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In my final episode of Series 3, I have a special guest, the wonderful and oh-so-stylish Lorraine Jarvie, General Manager of the Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath.

This hotel has a five-star (red) rating and is one of the top 2% in the country. With 40 bedrooms and 140 staff (180 during busy periods), the Royal Crescent is not only one of the West's most impressive hotels, it is also one of the ultimate jobs in the UK for a hotel manager.

In our conversation, we talk about:

• Lorraine's career and how she came to work at the Royal Crescent.
• The wonderful history of the hotel and how the Royal Crescent was one of Bath's roughest areas in the 1980s and 1990s.
• How the American and Middle Eastern markets are busy with the Chinese market definitely coming back.
• Types of guests willing to pay upwards of £1,100 for a junior suite.
• The impact of Bridgerton and film tourism on the hotel and Bath as a visitor destination.
• Getting trained staff to the service level required.
• Going into schools to talk about her job to inspire the next generation of hospitality recruits.
• The launch of a new set of toiletries with Jo Loves - the first hotel range in association with Jo Malone outside of London.
• The Golden Keys concierge team who can access pretty much anything their guests require in the UK - no one else has this status in the West Country.
• Her favourite places Iford Manor and Castle Farm, Midford.

It was such a pleasure chatting with Lorraine. My only issue was the sound quality of my microphone. I am so sorry.

Please stick with it, as Lorraine is who you most want to hear from, and she shares some wonderful insights into life as a General Manager in a luxury hotel.

Enjoy the episode.

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
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Welcome to this week's podcast, where I’m going behind the scenes of Bristol City Centre and talking to Tom Swithinbank.

Tom's work involves helping businesses become more sustainable and making the city a more appealing place to visit. Tom works for Visit West, specifically for the Business Improvement Districts, which support around 1,200 businesses in the city centre.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How Tom’s work contributes to the Bristol City Council’s ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2030.
• A free bike check service called Dr Bike
• An initiative for city centre workers to bring their own lunch boxes to Finzels Reach food market to cut down on packaging waste - a great initiative that all of us can consider, no matter where we work.
• The use of cargo bikes for businesses who need local deliveries
• Making the city look more appealing using planters, murals and green walls, all of which make the city centre a better place.

We also discuss the future of the historic Castle Park and the exciting plans to redevelop that rather colourful derelict building on the corner. Along with the plan to landscape the area next to Cabot Circus to strengthen the park's link to the shopping centre.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

Bristol City Centre BID

Redcliffe & Temple BID

Broadmead BID

Connect with Tom Swinthinbank on LinkedIn

For more links to things and businesses discussed (podcast on website)

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
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LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

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In today's episode, my conversation with Graham MacVoy, Managing Director of the visitor attraction Wake the Tiger in Bristol, truly blew my mind.

Wake the Tiger is the permanent 'baby' created by the team running the unique Boomtown festival.

The pandemic has much to answer for, but it gave Graham and his directors the headspace to provide a more permanent base for their creative ideas, so the 'amazement park' Wake the Tiger was created and opened in 2022.

I listened in awe in this episode as Graham revealed how his love of snowboarding led to his career running snowboarding events in Europe, which led to his owning a company that led operations at festivals such as Creamfields, BST Hyde Park, and Boomtown.

Graham talked about how the Wake the Tiger was a huge punt of an idea which thankfully saw 190,000 in its first year of operations.

Wake the Tiger has brought Boomtown's talent and creativity into a permanent space that blows people’s minds and challenges us to think differently and creatively to make a difference to our lives and our planet.

He discusses everything from learning to run a visitor attraction to the importance of the arts and creativity in changing society.

Graham is an inspiration, and his out-of-the-box thinking about how we should behave as human beings and what is important certainly left me questioning everything about life!

He also talks about his love for his hometown of Dursley, Gloucestershire, on the Cotswold Way.

I hope you enjoy the episode.

Read the transcript here https://visitorelves.co.uk/podcast/

Learn more and follow Wake the Tiger:

Website

Instagram

LinkedIn Company page

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a Text Message.

In today’s podcast, I’m heading to the Somerset levels to chat with Vicki Jones, owner of the award-winning Tractors & Cream glampsite.

Vicki and her husband Bryan worked in the hotel trade before they decided to upsticks and create their own hospitality business. After feeling the pain of putting up the yurts each year, they decided to invest in these fantastic architectural geodomes.

Their beautiful site, with five domes and a large event dome, is extremely popular with families, hen parties, and even baby showers - all heading along for afternoon tea.

Life and times at the site are documented regularly on YouTube, earning Tractors and Cream over 10,000 followers and a keen following of glampsite owners in the US, all looking to learn from Vicki and Bryan.

In the podcast Vicki shares how she promotes her business and provides us with some really useful tips on how to market a glamping business.

