Latest / WOI Unfiltered / Hospitality PR with Anna Stancioff - Epi. 14
Transcript
- speaker-0: Alright, I just hit record. speaker-1: Wait a second, wait a second, let me grab coffee. speaker-0: Thank you for tuning in. have an exciting guest today. We're going to talk a little bit about the hospitality industry. And ⁓ I know that you ⁓ old friends with our guest, Anna Stanchoff. ⁓ I will let you do the introduction. speaker-1: Yeah, and also way to pronounce her last name, Jenna. speaker-2: I thinking the same thing. speaker-1: particularly excited to talk about this industry because I love it. We love to live it. We love to travel. We love hospitality, restaurants, spa experience, all the things that go into visiting an awesome resort, hotel or destination. And Anna to me, has this amazing presence, just ⁓ total calm. She's just bang up smart. She's Bulgarian as well. So I personally found that to be very travel appropriate ⁓ We met at Hawkins International in little Chelsea office in New York City. So as I go through her bio, you will see she's in-house, she's been at agencies, but also she's a mom, she's a family gal. So Anna, in addition to being a mom of two, living in Brooklyn, New York, She's launched over 100 new hotels and shapes their brand perception right at the get. She's been in-house at Sage Hospitality Group. She did a lot of executive thought leadership, Corp Calms for the C-suite. There she managed over 60 hotels and 40 restaurants, over 20 agency partners. Let's take a deep breath because that is like fascinating to me as well. Last, think Laid I is on each other when she was the director of PR at Ennis Moir, a London based group. known for fab hotels, the Hoxton brand in particular. And she's just had a ton of success. Welcome, Anna. speaker-2: Thank you so much. What a lovely introduction, Emily. I feel like you could do that every day and make my whole life brighter. Thank you for that. I'm honored to be here. It's such a treat. And thank you again for that nice introduction for inviting me to join. speaker-1: you're phoning in from Brooklyn, Can you talk to us a little bit just about your travel journey? speaker-2: My first role was with Orient Express and I started right after college. I knew I liked to travel. We all like to travel, right? Who doesn't like to travel? That said, I'm a pretty adventurous traveler. ⁓ I come from a family that loves to travel. was, I have family internationally, so we were not afraid to fly to a new place, to try out new foods, that kind of thing. My first job with Orene Express was fantastic. I started in September and in October I was leading a press trip to Botswana and South Africa. Okay. ⁓ was on safari on my very first press trip a month into the job. mean, I was like, I'm going to leave this job. We do not need to get into the details about the pay or the benefits. or what the office life was like, because the glamorous side of it was glamorous and it was fantastic. So I fell pretty hard for that part of it. ⁓ you know, it was challenging because I was trying to wrap my head around places and things that I had never been to. I worked with one of my first clients soon after that was the Rio Convention and Visitors Bureau. I had never been to Rio. So the idea of pitching. ⁓ a country that I had never traveled to, a city that I had never traveled to, speaking to the client who ⁓ speaks English as a second language, there were many, many moments where I questioned whether this was worth the ⁓ effort that I was putting into it. But when I got to meet these people in real life, when I got to... off the plane and finally saw these destinations, stayed in these hotels, I felt pretty hard. Orient Express really set the tone and I haven't left travel since. I worked at a large agency, I worked at a mid-size agency and then went in-house with Ennis Moore, as you mentioned, opening all their US hotels and doing the global PR for the brand. I then went to Sage Hospitality, which is a management company based in Denver. And I've done a lot of consulting in between, but really, you know, it's covered hotels, spas, airlines, guidebooks, travel websites, cruise ships, destinations, private clubs, restaurants, bars, co-working spaces. The whole hospitality is a huge umbrella and it covers a lot of different things. There are dentists who call themselves that say they're in hospitality industry, right? So hospitality means a lot of different things to a lot of different people and I'm proud to work in it. I find it to be a really exciting, really dynamic industry, ⁓ but I've honed now my experience to be more hotels, resorts, ⁓ but I still really love traveling and I still love talking to people about travel. So that part has not waned at all over my years. speaker-1: Yeah, it comes through, Anna. And I think that's the thing. It's so authentic to you. And your love for it is clearly there. When I listen to you talk about your experience, Anna, I do wonder, why is there no Anna Stanjoff PR specializing in the hospitality? speaker-2: I do not need to have my own agency. Thank you. I've seen agencies that ⁓ agency founders build their business. I've been part of it. It's been a joy to support some of these founders, many of which were women that I still admire, that I'm still in touch with, that I'm still great friends with. ⁓ I know I don't want my name on the door. I know I don't want to do that kind of work. The consulting work I do now is working with smaller clients. For example, I work with a winery in Sonoma. I work with a hotel in New England. I work with a private island in the Caribbean. These are hotels and resorts and destinations that can't afford a big agency. But I get to work with the leaders ⁓ in some cases, many cases, the owners, the folks who created it from the ground up. And I enjoy that because I like getting my hands dirty. I can really dig into, hey, let's open the books. Show me why aren't we booking on the weekends ⁓ in the... in July. Okay, we see the trend of how people are booking and then I can adjust my strategy accordingly. When I was at agencies as much as I loved them, I did find there to be a little bit of a barrier in terms of connecting with the client and getting the information that really informed the strategy. I would present these ideas that I thought were fantastic. ⁓ Hey, here's a really cool idea. We're going to have this amazing event on a Saturday. And they're like, yeah, we're booked on Saturday. We don't need your help at all there. Well, you know, didn't, how would I know that? I don't have access to that information. But when I work consulting, I feel like I've been able to get a better ⁓ on the business side of things. And that means how people are booking travel, when, ⁓ who they are, what the patterns are in terms of what's even, what the most popular dishes are ⁓ the menu. Why is ⁓ burger not selling? And sitting down with the chef and saying, okay, maybe it's priced a little too high. Why is this? ⁓ know, steak selling and not the burger. So that kind of access I find has been really, really exciting to me and really empowering. speaker-0: It sounds like consulting is really, it feels like a sweet spot for you. And we always talk about where you can have the most impact. You've been on the agency side. You've also been in-house though. And I would imagine being in-house can also feel quite impactful because you intimately know everything. Can you talk a little bit about kind of where your favorite spot is? Is it the consulting or one of the other? speaker-2: So my favorite spot is the brands I work with. That's a very hard one to say. If I could work in-house with the hotels that I work with right now, I would. I adore them. They're spectacular people. They're spectacular stories. I feel so wholeheartedly supportive of what they're building that, yes, I would be in-house. These hotels, ⁓ one of them has 18 rooms. They don't need an in-house PR person. They don't have a big brand. So that's why I consider myself to be part of, I know the general manager, I know the owners, I know the chef. I can play that role of an in-house PR person, ⁓ but they certainly don't have the ⁓ salary or the interest to hire me as a full-time PR person in-house, that's fine. ⁓ But I will say like working in-house was extremely challenging in many ways, but I learned so much. learned how, that's where I really learned where the revenue management team what role they play in managing pricing for a hotel. I learned about digital marketing. I learned about newsletter marketing, who is clicking through on the newsletter to book this weekend's, I don't know, Mother's Day brunch. So there were acts that I had access when I was in-house that I didn't have before that was really, really insightful. And now I'm trying to bring that almost as if I'm an in-house person to my consulting clients. speaker-0: That makes sense, yeah. speaker-1: It's a total sweet spot, Anna. speaker-2: I think that the story, I'm pretty picky about who I work with because I, my job is easy when I work with clients that I like. It's a joy. It's like, I'm like, I want to tell you about my clients, even though you're not writing stories, right? I, that's because I love working with them and I feel passionate about the products that they've built. But what I've found, and I'm sure we've all had this experience, is that sometimes you work on a client that you just don't connect with. And that's ⁓ a real challenge. It comes across, you can hear it in my voice. You can read it through in the tone of my emails. And you can ⁓ tell, I can feel it. I'm sure the journalists on the other end of the pitch or on the other end of the conversations can feel it. And that's how I try, that's sort of the North star of my business, which is like, do I feel passionate about this? Would I take on this client right now? Because I'm excited to tell people that I want to text my friend to travel in leisure about it, like before I even get off the call, that's a good sign to me. So that's, that drives the business. It's not a hundred percent. ⁓ It's not the easiest business to build, but it's the most rewarding business to build. it allows me to get excited when my clients