Three ways to work together…One place to start.
Every engagement starts with the Diagnostic. Not because it's a formality, but because we genuinely can't do good work without understanding what's actually wrong first.
From there, you move into a focused sprint, an ongoing partnership, or both.
The Diagnostic • One-time • Where Everything Starts
The Luminance Diagnostic
Here's the thing about most boutique hotels: they don't have a marketing problem. They have a revenue leak problem. And you can't fix what you can't see.
So before we recommend anything, we look at everything. The full guest journey: how guests find you, what they see when they do, what happens at the booking stage, what the pre-arrival experience looks like, what happens during the stay, and what happens after checkout.
Then we tell you exactly what's leaking, ranked by how much it's costing you. And we sit down together on a 90-minute call and walk through the whole thing.
No assumptions. No template. No pitch for something you don't need.
By the way, here's everything we'll look at...
- Discovery - how guests are finding you, GBP completeness, review velocity, Google Hotel Ads, OTA vs. direct visibility
- Consideration - website UX, copy, direct booking conversion, rate architecture
- Booking & pre-arrival - email capture, pre-arrival sequences, PMS integration, OTA guest relationship
- The stay - on-property upsell systems, review capture moments, ancillary revenue
- Post-stay & retention - review request process, re-engagement sequences, repeat guest rate
- OTA dependency - commission exposure, rate parity, direct booking infrastructure gaps
- Email and CRM - list size, automation, segmentation
- Metrics visibility - what you're tracking, what you're missing
- Event and ancillary revenue - spaces, packages, revenue sitting uncaptured
- Google Hotel Ads + GBP booking integration - if not connected, Google is showing Booking.com on your own listing instead of you
What you get:
Full written report - every finding organized by revenue impact: High, Medium, Low
Prioritized roadmap - what to fix first, ranked by expected ROI
90-minute debrief - we walk through every finding together
Delivered within 10-14 business days
It pays for itself. Every time.
Early Client Bonus: On-Site Visit (Limited Time)
If you’re within 6 hours of Salt Lake City, we come to you.
Reading about a property’s arrival experience is one thing. Actually arriving is another.
For properties within approximately 6 hours driving distance of Salt Lake City, UT, the Diagnostic includes a 1-2 night on-site stay as a limited-time early client bonus. We stay as a guest would - experiencing the arrival sequence, pre-arrival communication, in-room environment, and checkout firsthand. That produces findings you simply can’t get from a screen.
And as a bonus deliverable: professional photography and video content captured during the stay - yours to use however you want. View photography samples here.
Limited-time early client offer only. Available to properties within approximately 6 hours of SLC, UT. Out-of-range? The Diagnostic is completely standalone - the on-site visit is a bonus, not a requirement.
The Accelerator • Per Project • 30-60 Days
The Luminance Accelerator
The Diagnostic tells us which stage of the journey is leaking the most. The Accelerator fixes it.
This is a sprint, not a relationship. Clear scope. Clear deliverable. Measurable before and after. When it's done, it runs on its own.
Here are some examples of Accelerator projects we can do...
Discovery
- Local SEO foundation - GBP optimization, citation cleanup, map pack ranking strategy
- Google Hotel Ads launch - Hotel Center setup, booking engine feed, bidding, listing optimization
- Google Ads launch - branded search and local intent campaigns
- Facebook / Meta Ads launch - past guests, lookalike audiences, retargeting
- Metasearch audit and setup - Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak, Bing Hotels
Consideration
- Full website and brand copy overhaul
- Booking engine conversion rate optimization - reduce drop-off, fix mobile, improve checkout
- Value-add parity strategy - make direct booking the obvious choice without touching the room rate
- Intentional rate and value architecture - OTA gets bare-bones; direct gets meaningful inclusions at a fractionally higher price. Fully compliant. Guest chooses direct every time.
- Named room program - rename rooms from numbers to characters with a micro-story for each
Booking & Pre-Arrival
- Pre-arrival lead magnet funnel - a 'Preparing for Your Stay' hub with downloadable guest guides. The guest self-selects their guide. You learn why they're coming. Email capture, CRM intake, automated pre-arrival sequence, front desk personalization briefing. Turns OTA bookings into owned relationships before the guest arrives.
- Direct booking email system - welcome, pre-arrival, post-stay, review request, re-engagement
- PMS and booking engine setup and integration
- Dead lead and lapsed guest reactivation
- Direct booking strategy - loyalty rate structure, OTA contract review, booking engine optimization
The Stay
- Front desk upsell scripting and training - custom script, upgrade menu, staff incentive structure, training guide
- Special packages - 3-5 bundled experience packages that live only on your direct site. OTAs can't touch them.
- Event revenue capture system - inquiry funnel, pricing, outreach strategy
- Gift card and experience voucher program
- Local vendor QR referral network - 5-10 local partners, commission agreements, hotel-branded mobile landing page. Passive income once live.
Post-Stay & Retention
- Review generation system - post-stay SMS and email sequence, QR cards, front desk scripts, monthly velocity dashboard
- Retention system - anniversary triggers, birthday sequences, VIP escalation, lapsed guest re-engagement
- CRM setup and guest data architecture
- Insider access email list - invitation-only, early access to unpublished rates and packages
- Waiting list system - turns sold-out nights into a marketing asset
Brand & Content
- VSL production - 2-3 minute cinematic video for your homepage or booking page
- Local expert destination guide - a genuinely useful digital guide hosted on your own domain
- Micro-influencer residency - 4-5 night residency with one right-fit creator. $3,000-8,000 in content the hotel doesn't pay for.
- Seasonal campaign - offer design, email sequence, social content, paid channel coordination
Every Accelerator is scoped specifically to your property based on what the Diagnostic finds. No two are the same.
Luminance Premium • Ongoing • 3-Month Minimum
Luminance Premium
This is a real fractional CMO relationship. Not a vendor running tasks - a strategic partner with ongoing responsibility for the health of your brand, your funnel, and your revenue across every stage of the guest journey.
We diagnose. We build. We measure. We iterate. Every month.
Every month, without fail:
Monthly strategy call (60-90 min) - metrics review, current constraint, priorities
Constraint identification and prioritized action plan
Monthly performance report - key metrics tracked against baseline
Monthly listing and search audit - GBP, OTA listings, booking engine. Catch anything that looks off before it costs you.
6 or 12 flex hours that go toward building or optimizing whatever's most urgent.
Here are some examples of how flex hours can be used...
- Discovery: Google Hotel Ads, Local SEO, metasearch, Google Ads, Meta Ads
- Consideration: Booking engine CRO, website copy, value-add parity, OTA listing optimization
- Pre-arrival: Guest engagement funnel, CRM management, lead nurture sequences
- The stay: Front desk scripting, ancillary revenue strategy, event funnel
- Post-stay: Retention sequences, review generation, insider list management
- Strategy: 90-day roadmap refresh, funnel optimization, staff training
3-month minimum, then month-to-month. The work compounds. 90 days is the minimum window for results that actually stick. Large buildouts (20+ hours) are scoped as Accelerator add-ons. No surprise overages.
Still comparing us to agencies?
Here's the honest version. A typical agency will pitch you a package, assign an account manager who's never stayed in a boutique hotel, post on Instagram for six months, and send you a report full of reach and impressions. Revenue impact: unclear.
We start by finding out what's actually wrong with the business behind your extraordinary property. We map the full guest journey, find every stage where revenue is leaking, fix it, and measure it.
That's the difference between a vendor and a partner.