Acquisition project | Tamara Leisure Experiences

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Acquisition project | Tamara Leisure Experiences

Project Overview

The Tamara Coorg is a luxury nature resort. The resort is almost 12 years old now. It attracts tourists primarily from Bangalore because of the proximity. While, it also attracts a fair share of tourists from Mumbai/Delhi/Hyderabad are a few key markets. Post-covid the business boomed with exponential demand. However, from 2023 - we saw a drop in our TOF and eventually it reflected in our revenue.

The aim with the assignment is to redefine acquisition strategy to improve our top of the funnel with right audience right messaging and right medium.

Product research -

product research.pdf

User Research Questionnaire

Macro objective

To understand how the user travel behavior for acquisition strategy (focusing on explore right channels for new customers including performance and referral as a channel)

Sample- 3 guests who have visited The Tamara Coorg from different age group and markets

Micro O – Understand travel pattern

How many vacations do you take in a year?
How do you plan your destinations?

Micro O – Understand channel insights

How do you discover newer resorts/properties?
How do you research about your hotel?
How did you come to know about The Tamara Coorg?

Micro Objective - Consideration factors before making a booking?

What factors do you seek from your luxury stay?
What elements you consider before making the booking?
What made you pick The Tamar Coorg - offer, destination, property?

Micro O – Marketing Pitch

How did you discover The Tamara Coorg
Did you decide based on any communication on Google/Website/SM?
What attracted you to make that first touch with the brand?
Do you prefer booking online or call the agent?

Mirco O – Understanding Decision Making

What factors do you consider when making a booking?
What should an ideal stay have?

Micro O – Understand perception on luxury stats?

What defines a luxurious stay for you?
What elements are a must have for a luxury stay?

Micro O – Bragworthy Quotient

What did you absolutely love about your stay? What the most memorable moment?
Would you or have you referred the tamara Coorg to your friends and family?
How do you refer?
Would you like to visit again?

Date	Name	Focus	Learning
28.03.24	Shrey - 30 years /Male/ Product Strategy/ founder/Mumbai	Travel habits/ Channels / Price point/ booking platforms	3-4 holidays in a year, in international/a few road trips. Price is not a concern, prefers unique resorts/destinations/ online booking/ preferred channels for discovery Instagram/ influencers/ not a fan of static ads. Has never come across any of the Tamara properties on social media.
28.03.24	Sumit - 40/ Male/ Founder Adtech/Travel Space /Bangalore	Travel habits/ Channels / Price point/ booking platforms	takes 2-3 trips in a year, one occasion based anniversary/ average Length of stay 4 days/ Destination is chosen before the resorts, he does transations while his wife explore instagram and youtube shorts to identify properties in the destionation. Prefers a luxury vacay to sit back, relax, be pampered, food has to be top notch/ relaxation/ service quality matters. Tamara coorg was referred by a friend, called the direct team to get good offer and stayed for 4-5 days. they felt brand was missing in social media. Got personalised food service, staff was generous and came and referred (still do) to many friends and family. Price is not a concerns or a pain point
29.03.24	Daljeet-46/Male/Intel India Director / Bangalore/	travel habits/channels/price point/booking habits	Likes to travel for fun food and relaxation (spa). Wants to explore newer/unique destinations. Takes at least 2-3 holidays a year, wants to go to places well connected by airport or easy to drive from Bangalore, That's how they come across The Tamara Coorg while exploring coorg as a destination on Google Search. Same feedback like others felt the brand representation in social media is lacking. During research came across Brand YouTube channel ( thats how he researches destionations and properties ). Discovery for him and his wife is on reels/shorts and travel influencers. price sensitive, would look at offers and prices as well during the consideration stage. price comparison is done on OTA/Brand.com/direct calling.

