'Influencer marketing has become essential for reaching and engaging travelers'

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By Jennifer Glatt | Mint Pillow

Wendy Song Dowling is the co-founder of Evolusen, an innovative influencer marketing platform designed for the hospitality and travel industries. With a mission to make influencer marketing more efficient and authentic, she leverages her industry knowledge to help brands connect with the right influencers seamlessly. Here, she shares how influencers deliver experience-driven content, how to maximize social media impact and why the key factor to influencer marketing isn’t size, but having a story or experience that resonates with potential guests. -Jennifer Glatt

What is the benefit of hospitality brands working with influencers?

Influencers bring experiences to life in a way that traditional advertising cannot. Today’s travelers don’t just want to be sold to—they seek authentic, personalized recommendations that feel relevant to them. Instead of a generic ad, potential guests see real people immersing themselves in a destination, hotel or dining experience, helping them visualize what their own trip could be like before making travel and booking decisions. Influencers create engaging, experience-driven content that resonates with audiences who trust their opinions. 

How do you know when your brand is "big enough" to warrant influencer involvement?

It’s not about how big your brand is—it’s about whether influencer marketing aligns with your business goals. Influencer marketing can be effective at any stage as long as there’s a clear brand identity and something valuable to showcase. Whether you’re a boutique hotel or a growing destination, the key factor isn’t size but having a story or experience that resonates with potential guests. Travelers are looking for unique, authentic experiences, and the right influencer can bring those stories to life in a way that connects with their audience.

What are common challenges that hotels face with influencers?

One of the biggest challenges hotels face is influencer’s account authenticity—many influencers artificially inflate their accounts with fake followers and engagement, essentially lying to hotels for hosted stays, experiences and payment. Evolusen solves this by using advanced analytics to flag inauthentic accounts, ensuring that hotels only work with credible influencers. Manually researching and engaging with influencers can take hours; Evolusen streamlines this by connecting hotels with a pre-vetted network of influencers specializing in travel, lifestyle and food content and an influencer relationship management platform to reduce up to 80% of the time on manual tasks that are not relationship or experience-focused. Lastly, measuring ROI has always been tricky in influencer marketing. Evolusen helps hotels track campaign performance, providing data-driven insights that make it easier to assess the real impact of influencer collaborations.

How has influencer marketing in hospitality changed, and where is it headed?

As travel behavior shifts, hotels are increasingly focused on attracting leisure guests. The best way to attract these guests and stand out from the competition is to invest more in social media, which has surpassed paid search as the world’s largest advertising channel. Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to maximize social media impact, essential for reaching and engaging travelers, while authentically showcasing experiences and connecting with potential guests. It’s no longer a question of whether influencer marketing is here to stay. It's growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.11%, and more hospitality brands are investing heavily in this strategy. The real question is how to take full advantage of it. This growth is driven by changes in social media algorithms, evolving content types and shifting collaboration methods. As influencer marketing for hospitality is still in its early stages, it will become the primary marketing method on social media.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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