Turning Creative Hospitality Storytelling into ROI

Scott Eddy has made hospitality and tourism storytelling his field of expertise and he helps hospitality brands and destinations thrive in a fast-evolving digital world. With over 20 years of digital marketing and entrepreneurship under his belt, he has honed his brand strategy skills, Scott now travels year-round professionally as a video globetrotter, and he is an avid cruise aficionado.

 Scott begins this podcast by telling us how he eventually ended up in digital marketing, hospitality and tourism and he recounts an emotional story of why, after wanting to become a police officer, he changed his mind.  After working in banking for several years, Scott decided to take a holiday in Thailand and ended up staying there for over 11 years.  He created the first digital agency in Southeast Asia and for five years it was the largest in that region. I ask Scott to describe the challenges he faced when he made the decision to create and run a business in Thailand.

 When Scott finally sold his agency in Thailand, he spent the next 17 years moving around and living in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Spain, and the UK, building his personal brand and working with some of the world's most renowned hospitality brands.  Scott describes how digital marketing has evolved and changed over the years starting with the use of social media and now AI.  He firmly believes that AI will never replace hospitality jobs but rather expose the ones that should have evolved years ago.  Scott also explains how creative storytelling can improve and increase ROI.

Finally, Scott encourages hospitality leaders to embrace AI and to make tactical shifts in their daily procedures and future decisions.  Scott believes that young people in the hospitality field who are interested in marketing, should embrace this vibrant and thriving field.

Scott’s life was never meant to revolve around travel, marketing, or social media. His early path was set to follow in his father’s footsteps as a police officer. But life changed drastically when his father was killed in the line of duty in a plane crash, just three weeks before his high school graduation. That moment shifted everything for him.
 
Scott worked in investment banking for a decade, navigating a world of numbers and deals. When the firm sold, he decided to make a bold move and bought a two-week ticket to Thailand to visit a friend. That "two-week trip" turned into a life-changing adventure and he never used the return ticket.
 
While living in Bangkok, he founded the first digital agency in Southeast Asia, which quickly became the largest in the region for five years. Today, he travels full-time, and his mission is simple:
 Turning storytelling into ROI for the tourism and hospitality industry. From creating influencer campaigns to hosting Lifetime Television’s travel series "Video Globetrotter”, he combines decades of digital expertise with a passion for storytelling to help brands in the travel and hospitality space stand out in a crowded digital landscape.