	ICP 1	ICP2
Ideal Customer Profile Name	Sumit	Daljeet
Age	28-40	40-60
Goals	Explore/Celebrate Milestones	Relax/Leisure/Uniwnd
Income Levels	80-3lksh/month	3lkhs-8-9lkhs/ month
Gender	Female	Male
Location	Bangalore	Mumbai
Companies	Starts-ups/Senior Professionals in tech/Creative Consultants Ad world/founders	Entrepreneurs/Founders/DC-suites in Corporates/Businessmen/Retired
Marital Status	Both single/married	Both single and married
Where do they spend time	social media/YouTube/OTTs/Spotify/Google reviews	Social Media/Travel Magazines/WhatsApp/OTTs/YouTube/Facebook/google search
Pain Points	not able to find the brand on Instagram/ content format	not able to find on Instagram and via influencers
Current Solution	User generated content / referrals	referrals/ google search

Influencers - Travel bloggers/ reels / UGCs

Blockers - Not enough brand led content on Instagram/ not enough reels/ no referral offers

Key Competition

	Price Points/per night	Property Type	USP	Amenities	Experiences	Packages
Evolve Back Coorg	35000	Heritage Resort	A voyage of discovery into the very heart of Coorg – a land of coffee, spice and plantation life	Kid friendly 3 restaurants (1 pure veg) Spa Hot tubs	Plantation Walk Coffelogy Aienmane & Lunch Bird Watching Cycling Coracle Ride ELKHILL Walk/tour	Honeymoon Package on home page Coorg Special
Taj Madekeri	33000	5 Star Luxury Star (Eco)	Unwind & Create Timeless Memories	Pet Friendly 5 restaurants Spa Hot tubs Swimming Pool Kids Club Game Room	Dining Experiences Bath Rituals Kodava Culture Experiences	Wellness Woyage Family Getaway Offer Spa Getaways offers 2+1
The Ibini	21000	Luxury Resort	Eco Villa Luxury stay	Spa 3 restaurants Kid friendly Swimming pool 1 bar	Cycling Yoga Walk & Trails Eco Walk	Honeymoon Wellness Candle Lit Dinner 2+1
The Tamara Coorg	22,000	Luxury Resort (Eco )	Reconnect with nature	Spa 1 Restaurant 1 bar Indoor and outdoor pool 184 acres of organic plantation	long and short treks plantation walk blossom to brew Apiculture yoga/Tratika meditation Bird Watching	Love is in the air Explore The Tamara Coorg Gather the Gang Special Package
Coorg Wilderness	20000	Luxury Resort	Enjoy Luxurious Rooms With Great Views	Pool Spa 2 Restaurants Gym Kids Friendly Bar	Adventure Sports Coffee Experience Wildness Walks Organic farming and animal care Trek & Yoga	Book 2 nights and get 3rd free Dinner is on us Drive into Wilderness Exclusive Deal 3 nights wellness package 2 night adventure package 3 nights Honeymoon
Marriott Coorg	22500	Luxury Hotel	Narrated by Nature - The smart way to experience Coorg	3 restaurents 1 bar Spa Outdoor pool Pet friendly kid friendly	Get 1000 bonus points / stay couples retreat the suite life

Picking Evolve Back Coorg, Taj Madekeri and Coorg Wilderness Resorts as 3 key competition, while I felt it was important to review and analyse other players in the market at same price point. These 3 we map closely as they are almost at a 5 star category, nature and eco properties with various experiences.

Brand's Weak Points

Images - professionally are not shot
Website - this needs to be clean and easy to browse
Packages - we need to keep packages Simple and well - defined
YouTube - Resorts for Coorg - Coorg Wilderness and Evolve Back are on top 5 (aggregator content) - we need to optimise YouTube and plan better content
Instagram - resorts in Coorg/luxury resorts in Coorg - images and names of Orange county (now Evolve Back) are more - need to work on SEO and hastags
Established brands with strong brand presence across social media/google
We could look at better pricing as competition pricing is higher for summer (peak season)
Need to work on keywords Kodavu and Madikeri to drive visibility

Brand's Strong Points

our experiences are more in range
our view of the room is better
our unique architecture
organic coffee plantation
better rating on most platforms
better search results for Coorg
184 acres of plantation
7 water walls within the property
social media research.pdf


TAM	Total numbers of potential ICPs from India with avg income of 15lks / year	Average booking value	TAM
Reference - India 1 blume report Couples with avg 1500000 income / annum/30m household/80% from key markets like Bangalore, 20% from Mumbai/Delhi and Hyderabad	120000000	45000	5400000000000
SAM	Total Number of tourists booking premium resorts in Coorg	Average booking value	SAM
Total Tourists coorg (40,00,000)	600000	45000	2700000000
15% Seeking Luxury stay (600000)
SOM	Total TTC market share from last year	SAM	SOM
	19%	2700000000	513000000

