How can hotels use AI and location intelligence to attract new guests instead of spending marketing dollars on travelers who were already planning to book?

In this special HITEC edition of The Modern Hotelier, David Millili sits down with Evan Saunders, who shares how Azira is helping hotels rethink marketing through AI-powered location intelligence and attribution. Rather than focusing on vanity metrics like inflated return on ad spend, Evan explains how hotels can identify untapped travelers, win guests away from competitors, and measure the true impact of their campaigns.

The conversation also explores the evolving role of OTAs, the importance of guest journey marketing, World Cup travel strategies, and why hotels should prioritize experience-driven campaigns over generic discounts and promotions.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How AI and location intelligence help hotels attract new guests
• Why traditional hotel marketing metrics can be misleading
• The power of foot traffic attribution and booking-channel-agnostic measurement
• Why experience-focused advertising outperforms discount-driven campaigns

Watch the FULL EPISODE on YouTube: https://youtu.be/79-_nfYS2Xg

Links:
Evan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evansaunders/
Azira: https://azira.com/

For full show notes head to: https://themodernhotelier.com/episode/306

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Connect with Steve and David:
Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E...
David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mil.