Built social media, content, and marketing strategy across five hotels; led rebranding and app development for guest experience. Stepped into leadership, managing campaigns, creative collateral, and partnerships with local businesses.
Social Media
Analytics
Graphic Design
Video Editing
Adobe Creative Suite
I joined The Edinburgh Collection as a Marketing Assistant when they were struggling to stay consistently booked across their five hotels. Social media and digital content in general were virtually untouched. My role was to take photos, build a social media presence, and create a content calendar that drove bookings.
Each hotel had its own personality—from The Howard's historic luxury with butler service to Old Waverley's castle views right on Princes Street. I created individual social media profiles and d 'off-shoot brand guidelines' for each that felt distinct but linked to the overall The Edinburgh Collection brand.
I started creating everything they needed immediately: menus, flyers, loyalty cards, even beer labels.
I also became strategic about the city itself by anticipating when concerts or events would bring visitors, then tailoring campaigns and partnering with local businesses to help capitalise on them. A whisky tasting experience served by a butler during Hogmanay was one example that worked well.
Stepping into Leadership
When the marketing manager left, I was asked to step into the role on an interim basis. Suddenly I was attending networking events, managing relationships with hotel managers, and working across departments. I was given freedom to determine what needed doing and eventhough I felt a bit out of my depth, I must have done a decent enough job because the role became permanent.
I led a project partnering with Handy, which was a company that provided smartphones that were placed in each hotel room so that guests could take around the city for free.
We built apps (that were natively installed on the Handy phones, but also available from Google and Apple app stores) for each hotel that became part of the guest experience: city guides, a map to navigate back to the hotel, and in-room features like room service and digital movie rentals. We also partnered with local brands to include promotions, making it a handy (excuse the pun) alternative revenue stream, too.
