Sales kit for travel: sell experiences before customers book.
When the product is a vacation that has not yet occurred, sales materials must evoke that feeling beforehand and be consistent from the website to travel agencies.
Travel and leisure need a sales kit that focuses on images and stories of experiences, as customers decide based on emotions before comparing prices. The documentation needs to adapt to each channel, from direct websites to OTA booking platforms and travel agencies, but must maintain a consistent brand. Prioritize building for direct channels to reduce reliance on OTAs and encourage customers to book directly.
- Premium positioning sells through emotion and strong experiential imagery.
- Want to reduce dependence on OTAs and increase direct bookings.
- There are group clients and travel agencies that need a separate set for MICE.
- Completely dependent on OTA without investing in direct channels.
- Beautiful but disjointed images lack a guiding experience story.
Travel and leisure sell something that does not exist at the moment the customer decides: a vacation, a state, a memory. Customers cannot hold, try, or return it. Therefore, the sales kit in this industry has a different task than physical products: it must make customers feel the sensation of that vacation before they hit the booking button.
Your product is emotion, not just a room.
Room rates, area, and amenities are already listed by OTAs (online booking platforms like Booking.com, Agoda) for you. If your sales team merely repeats the list of amenities, customers will compare prices and choose the cheaper option. The only thing that can escape the price war is the experience, and that experience must be conveyed through real images and a deep narrative.
Images are not just for aesthetic display but to guide customers through an emotional journey: what it looks like to wake up and look out at the sea, what breakfast is like in that space, and what feelings the evening by the pool brings. Sinh Vũ calls this experiential imagery, distinguishing it from architectural photos taken for beauty but not storytelling.
Multichannel does not mean multibrand
Customers today often first touch on OTAs, then research further on social media, and finally visit the website to place an order or call directly. If each channel looks different, uses different colors and tones, customers will be confused and return to the OTA because it feels more familiar.
The principle is: a toolkit that adapts to each channel in format, but maintains the same brand identity. Images from the same source, tone of voice with the same personality, messages with the same core. You can use landscape images on the website, crop square for social media, resize to thumbnails for OTAs, but it should be the same curated set of images that align with the brand story.
OTA vs. direct booking: OTAs excel in reach and visibility, bringing new customers to you without you needing to run ads. However, they charge high commissions and hold customer data on your behalf. Direct bookings through your website or phone yield better profit margins, and you retain customer information for future engagement. A sustainable strategy is to let OTAs bring first-time customers, then use email, membership programs, and dedicated materials to encourage them to book directly next time.
The kit needs to assign roles by channel.
There is no single set that works for everyone. Below is how Sinh Vũ typically assigns roles:
- Website and email: Tell the most complete experience story. It can be long and emotionally engaging. This is where the most direct offers are displayed to draw customers away from OTAs.
- Social media: Images and short videos evoke emotions. No need for extensive explanations; it should evoke the state that customers want to achieve while here.
- Documents for travel agents: Clear and informative enough for agents to explain to their clients. Requires a detailed price list, commission policies, and correctly formatted images for printing and brochures.
- OTA: Correctly proportioned images, concise descriptions, and relevant search keywords. This is not the place for long stories.
Do not forget the set for group clients.
Corporate clients follow a completely different process: they need an official quote, the capacity to serve large groups, a list of conference and team-building services, and enough documentation to present to the purchasing department for budget approval. Emotional materials for individual clients will not be suitable in this context.
MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) is a segment with high and stable booking value under contract. If you want to tap into this segment, you need a separate set of materials with language and format suitable for corporate buyers.
Common mistakes when creating a sales kit for travel
- Completely dependent on OTA, not investing in materials for direct channels, leading to a loss of profit margin and an inability to build a loyal customer base.
- You have beautiful but disjointed images that lack a guiding narrative, making them unsellable.
- Each channel presents a different brand image, making customers doubt its credibility.
- Without seasonal packages and combo deals, each new package release has to start from scratch, wasting time and risking brand deviation.
- Forget to prepare all materials for group clients and travel agencies.
Experience images are the foundation of the travel sales set. Sinh Vũ builds stories and layouts around authentic images; a convincing story cannot be constructed from stock photos or aimless snapshots.
Principles of Sinh Vũ practice
Sinh Vũ creates a set of publications and a layout template library to ensure the resort maintains a consistent brand across all channels, even as service packages change seasonally. Sinh Vũ provides tools and templates, but does not manage distribution channels, make reservations, or run ads on your behalf.
Decision checklist
Topic: Travel and resort sales kit: multi-channel experiences and bookings. Sinh Vũ guide, sinhvu.com
Select each item you find appropriate, then print or save as PDF to take with you.
If you have marked most of the signs above, this is the time to discuss in more detail. Sinh Vũ can help you review and propose a direction.
References
SiteMinder, Hotel distribution channels. Revinate, OTAs vs direct bookings. Practical experience from Sinh Vũ.
Frequently asked questions
We already have beautiful photos. Is there anything else we need to do?
Beautiful images are a necessary condition but not sufficient. If the images are disjointed without a guiding story, customers will see them as beautiful and then exit to compare prices on OTAs. Sinh Vũ arranges images into an emotional journey, linked to a layout template so you can reuse them across many seasons without starting over.
Do the kits for OTAs and direct websites need to be different?
Different contexts require adaptation in form, but the brand must remain consistent. OTAs limit formats and content, so the direct website set can be longer, tell a fuller story, and potentially include direct booking offers. The goal is for OTAs to bring new customers in, while the website and email keep loyal customers returning for direct bookings.
Do customers for conferences and events need a separate package?
Yes. Corporate clients follow a different process, requiring clear pricing, service capacity for the group, and documents sent to the purchasing department or event manager. The package for retail clients, which leans towards emotion and imagery, will not be suitable when sent to a company budgeting for team building.