Author: Sarah Stahl

I'm Sarah Stahl, a hospitality marketing strategist helping vacation rental and boutique hospitality brands win direct bookings and own their demand. My specialty is creator systems: structured programs that turn creators into a steady source of direct bookings, not one-off posts. I've worked with nearly 500 creators and built the system that took ReTreet Resort from six treehouses to 21 units at 93% direct bookings without relying on PPC. I've since applied it at Wilding Hotels where direct bookings rose 50%, and now bring it to hotels and short-term rental managers as founder of Market Movers.

Hotel Online Feature

The Book Direct Toolkit for Property Managers: Everything You Need to Build a Direct Booking System

By Sarah Stahl

The Book Direct Toolkit for Property Managers: Everything You Need to Build a Direct Booking System The complete book direct toolkit for property managers and boutique resort owners — checklists, frameworks, and tools to reduce OTA dependence and build a measurable direct booking system. Most property managers know they need a book direct strategy. What […]

Uncategorized

You don’t have a marketing problem. You have a visibility problem you’ve been solving the wrong way.

By Sarah Stahl

You don’t have a marketing problem. You have a visibility problem you’ve been solving the wrong way. I have watched the same marketing scenario play out across dozens of properties for over five years. A host commits. They post every single day — reels, carousels, stories, captions they actually spent time on. Months go by. […]

Hotel Online Feature

Vacation Rental Marketing Hostfully Tech Stack Report

By Sarah Stahl

What the Hostfully Tech Stack Report Actually Tells You About Vacation Rental Marketing Hostfully just published what they are calling the largest study of vacation rental tech stacks ever produced. 2,248 active operators. 31,474 individual integration records. Ranking eight tool categories, I read it the way I read most industry research: looking for what the […]

Hotel Online Feature

AI Search Visibility for Vacation Rentals: How to Show Up Where Travelers Are Actually Deciding

By Sarah Stahl

AI Search Visibility for Vacation Rentals: How to Show Up Where Travelers Are Actually Deciding Vacation rental AI search visibility is the gap most operators don’t know they have until they run the test themselves. Open ChatGPT or Perplexity in an incognito window. Type something a real traveler would actually ask: “What are the best […]

Influencer Marketing Strategy Marketing ROI

Influencer Marketing for Hotels: The Bold Strategy That Led to 93% Direct Bookings at ReTreet Resort

By Sarah Stahl

Influencer Marketing for Hotels: The Bold Strategy That Led to 93% Direct Bookings at ReTreet Resort Okay, I’m just going to stay it… “Stop throwing money at ads that don’t tell your story.” That’s what I told myself when I made one of the riskiest decisions of my marketing career: pulling the entire PPC budget […]

Hotel Online Feature

A Creator Program for Vacation Rentals Only Works If You Treat It as a Trust Problem. Lake.com Did.

By Sarah Stahl

A Creator Program for Vacation Rentals Only Works If You Treat It as a Trust Problem. Lake.com Did. Vacation rental creator marketing is no longer a trend. It’s becoming one of the most effective ways for travelers to discover, evaluate, and book accommodations. Lake.com’s new Creator Program for vacation rentals connects trusted storytellers with lakefront […]