Find Tractors and Cream:

https://tractorsandcream.co.uk/

You Tube

Instagram

Facebook

Read the transcript and top tips

Enjoy the episode.

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a Text Message.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Sarah Bagg, founder of ReWork Consulting, about getting the best ticketing or booking system to support your business needs.

As a marketer, I've worked with several solutions, and I've noticed that most of them lack the automated link from email to CRM system. As a result, it's challenging to execute smart marketing strategies without manual intervention. This can be frustrating and time-consuming. It restricts personalisation and generally feeds a lack of enthusiasm for email marketing.

Since ticketing or booking systems are at the core of many businesses in the visitor economy, I wanted to speak with an expert in this area.

Sarah is well-versed in operational systems supporting all departments and has many years of experience working in this area of the visitor economy, both on the client and supplier sides.

Any investment in a new system is a huge undertaking. Sarah has some really useful advice for those thinking about it. She also has some suggestions for those who have already made the investment and have found their system lacking.

Check out the written summary and find links here.

Enjoy the episode!

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a Text Message.

In this podcast episode, we focus on increasing bookings from inbound travellers or overseas tourists through the travel trade.

My guests are Jon Chamberlain, Head of Marketing for VisitWest, and Mike Newman of B2Me Tourism Marketing.

Jon has been working for 11 years to promote Bristol, Bath, and the surrounding areas as a European leisure destination. Mike helps destinations and businesses prepare their offers for the travel trade and represents them at shows worldwide.

Many of us in the UK use travel agents like TUI or Jet2 for our holidays, and the rest of the world does the same. We discuss some of the questions that operators focused mainly on the domestic market may have.

We cover topics including:

• £370 million value of overseas tourism to the VisitWest region.
• Tourism industry insights and marketing strategies for Bristol and Bath.
• The importance of relationship building with this sector.
• How to prepare for attending a travel trade event
• Ways to increase visitor spend and dwell time in destinations by promoting lesser-known products and experiences.
• Making tourism businesses travel trade-ready through digital systems and partnerships.
• Visit West's partnership with the OTA Get Your Guide to increase interest in the region. How the travel trade can bring business during shoulder times and dates.

Moreover, we discuss the importance of viewing commission as profit, not cost, attending large European trade shows like ITB Berlin, and the success of the VisitWest's campaign, 'The England you know but better.'

Lastly, our guests share their favourite places and things to do in the West.

Connect with Mike on LinkedIn

https://b2me.net/

Connect with Jon on LinkedIn

Visit West latest travel trade opportunities

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a Text Message.

Today's Marketing Insights is all about the 'groups' market.

For many years, the domestic group travel or coach tour industry has been an important part of the UK’s tourism industry.

Groups have historically been guaranteed business for many tourism organisations, with up to 50 people on a coach coming often during week day and shoulder periods.

However, because of the pandemic, hundreds of coach companies, many of them well established, went out of business. It's been devastating for them.

So, the question I have as a marketer in the visitor economy is, should it be a market that we are still looking at trying to attract? If so, how have things changed and how do we market to these customers in 2024?

I am joined on the show by group travel specialist Steve Reed from Steve Reed Tourism to talk to me about it.

For the podcast summary and links head to https://visitorelves.co.uk/insights/

Enjoy the episode

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏

Send us a Text Message.

Today’s episode is all about email marketing and the simple things you can do to make it work more effectively to drive bookings.

Joining me on the show is Sarah Orchard of Get Fully Booked.

Sarah runs a marketing programme that helps small independent accommodation businesses improve their marketing and increase their direct bookings.

Sarah was also my very first guest on the podcast back in 2022. In that episode, she spoke about her luxury treehouse, Hudnalls Hideout, in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley.

In this episode, Sarah shares some excellent tips based on her years of experience successfully managing email campaigns for her own businesses and for her clients.

For a full summary of her thoughts and tips, head to visitorelves.co.uk/insights, where I will summarise Sarah’s helpful tips in episode 39.

Listen to Episode 1 where I chat with Sarah about Hudnalls Hideout, her luxury treehouse business, where she also shares marketing tips from her sell-out business.

Find Sarah here:
https://get-fully-booked.com/

https://www.instagram.com/getfullybooked/

Huge thanks to podcast sponsor Noble Performs.

Noble provide Unstoppable digital marketing to maximise your performance. From SEO to Paid Social and more, we have the tools you need.

Find out more about host Kelly Ballard and the Visitor Elves here.

Subscribe to the Visitor Elves newsletter, to receive the latest podcast releases and inspirational tips to help you with your visitor economy business.

To share your views on this subject and ask questions about the episode, head over to:
Instagram
LinkedIn

If you have enjoyed this podcast episode, please take a moment to give me a few stars on Apple podcasts or Spotify, it helps to encourage more people to listen and learn from our stories. 🙏