Resort and hotel marketers often seem stuck in a void of same-same language where so many use the identical hollow phrases just because they saw it on [insert name of a competitor] website or in an email blast.

Stop. You are driving guests away with the very language you use.

Let me save you some time by providing a fast list of some of the more egregious words and phrases. Note: do you want to bet how many you are already using?

World class.

So many places with no obvious distinction proclaim themselves to be world class. Stop it. You are only hurting yourself by using language that is so blatantly dishonest, every consumer has to peg you as a Joe Isuzu wannabe. Aman is world class. Momofuku is world class. Very probably you are not.

Exclusive. Nope. Money talks and money buys entrance. That's not exclusive, just expensive.

 

Curated. I have no idea what that means anymore. The poor word is so overused that a perfectly serviceable piece of language has become verbal debris. If you see it on your website, do yourself - and your guests - a favor. Erase it.

 

Celebrity chef. Does he/she have a best-selling cookbook? Does he have Anthony Bourdain's private cellphone number? Has he been on Food Network or other national outlets at least a dozen times? Is he a James Beard award winner? Answer no to any of the questions and, believe me, your cook may be good in the kitchen but this is no celebrity.

 

Wellness. A word that is suddenly stampeding into oblivion as suddenly every resort on the planet - and probably some in other galaxies - have announced wellness programs. I am a big believer in wellness but this word has become one that communicates essentially nothing. Overuse does this to a word.

One-of-a-kind.

There are some places that are one-of-a-kind. The Grand Canyon. The Taj Mahal. Eiffel Tower. The White House. Your hotel is not one of them, and neither is your location and definitely not your cuisine. Try again to describe it and stick to realism.

 

Infinite. The other day I was looking at a resort's website and what jumped out at me was the claim that it has "infinite activities." Did the person who scribbled that even have a clue what "infinite" means? It does not mean a lot. It means impossible to measure or calculate. What good does it do to promise guests that activities are infinite when that is simply a lie?

 

Iconic. Is this a synonym for expensive? What is it supposed to mean? Another, once wonderful word, that has been abused into senselessness. The Golden Gate Bridge is iconic. Your resort isn't.

 

Boutique. Another once delicious - and descriptive - word that has been misused into extinction by marketers, who have applied it to everything up to and probably including old highway motels with a few hundred rooms.

 

Stylish. How often do you see a hotel or resort describing itself as stylish? Do you ever believe it? A property that is stylish need only put up a few photos that show it is in fact stylish. The images will speak much more eloquently than will the word.

 

Powerful, impactful writing often is as much about the words we don't use as the ones we do and - plainly - a lot of hotel marketers undermine themselves by using words that just don't work anymore.

 

Need inspiration? Here's advice from Ernest Hemingway on how to write. He is talking about fiction of course but it applies as well to copy about resorts and hotels. "If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written."

 

If in doubt...cut out the ornamentation. Write with a simple elegance. Write in a way where the reader is not even aware there is a writer. Plain. Simple. Informative. That is how to give readers what they want when they are researching a hotel or resort.

Babs Harrison
Babs Harrison + Partners
Babs Harrison + Partners