Colton House Hotel: From Local Buzz to Booking Success

How a boutique luxury hotel went from zero social presence to 5,000+ engaged followers and a 25% increase in bookings — all within the first year of opening.

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The Client

Colton House Hotel is a boutique luxury hotel that opened in 2020 — right in the middle of the pandemic. With hospitality decimated and travel at a standstill, they needed to build a compelling social media presence quickly to attract local visitors, establish their brand identity, and drive direct bookings when the world reopened.

The Challenge

Launching a luxury hotel during a global pandemic is about as hard as it gets. There was no existing audience, no brand recognition, and limited budget. The strategy had to be creative, community-driven, and immediately impactful — building buzz in the local market before scaling to drive bookings.

The Strategy

I built Colton House’s social strategy around three pillars: establishing a distinctive visual identity, building a loyal local following, and activating influencer partnerships to generate authentic user content.

Brand Identity & Content: Developed a consistent visual aesthetic and content voice that reflected the hotel’s boutique luxury positioning — warm, elevated, and authentically local to Austin. Every post was crafted to make the hotel feel like a place you needed to experience.

Community Building: Focused heavily on local Austin audiences first — building a loyal community of nearby followers who would become the hotel’s most vocal advocates and drive word-of-mouth referrals.

Influencer Partnerships: Identified and partnered with 10+ local Austin influencers whose audiences matched the hotel’s target guest profile. These partnerships generated high-quality user content, extended organic reach, and added a layer of social proof that paid ads alone can’t replicate.

Giveaway Campaigns: Strategically timed giveaway campaigns to drive follower growth and booking intent during key travel periods, resulting in measurable spikes in direct reservations.

The Results

Within the first year of operation, Colton House Hotel grew its Instagram following to over 5,000 engaged users — a remarkable achievement for a brand-new property launching during the pandemic.

The influencer program delivered 10+ brand partnerships, generating a steady stream of authentic user content that reinforced the hotel’s luxury brand positioning. Giveaway campaigns produced a 25% increase in bookings during key promotional windows, demonstrating the direct revenue impact of social strategy done right.

Perhaps most importantly, Colton House didn’t just get followers — it became a beloved community destination. The hotel was featured in Austin Life Magazine, cementing its status as one of Austin’s must-visit boutique properties.

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Want Results Like These?

If you’re in hospitality, retail, or any business that needs to build a local following and drive real-world action, let’s talk about what’s possible.