Wallowa Lake Lodge
Oregon’s hidden travel gem blows out 100 candles
The Challenge
The national tourism industry favors luxury hotels and glitzy vacation rentals, which makes marketing tough for independent, traditional and remote properties. Enter Oregon’s oldest lodge, which in 2023 celebrated 100 years and wanted our help doing so in style.
Tucked away on the shores of glacial Wallowa Lake in the northeast corner of the state, the historic Wallowa Lake Lodge came to us with hopes of amplifying their centennial celebration. Our team went a step further to unearth a number of supporting stories that had not been widely told:
- The lodge was saved from big developers in 2016 when more than 100 community members and friends came together to purchase it for $3.1 million, ensuring the core, independent experience would be preserved for future generations.
- The lodge dedicated nine acres as a conservation easement to the Nez Perce Tribe “in perpetuity” to maintain the pristine quality of the lake’s headwaters.
As we dug in, two other factors shaped our strategy: The lodge is only open from Memorial Day until the end of September, condensing our window for media visits and optimal coverage, and we were working on a very limited budget.
The Goal & Strategy
We mined for authentic pieces of the lodge’s culture to shape key messaging, including its history, staff, ownership story and guest experience. Our team focused on raising the lodge’s profile through earned media opportunities with statewide and regional press, targeting audiences that were most likely to book rooms in the summer of 2023. We also planted the seed for future coverage by partnering with Travel Oregon to host long-lead journalists, including a freelance travel writer with USA Today.
10%
Increase in Y/Y Occupancy
21%
More Engagement
60M
Audience Views
20%
Social Channel Growth
The Results
More press than the lodge had ever seen! We had placements in the Seattle Times, AARP, Chicago Tribune, Portland Monthly, The Oregonian, OPB and more, totaling approximately 60 million audience views across secured outlets.
The lodge’s social channel followers grew by 20%, with 21% more engagement. And summer 2023 occupancy rose from 80% to 88% year over year, an increase that our client reported “in our line of work is pretty dang good!”
