How to sell to Heads of Marketing at Hospitality companies
Heads of Marketing in the hospitality industry are primarily measured on customer acquisition rates. They respond to outreach that demonstrates a clear understanding of their unique challenges, such as increasing direct bookings and enhancing guest experience. Showing knowledge of recent trends in travel behavior or successful campaigns in similar establishments can capture their attention and prompt a response.
Written and maintained by the SoloRiff team, who build outbound software and run outbound with it. The figures below are our own: we measured 548 hospitality company domains over public DNS on 2026-09-03. Last updated 2026-09-03.
What actually hurts
- low direct booking rates
- high customer acquisition costs
- ineffective marketing campaigns
- guest experience complaints
The playbook
- 01
Identify recent shifts in travel trends
Research recent data on travel patterns or consumer preferences that have emerged post-pandemic. Use sources like travel industry reports or hospitality news articles. Tailor your outreach to discuss how these trends affect booking rates and guest engagement.
- 02
Segment for direct booking optimization
Filter your list for hospitality companies that have recently invested in digital marketing strategies aimed at increasing direct bookings. Use platforms like LinkedIn or industry directories to find these companies and gather insights on their marketing initiatives.
- 03
Highlight solutions for guest experience challenges
Craft your message to focus on improving guest experience, which is a top priority for Heads of Marketing. Reference specific pain points like high cancellation rates or low repeat visitor numbers and propose solutions that address these issues directly.
- 04
Engage with their recent marketing campaigns
Before reaching out, analyze their latest marketing campaigns or promotions. Mention these in your outreach to demonstrate your knowledge of their brand and to open a conversation about what worked and what could be improved.
- 05
Propose a timely follow-up meeting
In your follow-up, suggest a meeting within the next two weeks, ideally after a major holiday or event in the hospitality calendar. This timing can help them reflect on their recent strategies and be open to new ideas for the upcoming season.
Can hospitality companies even receive your mail?
We measured the DNS of 548 hospitality companies, sampled evenly across company sizes, to see how many authenticate their own email. It matters in both directions: a domain that does not authenticate is a domain whose team is used to mail going missing — and if your own domain is in the gap, yours is the mail going missing.
Publishes a DMARC policy of quarantine or reject — the domain actually asks receivers to act on failures.
The gap is the finding: 15.6% of 1–10-person companies against 73% of the largest — 57 points apart. Small companies are where the unauthenticated domains are, and small companies are who most cold outreach is aimed at.
Where does your domain sit?
Same three lookups, run live against your domain. Nothing is stored and nothing is emailed to you.
How this was measured
Company domains were sampled within employee-count bands, then queried over public DNS for SPF (TXT at the apex), DMARC (TXT at _dmarc.) and MX. One domain per company, deduplicated. Anyone can reproduce any single row of this with dig.
DKIM is deliberately absent. A DKIM key lives under a selector that cannot be enumerated from outside the domain, so a company with flawless DKIM under a name we did not guess would be counted as having none. That would measure our guess list, not the industry.
Domains with no MX record are excluded rather than counted as failures — parked and redirect-only domains would otherwise drag every figure down and make the result an artefact of the sample.
Sampled within bands, so this describes the population of companies, not of employees: a 10-person company counts once, as does a 10,000-person one. Each band is at least 60 domains; bands below that are not published. Figures are percentages of the sample, not of the whole industry, and we publish no company names — only counts.
Measured 2026-09-03. Re-measured monthly.
The full census across every industry — sortable, with sample sizes, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Subject lines that fit
- Boost direct bookings today
- Enhancing guest experience
- Navigating new travel trends
Questions
- Why do Heads of Marketing in hospitality ignore cold outreach?
- Heads of Marketing often receive numerous outreach messages that lack relevance or personalization. They prioritize their time on strategies that align with their current goals, such as increasing direct bookings or improving guest satisfaction. If your message doesn’t clearly relate to these objectives, it may be overlooked.
- What challenges do Heads of Marketing face in hospitality?
- They frequently deal with high customer acquisition costs and the need to stand out in a competitive market. Additionally, they must adapt to changing consumer preferences and technology trends, which can complicate their marketing strategies and campaign effectiveness.
- How can I make my outreach relevant to hospitality marketers?
- Focus your outreach on specific challenges that hospitality marketers face, such as improving direct bookings or enhancing customer loyalty. Use industry insights or recent trends to demonstrate your understanding of their unique environment and how your approach can help address their needs.
- What topics resonate with Heads of Marketing in hospitality?
- Topics that resonate include digital marketing innovations, strategies for increasing direct bookings, and enhancing guest experience. They are also interested in case studies showcasing successful campaigns within the hospitality sector that have led to measurable results.
Or have it run itself
SoloRiff does every step above on its own — finds the companies, finds the people, writes each of them individually, and handles the replies. Drop your URL and watch it work before you sign up for anything.
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