 90 days covering diagnosis, positioning, content foundations, execution, reporting, and learning. The goal is a repeatable system aligned with commercial priorities that builds stronger positioning, better creative, and measurable momentum over time.Thanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hotels often decide social media “doesn’t work” after testing the weakest possible version of it, and Calvin Tilokee argues that the real problem is rarely the channel itself, but the lack of strategy, investment, ownership, and connection to commercial goals.Calvin breaks down why simply paying someone to post is not the same as hotel social media marketing, from reactive content and unclear audiences to broken booking paths and underfunded creative. He also explains how hotel leaders planning for 2027 can connect social media strategy to demand periods, corporate travel, local events, packages, revenue priorities, and the questions guests are asking before they book.For hotel owners, GMs, revenue leaders, and hospitality marketers, the bigger lesson is that social media should not operate as a separate creative task or an expensive feed to maintain. When content strategy is built around what the property needs to sell, who it needs to reach, and what will make that audience more confident about booking, social becomes part of the hotel’s demand strategy rather than another box to tick.Connect with Calvin:LinkedInRevPar MediaInstagramThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hotel social media strategy for owners and GMs who want content that actually drives bookings starts with one question: why does this feature matter to my guest right now? Calvin Tilokee, host and founder at Revpar Media, built his approach around a simple truth that most hotel marketers miss — guests do not book a bed, they book the reason that bed solves a specific problem in their trip. He turned a laundry room post into a top performer at an Orlando hotel near Disney, grew a stagnant NYC account from 200 followers in a year to 300 in two weeks through a single data-driven influencer partnership, and shows commercial leaders how to find the unspoken guest question hiding inside every ordinary feature.Calvin walks through two specific non-luxury hotel case studies in this episode. For a historic New York City property, Revpar Media stopped promoting rooms and instead built content around proximity to landmarks: 20 minutes on foot to Times Square, Madison Square Garden directly across the street, and Penn Station 10 minutes away. That framework targeted first-time visitors to the city, the majority of the property's actual audience. For the Orlando branded hotel, a short laundry room tour, featuring on-property machines comparable to home units, gave family travelers headed to Disney the confidence that spills and dirty clothes were a solved problem, not a trip stressor.The audit Calvin recommends takes minutes inside Facebook Business Manager: pull your audience by country, city, age range, and gender before you decide on tone, format, or content partners. Knowing your breakdown tells you which influencer profile to approach, what activities your guests will actually care about, and whether your current feed is talking past the people already following you. Authentic staff stories, real service moments, and user-generated content tagged during guest stays fill that gap far more reliably than stock footage or AI-generated images, because today's travelers have been cross-checking polished brand pages against review sites long enough to spot the difference immediately.Connect with Calvin Tilokee:LinkedInInstagramThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Commercial strategy in hospitality only works when revenue, sales, marketing, distribution, and operations stop protecting departmental agendas and start operating from one shared goal.Dury Kim, SVP of Commercial Strategy and 2025 HSMAI New York City Revenue and Distribution Executive of the Year, defines the modern commercial role as something much bigger than pricing, forecasting, and inventory control. Her argument is that everyone in a hotel organization is a revenue generator and revenue thinker, even if each department owns a different part of the outcome. When revenue management is focused only on the top line, sales is focused only on group goals, marketing is working from a separate playbook, and operations is left to manage the fallout, the result is not strategy. It is friction. Dury’s framework reframes commercial strategy as a cohesive operating model: align the team on the main goal, make sure the right people are talking to each other, and give departments enough context to make decisions that support the property or portfolio as a whole.Dury’s career path gives that framework practical weight. She started as an intern, worked through revenue management, took a role that required a three-hour commute each way, and eventually became SVP Commercial. The career lesson she draws is not generic “work hard” advice; it is about recognizing when an imperfect opportunity is still the right leap. She credits mentorship as one of the biggest forces behind her growth, especially leaders who shared knowledge instead of protecting it. That shaped her own leadership philosophy: train people as if they may one day take your seat, build a bench strong enough to support the broader organization, and treat giving back as part of the job rather than an extra.The strongest operating advice in the episode comes from how Dury connects listening, strategy, and executive presence. Top commercial teams are not just made up of smart people; they are made up of smart people who can listen to understand, communicate across silos, defend their strategy with logic, and stay flexible when the market changes. Her executive-career advice is equally direct: earning a seat at the table requires visibility, continuous growth, and the willingness to go beyond “that’s not my job.” Calvin connects that to marketing yourself like a brand placement: decision-makers need to know who you are before the opportunity opens. For hospitality leaders trying to move from department-level execution into commercial leadership, Dury’s message is clear: become the person who helps the whole company move forward, not just the person who manages one lane well.Connect with Dury:LinkedInInnVenturesThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek

Hotel revenue and marketing teams that operate in silos keep losing because neither side truly knows who their actual guest is.Calvin Tilokee, founder of Revpar Media and a former hotel revenue manager of 20 years, fixes that with his "lobby lizard" method: direct, on-the-floor guest research that builds a single commercial strategy both teams can execute together. He argues that posting what the hotel likes, rather than what the audience responds to, is arrogance disguised as brand strategy, and he proves it by growing a hotel's Instagram following by more than 300 in two weeks after it had gained only 200 in all of 2024.Calvin walks through five listener questions using real numbers from the field. On measuring bookings, Revpar Media uses a proprietary link-in-bio system that tracks clicks to individual website pages, including the Book Now page, then multiplies confirmed click-through rates by the hotel's ADR to estimate monthly revenue from social. On influencer spend, Calvin argues that a three-to-five-thousand-dollar influencer fee, plus complimentary room and travel costs, could instead fund a single photo shoot yielding a year to a year and a half of content. On seasonality, he flags the common error of posting Thanksgiving content on Thanksgiving Day, well outside the booking window when guests are already deciding.Listeners leave with a concrete measurement stack: track reach and impressions for awareness goals, click-through rate and Book Now page clicks for booking goals, and email open rates for campaign health. Pair those metrics with a booking-window content calendar so seasonal posts land when guests are actively shopping, not after they have already chosen a hotel. Both moves directly support the unified commercial strategy Calvin outlines in the lobby lizard method: when revenue and marketing share the same guest data and the same timing logic, the audience tells you what works, and you stop guessing.Connect with Calvin Tilokee:LinkedInInstagramThanks for tuning in to Socially Awkward, the hospitality marketing podcast where hotel operations meet modern marketing strategy. Hosted by Calvin, each episode features real conversations on hotel marketing, revenue, branding, social media, influencer strategy, and what actually drives results for hospitality brands.📅 Book a 30-minute call with Calvin🌐 Learn more about Revpar Media 📩 Connect with Revpar Media📲 Follow Revpar Media:LinkedInInstagramYouTubeFacebook🎙️ New episodes every 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6:00 AM EST on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.Produced by APodcastGeek