are like, oh, we got, I don't know, one of my clients just started doing harvesting honey and they brought bees in. like, I think that's really fascinating. I want to learn about that. So I'm asking all these questions. I want to see pictures, send me the video. That's what I'm seeking, right? Is being excited when they have a development like that as opposed to, we have, you know, I don't know, for maybe a clothing brand, ⁓ we have a new t-shirt. I don't care. It's less interesting to me. It just wouldn't resonate. I wouldn't be as good at my job. speaker-1: Well, the teacher becomes the student in your case when it's something like the bees or something that just sets your heart alight. And I think that's so special. And it's the magic of being able to operate your own business and decide who you're partnering with. But you said something in there that I think offers a good segue to hospitality storytelling. And not to date you or us, Anna, but you've been doing this since the early 2000s. And it is now 2026 and so much has changed on the landscape. I had looked through my clip books from my New York days and there are these beautiful magazine stories that, right? Like most of those don't exist anymore. So talk to us a little bit about how this landscape has shifted in 25 years. speaker-2: There's two answers to that question. The first one is about how much the media landscape has changed because obviously that defines our role, right? The way people are getting information has changed dramatically, not just 20 years ago, but five years ago. So there are a lot more outlets if you consider ⁓ TikTok and Instagram influencers, ⁓ even Substack, if you consider these new ways of getting information. ⁓ There are fewer of the traditional print ⁓ and traditional media as they say, ⁓ there are fewer options there that are covering travel. So in that sense, that's changed quite a bit. Seeing an influencer video, ⁓ the lobby of my hotel and the lights are down and you can't really see what's going on and there's somebody walks in front of the camera and I'm thinking, this is a debacle. I'm so used to everything being polished and beautiful and my photos of this lobby are gorgeous and there's this thing You know, look at the plate. It's gorgeous and look at the they have the the drink with the little garnish perfectly done and they show their drink and there's no garnish and it but the music's blaring but then it drives people there so you my Expectations have had to shift accordingly right the way people are getting information has changed their expectations from ⁓ Travel and leisure or town and country or the New York Times are one thing, their expectations from an influencer may be something different, and they both can provide a lot of value, ⁓ but I need to manage my expectations. I was used to having a lot more control over ⁓ what the images looked like, what the storylines were, and I've had to adjust that a little bit. On the other side, ⁓ which is how travel has changed, ⁓ so many more people are traveling now. number of Americans who have passports has increased. the number of Americans, know, airline prices have gone down. In the big picture, there's more airlift to more destinations. There's more of an expectation that people are going to travel during their vacations. It used to be, we go to the beach for the long weekend. Maybe we go to visit our grandparents. Maybe we all pile in the car and take one big trip ⁓ to Disney World or to see some family. Now it's like, I'm gonna go to Paris for long weekend. I'm gonna take a overnight train trip through the mountains. mean, people are doing much more adventurous travel than they once were. That has been exciting and a really positive part of my industry, seeing people's ⁓ worlds open up, seeing them ⁓ expand their views of what vacation can be, of how far their money can go, seeing people. ⁓ just be a little bit more adventurous in terms of how to spend their time and money when it comes to travel. That has been part of the experience economy, which is moving more towards experiences over consumer goods. And that has been a plus for the travel industry and ultimately something that's growing every single day. speaker-0: And we were recently some research and ⁓ most of what you just said was bubbling up, right? That people are forgoing certain everyday little pleasures, ⁓ out, going out to restaurants, things like that, so that they can save money for travel because it has become so important. ⁓ And also the idea of this adventure travel and people really ⁓ wanting to just go sit at a beach, but do things, whether it's like zip lining or snorkeling or whatever it might be, which I think is amazing overall for the industry. But I am curious, that creates a lot more competition and pressure. ⁓ And wondering if the brands you've worked with have had to shift their model at all to offer more experiences or speak to that consumer in a different way. speaker-2: The short answer is yes. Absolutely, they've had to shift. ⁓ A hotel is a static thing, right? It's real estate that