Mature Scale Strategies

From the consumer discussions that I had and even working with the brand past few years, 2 insights stood out -

Media Learnings

Our brand visibility in Instagram and YouTube is weak
The format of the content preferred is reels/shorts and not so much static

Optimise Meta (primarily Instagram) to Acquire High Quality Users

Experiments here -

Increase reels as past of the content
Current media plan 60% dependency is on Google to drive TOF, 9 % of the budget distribution focuses on videos on IG.
The plan should be to gradually increase the budget on IG Videos to 20% targeting both ICPs with different messaging based on their preferences and behaviors
ICP 1 - Younger/Seeking good food/rooms with a view/ good hospitality/nature led activities - also males are transacting women are exploring Instagram
ICP2 - Mid-age to senior / seeking fun/relaxation/want to be pampered with food/services/spa and rooms with a good view/easy terrain
Incorporate preferences in the ad copy and target both ICPs with the lookalike audience on Facebook/interests/income/

Optimise YouTube to scale customer acquisition volume

Experiments here -

Increase ad spents in YouTube channel
Increase content update frequency month on month basis
create a balance of shorts and long form videos
Collaborate with more YouTubers to improve search results
Work on keyword strategy for
Improve content quality
Look at content buckets from the content loop and incorporate to increase bragworthy content

The content loop

Hook Generator Distributor

Recipes

Waterfalls with trending music

Sound of nature
Experiences like apiculture

breathtaking views

Poetry with a view of the property

Brand

Guests

Brand and Guests

Paid Advertising

Landing Page

Insta Reel

Content focus on nature/ room with a view, service and food.

Room with a view
1. Here I could look at creating/ adding images and videos on Instagram/OTAs/Tripadvisor/GMBs/website/performance ads/ also optimising SEO with the same keyword on the website

Food
1. Food quality is difficult to establish with content but the trust can be built with reviews of past guests/chef branding/ more food led collaborations to build on the focus of food. Add faces of local women working with us in making spices for the Kodavu cuisine. Gordorn Ramsy was a hit- could look at more international chefs to strengthen on establishing satiating culinary delifghts at The Tamara Coorg. Subsequently, this can be populated with images/videos/blogs across platforms for acquisition.
2. Service - Share testimonials for past guests with mentions our our staff/ focus on personalisation of service in content.

Product Integration

ICP Product - Apple/Netflix/Instagram/Spotify/Cult /Blue Tokai

Sounds of Tamara - A playlist to feature sounds of different experiences of the property like blossom to brew/forest bathing/Honey Harvesting etc. to be played at the property and to be shared with guests as a souvenir. But the idea to launch this playlist in collaboration with Spotify to promote wellness vacations.

Collab with Blue Tokai to offer immersive coffee experience for their top buyers

Referral

we do not have any tool to track or gratify referral guests. The feedback from guest was we do not want to give referral for incentive or a few points. The experience should be bragworthy to give referral. So I am not picking this up for now. The basic we can do right with existing tools is -

Past Guests Get 30% off Coupon Code - Email Journey is created with Salesforce. The Guest is also given 25% off Coupon Code for friends and family.

Ideally -

We should be able to track all Coupons from a specific guests to understand the referrals coming from a particular guest to segment them as brand advocates and curate specific offers/value ads/personalization for them.

Customers talk about -

Room with the view

Food

Service

The architecture of the property

the air quality

sleep quality

Currency - Money or access to all new properties for brand advocates

Who - Recent guests who rated us 5& above on google and tripadvisor

Referral - will be email and whatsapp communication

Voucher code via email to be availed on direct site or by calling the direct line

Landing page -

Content - Invite your friends and family to experience nature like you experienced at The Tamara Coorg. here's the voucher for your friends and family - ask them to give your name with the code for you to avail your 30% voucher?

How to continue referral - This is tricky as the rewards in our business are not immediate and it is highly unlikely to make repeats as often to the same property.