Reality Check: Sales, Strategy & Standing Out in Branded Hotels

In this episode of The Hotel Growth Podcast, Adam Hamadache is joined by Wendy White, Director of Sales & Marketing at Kew Green Hotels, to unpack the real-world pressures facing branded hotels in today’s market.

Wendy shares her journey from glass collector to group sales leader and gives a candid take on what it really takes to grow in 2025 – including how to compete with luxury experiences, cut through digital noise, and stay visible in a crowded OTA-dominated space.

We cover:

• Why CRM is the most powerful tool in a modern marketer’s kit
  

• The real challenge of staying competitive in secondary locations
  

• Her views on event clustering and the feast-or-famine effect
  

• Why data, personalisation and segmentation are the keys to conversion
  

• How hotels should approach tech, marketing budgets and brand platforms
  

If you’re running a branded hotel—or managing one—you’ll get plenty of practical insights from this conversation.

📍 One key takeaway: “New business, new business, new business. Without it, there’s no business.”