stays. open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It is very hard ⁓ to adapt to changing times for a hotel because it is really, the expectations for a hotel is that it's gonna be there. I'm gonna get a good night's sleep. So for them to say, we're offering experiences now. can be a difficult bridge for a hotel owner or a hotel GM or hotel brand. It's a difficult bridge for them to cross. ⁓ But more and more hotels are doing it. And in some cases, very successfully, they're offering thoughtful ways to connect with the community. Sometimes it's as simple as having ⁓ new items on their menu that are reflective of the destination. In some cases, it's a matter of, OK, we can... ⁓ We're a business hotel and we're right on the river, but now we're offering ⁓ boat trips out into the river. And that has never been on offer before, but people get to see the city from a ⁓ new lens. And it's not even always a revenue driver, but it's a great way to market the hotel. ⁓ The challenge with ⁓ travel is that you've got the whole world as your competition, right? I know I want to go to... Denver, I'm looking at these hotels and suddenly I'm saying, ⁓ wait, maybe actually I'll go to Jackson instead, right? You're not just competing with the hotels in Denver, you're also competing with the hotels in Jackson. Maybe even you're competing with Los Angeles because whoops, there's a cheaper flight to LA for me from New York than there is to Denver. So the fight to stay relevant for hotel, the fight to stay enticing and ⁓ sort of... Dynamic is a really huge one for hotels, and that's where I've found PR to be the most valuable. A good PR partner, a good PR agent, agency, or in-house person will approach the hotel and say, listen, we can't just be welcoming the same 10 business travelers every year, every week. We have to ⁓ think creatively about how we can bring in a new audience, how we can invite ⁓ family travelers in. Maybe it's about inviting girls. Girlfriend getaways, what can we do to change our presidential suite into more of an Airbnb experience with ⁓ brunch served so that a group of girls wants to spend time there. I worked with a hotel last year that ⁓ did Love is Blind and Love Island watch parties. speaker-0: That was fun. speaker-2: Super creative, really cute, very low cost for them. But it was like, ⁓ yeah, I don't have enough room necessarily to invite all my girlfriends over and watch. But they basically took their suite, they decked it out, they had drinks, they had snacks. And it was, you just rented it for the night and you got to binge your favorite show. So it's not, again, it's not about changing the product because it's very hard to change a hotel with 100 or 200 rooms. based on a trend like that, but you can adapt. And if you're nimble enough, can ⁓ create a new revenue stream, you can invite in a new guest, and hopefully those folks convert into long-term guests as well. speaker-1: I a, I remember a funny story from a GM I had on the road, ⁓ Deathsides in New York. And ⁓ I imagine throughout our history and hospitality, pet travel has bubbled and waned and bubbled and waned and it still does. But I remember him and me on the fly just being like, let's say you have a pet spa at your spa. And lo and behold, we ended up getting WSJ takeoffs and landings for a product we didn't really have yet. But he was kind of like, we can totally do this, right? Like, just do a couple jazzy things if anyone actually comes and wants to book their dog in a spa. ⁓ But to your point, Anna, I think it's about being smart where culture is popping in a way that makes sense for that property or that destination or whatnot in a simple way. To me, hospitality strikes a bit clunky like CPG can be to keep up with these fast rolling times. We know some brands can certainly do it and it's, it's, it's harder for others. ⁓ is there any campaign and hospitality at this point that either you are very proud of something that you've done of late, the love Island one is amazing, ⁓ or something out in the world that you've seen that you think is particularly cool. speaker-2: Yeah, there's a hotel in Alexandria, Virginia, called the Morrison House. I worked with them last year in my role with Sage. And it's a smaller hotel. They have a small bar downstairs called The Parlor, which is lovely. Or the studio study, sorry, not The Parlor, that was lovely. It's very cozy, but it's ⁓ not the busiest spot in town. came up with this idea to ⁓ support the local libraries. And we were kind of brainstorming this, ⁓ we have all these books on the walls. What can we do? Honestly, the idea, it took a while to come together. But when it did, it really caught fire. So ⁓ they created a band book, ⁓ Speak Easy, essentially turned the bar into a pop-up where they serve drinks based on band. books. So there's a Handmaid's Tale book, there's a 1984 book, ⁓ and with those books, they served a cocktail that ties into it. And they donated the proceeds to the Virginia Library Association. was, you know, it's not the kind of thing that's on the cover of the New York Times. It's not taking over the world, but it made a huge