Teneo Hospitality Group

Dawn Clark is VP of Marketing & Communications at Teneo Hospitality Group, leading brand strategy and client relationships across the hospitality industry, with a background rooted in creative production.

Finding a Path Into Marketing And Communications

The pursuit of all things creative led me to pursue a career in marketing and communications. In 2010, when TV production started to slow down in South Florida, I knew I needed to get a full-time “desk” job but wanted to ensure that I was still in a creative field where I could apply all of my creative passion and production knowledge.

This led me to a role in Marketing with one of the largest brands in hospitality. Hard Rock.

How Hospitality Marketing Has Evolved

Hospitality marketing has changed dramatically over the past decade. It has evolved from primarily promoting properties and amenities to creating meaningful relationships and delivering personalized experiences.

There has been a huge shift from product-centric marketing, where you saw beautiful photography focused mainly on the hotel amenities or locations and often sales and promotions messaging, to a more experience-centric play. This is because customers are buying and sharing experiences. They want the memories of these experiences and that is why hospitality continues to remain fundamentally people-driven.

Building Authentic Relationships With Clients And Partners

For me relationships have always been a competitive advantage, and today technology has made it easier than ever to keep and make connections. Building your own community and creating ongoing relationships with those partners are crucial. Becoming a trusted partner or advisor allows you to create authentic connections in an industry where relationships remain one of the strongest predictors of success.

Balancing Creativity With Business Objectives

I prefer to create an integrated marketing ecosystem where we can build connected customer journeys balancing the business objective with authentic storytelling moments that create a cohesive experience for the client or customer. In today's hospitality landscape, the brands that succeed are those that consistently create value before the sale. By helping clients and members solve business challenges, share expertise and build stronger relationships, hospitality marketers can move beyond just promotion and become indispensable strategic partners.

Advice For Building A Lasting Marketing Career

My advice, focus less on learning the latest tools and more on developing the capabilities that will remain valuable regardless of how technology changes. The industry will continue to evolve, but great marketers consistently share a few defining qualities that won’t change.

Be a business leader, stay curious, embrace change and never lose sight of hospitality. No matter how advanced marketing technology becomes, the essence of hospitality remains unchanged: making people feel welcomed, understood and valued. The best marketing doesn't just generate leads and bookings, it creates trust, inspires confidence and builds lasting relationships.