Why Secondary Markets Demand a Completely Different Marketing Playbook

In hospitality, the term “secondary market” is often used but rarely understood. These destinations are not defined by size or status. They are defined by behavior. Secondary markets are the high performing leisure engines that sit outside the major metros, places like Myrtle Beach, the Keys, Gulf Shores, Pigeon Forge and Hilton Head. They thrive on regional drive to demand, shorter booking windows, pronounced seasonality and traveler psychology that looks nothing like what you see in New York, Miami, Los Angeles or Chicago.

And that is exactly why they require a different playbook. In a primary market, demand is stabilized by international feeders, corporate travel, conventions, brand loyalty and year round compression. Marketing in these destinations tends to orbit around brand driven visibility and high funnel awareness because the market itself does much of the heavy lifting.

Secondary markets operate under a completely different set of rules. Feeder markets change weekly. Weather shifts matter. Guest intent swings rapidly. Owners scrutinize every dollar of marketing spend. And performance is not driven by brand loyalty. It is driven by how intelligently you activate demand.

This is where many operators underestimate the complexity. Secondary markets may not have the global glamour of gateway cities, but they are some of the most competitive, dynamic and data sensitive environments in hospitality. The difference between a good year and a great year often comes down to how well you understand the nuances of your audience and how quickly you can adapt.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that secondary markets rely primarily on paid media. While ads matter, they are not the engine. The engine is infrastructure. Data integrity, segmentation, automated lifecycle communication, direct booking optimization and a strong alignment between marketing and revenue management. In these destinations, the operator who understands micro segmentation, who is booking, when they are booking, what they are booking, and why, will outperform competitors who rely purely on traditional spend.

This is also where guest history becomes one of the most valuable assets an operator can build. In secondary markets, repeat guests drive stability, shoulder season strength and long term revenue growth. A strong guest database, maintained with clean data and consistent engagement, becomes a competitive advantage that no ad budget can replace. Properties that invest in year round database marketing, social media engagement, retargeting and loyalty driven communication see dramatically higher direct booking percentages and reduced reliance on high cost channels. When you condition your guests to think of you first, before they ever search, you create long term value that compounds season after season. In secondary markets, a well cultivated guest history becomes one of the most reliable and scalable revenue engines you have.

This focus on long term guest value ties directly into distribution strategy. In a primary market, OTA share is often stabilized by corporate demand and brand contribution. In secondary markets, especially those with condo resort inventory, distribution is far more fragmented. Guests may be booking through direct channels, VRBO, Airbnb, regional sites, call centers or meta-search. Understanding how these channels interact and how to optimize for each without diluting profitability, is one of the most overlooked levers owners have.

Seasonality amplifies this complexity further. Secondary markets often see dramatic swings in occupancy and ADR between peak and shoulder periods. That means operators must be proactive, not reactive. Forecasting becomes more than a revenue function. It becomes a marketing mandate. The properties that win are the ones that start building demand months before the season turns, not the ones who scramble once it already has.

The industry’s rapid evolution toward AI and automation makes this even more important. AI is not the future of hospitality. It is the present. But technology alone is not enough. What matters is how an operator integrates AI into decision making. Smarter segmentation, predictive demand modeling, dynamic creative optimization, personalized messaging and improved allocation of marketing dollars. If technology does not result in better timing, smarter targeting, and higher conversion, it is just tech for tech’s sake.

In secondary markets, the stakes are higher. Owners feel every fluctuation. And because many of these destinations rely heavily on leisure travel, often family driven, value driven and highly review sensitive, guest experience and reputation management play an outsized role. Your online reputation becomes part of your marketing stack. A single point shift in review score can materially alter your revenue potential, especially in markets where guests comparison shop across mixed inventory.

All of this points to a simple truth. Secondary markets reward operators who embrace complexity, not those who treat them like simplified versions of primary markets. The best performing properties in these destinations are not accidentally outperforming. They are doing it because their marketing, revenue and operations are aligned around the specific rhythms of leisure travel.

As the industry continues to evolve, I believe secondary markets will become even more influential. Remote work has expanded travel windows. Road trips have replaced some short haul flights. Families are prioritizing experience driven destinations. And many travelers now choose smaller, coastal or regional destinations because of their intimacy and character.

This shift represents an opportunity and a challenge. Owners who understand the true dynamics of secondary markets will thrive. Operators who continue relying on primary market assumptions will struggle.

The winners will be the companies who see these destinations not as secondary, but as strategically different, markets where intelligence, agility and marketing sophistication matter more than ever.