impact for their local library. It made a huge impact within the community. People could not have been more excited. It brought in a lot of new guests who were locals who loved the library, but had never been into this bar. ⁓ And it was successful enough that they had a line of people waiting outside to get in and have drinks. So yes, it drove revenue, but it was also just like, was a really feel-good moment for the community. And that was a win in and of itself. They even saw a library in Montana. read about this banned book, Easy, in Virginia, and they implemented a similar activity at their library in Montana because they were inspired by what they were doing in Virginia. And so their local newspaper wrote about their banned book, Speak Easy, that was raising money for libraries. And it was a feel-good moment. look at this. Together, we came up with an idea that helped support local libraries. Sometimes the biggest wins are not about getting on the cover of the Travel and Leisure or into the Wall Street Journal, but it's really about a moment where you are connecting with the people who are right outside your door. Again, hotels are static. Your neighbors are very, important to you. Your community is very, important to you. You need to have really good relationships with them. ⁓ And also raising money for a cause that was really important to the hotel that was supportive of the hotel. generated revenue and it converted to new guests. Those are also wonderful things, but it was ⁓ a win across all of those categories. ⁓ So I was really proud of how the brainstorm, I worked with the local marketing manager, how it all came together. And again, it was in Alexandria Living. It's not the biggest news story, but it was in all the DC press. just like ⁓ a, was a big win because it was a, it generated revenue, generated foot traffic. And supported the local partners. So that's one that I'm excited about. speaker-1: And I think, again, it's so true to who they are, right? And that community aspect, especially for hospitality, that is your first line of engagement and the people that will promote you further through word of mouth or anything. So that's actually genius. And the fact that imitation is the finest form of flattery there in Montana, maybe drove some traffic. speaker-2: That was just sort of like the cherry on top. It's a good enough idea, you know, that another library copied it. I thought that was wonderful. ⁓ So yeah, sometimes the big PR wins are not as obvious as others. And I've certainly worked on campaigns that are in, you know, where I'm getting the travel and leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, New York Times, Wall Street Journal. ⁓ Those are extremely rewarding as well. But I will say working with smaller hotels, restaurants, bars, products, when you can see that impact firsthand has been the best part. speaker-0: that I was going to say, it's all about the impact and what actually matters to them. And if it is driving traffic or in this case, if it is, you know, driving a charitable contribution to a local library, it's outlining and kind of identifying what is the impact that you want and then going for it wholeheartedly. And sometimes those big giant placements aren't going to create the impact you're looking for. speaker-2: That's right. That's exactly right. And this hotel has been in travel and leisure and they will be again, right? It's a great hotel. But to have this ⁓ win in this moment was just a two-day activation, felt like ⁓ a different kind of PR, creative spin on something that we hadn't looked at much before. So it's not just the hotel room. It's not just the restaurant or the bar. It's about spinning it a little bit and putting together a really good story in the moment. speaker-1: And back to ⁓ just curious, you know how you said you have to right set your expectations when it comes to different verticals, especially influencer content ⁓ and social media generally. Do you find your clients are able to subscribe as well? Are they finding a certain comfort level? Is it harder to sell them on that until they see the impact? How has that been in terms of the relationship with your clients? speaker-2: Hmm. I like this question because it varies by client and it's really, some clients really subscribe to social media as a driver and others do not. They've had bad experiences or they just don't see the value. ⁓ But it is, I would say one of the biggest challenges with travel is that there is not always a clear line between the story or in this case, maybe the real or the post. and the booking. So if I'm purchasing some lipstick online and I see somebody says, ⁓ I just, ⁓ I got this great lipstick. Hey, you guys, you should buy it too. And I add to cart, I click through for my phone and I purchase and it shows up at my house, whatever. That you can see a direct line from that reel to the purchase and ⁓ the brand, the lipstick brand can track how many. how many lipsticks we sold as a result. With travel, it's a lot more complicated. You can have a five page feature in Condé Nast Traveler, you could have