How to turn hotel inventory into marketing gold

Some see empty rooms, but Jody Merl sees untapped potential. As the founder and president of Innovative Travel Marketing (ITM), she’s built a business around transforming unsold hotel inventory into media power, turning vacant room nights into advertising value that drives real revenue. By leveraging strategic barter partnerships, ITM helps hotels turn what would otherwise be lost opportunity into measurable marketing impact.

From boutique independents to luxury icons like Ian Schrager Hotels and The Breakers Palm Beach, the Parsippany, N.J.-based Merl has saved companies millions while building a reputation for savvy, creative solutions that make every dollar—and every room—work harder.

—Interview by Jennifer Glatt, edited by Lesley McKenzie

Independent hotels often face tighter budgets than branded properties. How does ITM’s barter model help hoteliers extend their marketing dollars while still competing for visibility?  

Independent hotels must work smarter, not just harder, to be seen. ITM was built for that purpose. As the media planning and buying specialist for the hospitality industry, we help hoteliers secure high-impact, precisely targeted advertising and promotional placements without increasing cash spend.

Through our deep, long-standing relationships with major media companies, independents on limited budgets can fund tactical and brand campaigns with trade, transforming their perishable room nights into marketing currency. This gives them access to premium exposure in digital, print and other channels that strengthens awareness, drives direct bookings and keeps them visible alongside brands with much larger resources. We empower their marketing to go far beyond what their cash budgets could achieve. 

Room nights and F&B credits are common barter tools, but not the only ones. What types of hotel assets work best in a barter strategy, and how should owners decide what to leverage? 

The key is leveraging what has value to others but low hard-cost to the property. Perishable, unsold room nights are the obvious starting point, but experiences—spa access, golf, culinary programs—can also expand the trade credit while introducing guests to more of the brand. To optimize media marketing, we encourage hotels to think creatively about what can be monetized without diminishing revenue potential. The result is greater reach to target audiences and incremental on-property spend from new guests.

Owners are often laser-focused on returns. How should independent hotels evaluate the impact of barter-driven campaigns versus traditional cash media buys?

Barter doesn’t change the metrics—it changes the means. 

Success is still measured by visibility, engagement and conversion. The difference is that a well-planned advertising campaign paid for with trade stretches the same dollars further, often broadening exposure across multiple channels instead of one, or even underwriting media marketing that would have otherwise been financially out of reach. And instead of selling rooms on price-compromising, third-party platforms, you’re allocating their full value to subsidize revenue-generating marketing. Just one shift from OTA to direct booking can yield over 20% higher profit—proof that smarter spending, not higher spending, drives results.

Can you share a success story where an independent hotel used barter to significantly boost visibility or market share—something they could not have achieved with budget alone?

We launched a boutique destination spa almost entirely on trade. By converting the value of room nights into a robust, multi-market media plan, the custom advertising campaign captured upscale travelers in key feeder markets, ultimately achieving over 85% annual occupancy and national recognition through “Reader’s Choice” and “World’s Best” awards. Barter didn’t just fund their campaign—it accelerated their rise to brand prestige.

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