Where boutique hotel owners turn beautiful properties into booked-out brands.
The Boutique Hotel Playbook
If you are tired of relying on OTAs, inconsistent marketing, or “hope and pray” referrals, this podcast walks you through the exact brand and guest experience systems that turn beautiful properties into profitable lifestyle destinations.
Listen to the Latest Episode
Each episode of The Boutique Hotel Playbook breaks down one strategic move you can make this week to strengthen your brand, elevate your guest experience, and increase direct bookings.
No fluff. No generic hospitality advice. Just practical brand strategy, revenue alignment, and positioning insights for boutique hotel owners who want to operate at a higher level.
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Start with the episode that speaks to where you are right now. Branding, guest experience, direct booking growth, or repositioning your property.
The Boutique Hotel Playbook is Actionable Insights for Boutique Hotels!
Your boutique hotel is more than rooms — it’s a brand, a story, an experience. On the Boutique Hotel Playbook , Yanique DaCosta shares strategies to boost direct bookings, attract high-value guests, and turn stays into stories guests rave about. Learn how to build loyalty, design unforgettable guest journeys, and position your property as a lifestyle destination that stays booked solid.
If you’re serious about building a hotel brand that guests remember, rave about, and return to, it starts with an honest look at your current positioning.
👉 Click here to complete a short questionnaire and see if you qualify for a Deep Dive Call: https://hotels.theykmd.com/work-with-me-4289
No ads. No influencer campaigns. Barely a marketing plan. So how does Serendipity Holistic Resort and Spa in Negril, Jamaica keep guests coming back?
This week on The Boutique Hotel Playbook, I sit down with Sheryl, the owner, right on the property. She built Serendipity as a private retreat for herself and her friends. It was never meant to be a business, until one Instagram post brought strangers to the gate.
What she figured out next is what most boutique hotel owners spend thousands trying to buy: a brand guests feel the minute they walk in.
In this episode:
- How a single social post accidentally turned a private home into a boutique resort
- Why she has never run a paid ad, and where her bookings come from instead
- The guest experience details she refuses to outsource, starting with the sheets
- Why saying “this place is not for everyone” builds more loyalty than trying to please everyone
- What she thinks of influencers, and the one thing she asks of every guest who posts
- How staff who live on property shape the guest experience
- The real story of buying land and building in Jamaica: paying cash, an 18-month build, and what the river did to the property
- The mindset shift from “let’s do business” to “let’s heal,” and why it changed her brand
- Working on your business instead of in it, and why your business is meant to feed you, not the other way around
If you own, operate or are developing an independent property and want more direct bookings, repeat guests and a reputation that markets itself, this one’s for you.
Keywords: boutique hotel marketing, direct bookings, guest loyalty, hotel branding, boutique hotel owner, wellness resort, Negril Jamaica, Caribbean hospitality, word of mouth marketing, user generated content for hotels, independent hotel, micro resort
Mentioned in this episode:
Serendipity Holistic Resort and Spa, Negril, Jamaica (on Google, booking.com and social media)
Want help positioning your property? Book your Deep Dive Call: https://hotels.theykmd.com/work-with-me-4289
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Be a Guest on The Boutique Hotel Playbook
Are you a boutique hotel owner, hospitality operator, architect, marketer, hotel operations strategist, travel influencer or revenue expert with insights that could help independent properties grow?
This show highlights real strategies, real stories, and real lessons from operators building memorable properties around the world.
If you have experience worth sharing, we would love to hear from you.
“You deserve a brand that feels as elevated and intentional as the guest experience you’re creating.”
-Yanique DaCosta, MFA, LCAM
Yanique DaCosta is the Founder and Chief Creative Director of YKMD, a brand development and marketing agency specializing in luxury boutique hotels.
With over a decade of experience working with global brands and managing high-end properties, she understands both the emotional side of hospitality and the business mechanics behind direct bookings, positioning, and guest loyalty.
Hospitality runs in her blood. From growing up around her family’s hotel in Jamaica to managing luxury mixed-use properties in Florida, Yanique has seen firsthand how powerful brand clarity can be.
The Boutique Hotel Playbook exists to help owners shift from reactive operators to strategic brand leaders.
What Listeners Are Saying…
Boutique hotel owners and hospitality leaders are using these strategies to rethink branding, guest experience, and direct revenue.
August 26, 2026
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September 24, 2022
Look Behind the Scenes
Every Friday, I send a short email breaking down what we are seeing in the boutique hotel space.
Brand mistakes that quietly cost bookings.
Guest experience gaps that impact reviews.
Direct booking opportunities most properties overlook.
If you want honest insight without the noise, join the list.
Site by YKMD. Podcast produced by Yanique DaCosta