WHAT A VODKA VOLCANO AND A HOTEL CREATOR PROGRAM HAVE IN COMMON
Influence Is Easy to Buy and Hard to Measure: What Venues Can Learn from Hotels and a Harbour Volcano
Every venue manager has been pitched a creator collaboration by now, and most have wondered the same thing afterwards: did it actually put anyone through the door? Two very different pieces of marketing this month, one from the global hotel sector and one from a spirits launch on Sydney Harbour, show how the biggest brands are answering that question. Both point to the same conclusion. Attention is no longer the hard part. Turning attention into bookings, trial and repeat visits is where the real work sits.
Hotels are moving from one-off posts to long relationships
At the recent Skift Creator Summit in New York, the travel industry’s research arm estimated that around 7.3 trillion dollars in travel spending is influenced in some way by social media and creators. The same research found that nearly half of the travellers surveyed had cancelled and rebooked accommodation at least once because of something they saw on social media. That is a remarkable level of influence for a channel many operators still treat as a nice extra.
The more interesting story is how the big groups are changing their approach. IHG now contracts roughly 100 creators a year through its Creator Collective, briefing them early and measuring results after each assignment. Marriott has moved creator work alongside paid media so that brand, creative, PR and performance teams chase shared goals. Hyatt reported that paid social now beats its other channels on incremental return and is shifting more of its 2027 budget that way, while replacing one-off influencer deals with ongoing relationships tied to loyalty. Fora co-founder Evan Frank made a point worth remembering for any venue: content built around a whole trip converts better than a single hotel reel.
A volcano on the harbour, and a venue takeover behind it
Closer to home, Pernod Ricard launched Absolut Tabasco in Australia with a 360 degree volcano structure at Sydney’s Overseas Passenger Terminal, complete with a giant bottle erupting from the centre. It is the sort of installation designed to stop people in their tracks, and it did get attention. But the part that matters for pubs and clubs is what sat behind it. Over the October long weekend, the brand took over The Oriana, a nearby venue, so people could actually taste the product through a Spicy Lemonade and a Bloody Mary. The campaign also runs across out of home, streaming video, social and creator content, retail and online shopping.
Ella Brett, Senior Brand Manager at Pernod Ricard, explained the thinking: Australians are embracing bigger, bolder flavours, and spice is moving from the food menu into drinks and social occasions. The brand cites forecasts that spicy vodka sales will grow 27 per cent by 2029. In other words, the spectacle gets the photo, but the venue gets the trial.
The pattern worth copying
Put the two stories side by side and a pattern emerges. The hotel groups are stitching creator content to measurable outcomes like bookings and loyalty sign-ups. The spirits brand is stitching a big public moment to a nearby venue where people can buy and try the product the same weekend. Neither treats attention as the finish line. Even Meta executives at the summit argued that scalable creator programs need clear ownership, a dedicated budget and incrementality as the standard for measurement, which is a polite way of saying that someone has to be accountable for the result.
Most venues cannot afford a harbour installation or a hundred creators, but the logic scales down well. A local creator who shares a weekend away at your hotel, or a Friday night at your club, is far more valuable if they send people to a trackable booking link, a specific offer or a loyalty sign-up page. A pop-up or launch event is far more valuable if there is a clear way to turn the crowd into customers on the night.
What this means for venue managers
Start by asking what you actually want a piece of marketing to produce. If the answer is bookings, give every creator or partner a unique code or link so you can count what they deliver. If the answer is trial of a new menu item or drink, run the activation at your venue, not just near it. Favour longer relationships with a few local creators who genuinely suit your crowd over a string of one-off posts, and brief them well ahead of time. And if a supplier or brand partner offers to bring a launch to your venue, treat it as the opportunity it is: ready-made marketing spend, drawing people to your door.