even like a wonderful full online story. You could have a TikTok that is just extolling the virtues of your fabulous hotel. People do not book travel the way they purchase lipstick. It requires asking for a PTO, it requires booking. flights or renting a car, it requires some planning. So it's very, very difficult to track the consumer path from ⁓ reading about it or seeing a video or engaging with it online to actually booking. That's one of the biggest challenges with travel. So a lot of my job is speaking to general managers, owners, ⁓ hotels, restaurants, bars. to explain the value of awareness. In some cases, you can see conversion from a story to booking, but most often you can't. And it's about explaining to our hotels or our clients how this still provides value. ⁓ So in the case of a social media influencer who's sharing photographs of their food and the food doesn't look as beautiful as I wanted to look. ⁓ I would still suggest that that's a win to my client because in theory, we've vetted this person in advance. We've looked to see who their audience is. We've made sure that they're engaging. We've made sure that there's value in terms of how they're speaking about it. We've made sure that the influencer has the language about our restaurant. So ⁓ there's still value there, but it may not be 100 % exactly how we want it presented. ⁓ And I think that... My biggest challenge lately has been with Substack because I really believe there's potential in Substack in terms of driving an audience, but it has been more difficult to show that value and because a lot of the Substack authors don't share their audience ⁓ or you don't know exactly. how big their audience is. I think people are reading them. I'm reading them. But I have a hard time with some of the more traditional clients that don't know what Substack is. It's a learning curve. speaker-1: getting their news. Yeah, and I think, you know, when you're asking to host an individual visit, even for one night, you know, that output for clients, they want to see something splashy in their eyes. But you're obviously thinking about it the right way, Anna. And of course, that will come along, just like social media has. It's newer for everyone. And as we know, travel for consumers is a highly emotional booking. So we need the surround sound to pull that trigger, as they say. But Anna, we have two more questions for you. One is about impact and then one we just want a little shout out on where folks can find you. speaker-0: Anna, we've talked a lot about impact in what you do. And ⁓ we always ask each other at the end of every pod, what's your impact? And it can be anything from this week. It can be on the professional side. It can be something with your family and your kids. It can be you booking your own travel. So if you look at the last week or so, what has your impact? speaker-2: I love that you end the show with this. It was a real thought starter for me because we moved through our lives so quickly, honestly, that we very rarely stop to think about this. ⁓ I worked with a chef on a local broadcast ⁓ segment and honestly, it was fine. It was a small audience. He did great. He was talking about at the new menu and he was pretty nervous. He had not done broadcast before Hearing him afterwards Speak about the pride he took in that moment was the impact Hearing him understand PR for the first time engaging in PR for the really he sometimes would reply to my emails sometimes would ⁓ sure, fine. I'll get you that photograph. Okay, I have a kitchen to run, you know, and I'm sympathetic. ⁓ He has a long list of things to do. He has a lot of demanding ⁓ people around him. But to hear his enthusiasm for PR, for his restaurant, for his menu after the segment ran, and to hear him talk about how proud he was to see himself on this local TV channel was the impact. So empowering him to speak about his brand, empowering him to be part of the PR process and getting him excited to talk about what he's creating all day behind closed doors was really the moment for me. speaker-1: Well now he's gonna want more, Anna. You know that. speaker-2: Yeah, slippery slope. That's awesome. speaker-1: That's an amazing one, Anna. Thank you for that. ⁓ And then the last question is, where can folks find you? For more information. speaker-2: I'm on LinkedIn. And if you remember my last name, you will find me there only, my last name stands for STAN, C-I-O-F-F. Anybody you find with that last name is a direct relative of mine, somebody I know. So it's part of the reason I kept my name when I got married is you'll find me pretty easily with that. And yes, I'm always happy to talk about PR. I'm always happy to talk about travel. speaker-1: Thanks speaker-2: I have all my friends and family text me when they, you how, what about the TSA lines this week? So I'm make hotel recommendations, happy to talk travel. It is just ⁓ a joy in my life and something that I hope never goes away. speaker-1: comes through. speaker-0: Anna, well thank you so much for joining us today. This was wonderful. speaker-2: Thank you! It's been a pleasure.