Creating a Tourism Referral Program Across Three Outlet Shopping Centers
House Collective partnered with a real estate development and management company specializing in upscale outlet shopping destinations to lead the strategy and development of a tourism referral program across three outlet destinations in California and Colorado. Working with portfolio leadership, individual property marketing leads, and existing digital platform partners, House Collective developed the research, strategy, program framework, creative direction, communications, and implementation recommendations needed to bring the initiative together across markets. The engagement drew on House Collective’s experience in shopping center and destination marketing, including super-regional retail centers, outlet destinations, and entertainment-oriented properties.
MARKETING LEADERSHIP · STRATEGY & RESEARCH · CUSTOMER JOURNEY · PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT · BRAND & COMMUNICATIONS · CROSS-TEAM IMPLEMENTATION
CALIFORNIA & COLORADO · 3 UPSCALE OUTLET SHOPPING CENTERS · MULTI-MARKET TOURISM PROGRAM
Defining the program strategy.
House Collective partnered with portfolio leadership to shape the strategy and launch plan, provide marketing leadership through the build, and coordinate the people and platforms needed to move the program forward.
Each destination had its own audience, visitor experience, marketing priorities, technology, resources, and operational capacity. Our role was to create a connected program structure while working closely with each property marketing team so the strategy could flex to the realities of its center.
Responsibilities
Key Deliverables
Listening to the traveler.
Before developing the program messaging, House Collective studied the visitor experience and the destination market surrounding each property. We reviewed hundreds of public reviews across Google, Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Facebook, along with area hotels, travel professionals, tourism organizations, attractions, competitive programs, digital listings, website analytics, and audience data. The research was organized around the buyer journey for each center: what prompted a visit, what travelers valued, how each property fit within a larger trip, and which partners could help introduce visitors to the destination.
The research surfaced distinct travel patterns for each destination. One property was part of a mountain travel experience, another served travelers moving through a major regional corridor, and the California destination reflected Los Angeles tourism patterns, including international visitors and guests fitting shopping into a larger trip.
One strategy. Three marketing teams.
Building a portfolio-wide program required coordination across teams already responsible for the day-to-day marketing of their individual destinations.
House Collective led the program strategy and worked directly with the marketing leads at each property, incorporating their market knowledge, priorities, resources, and operational requirements into the program design. We also coordinated with existing website and email platform partners whose systems would support implementation.
We developed a shared strategic framework that each property could adapt to its market. Recommendations accounted for differences in visitor behavior, local tourism relationships, available resources, technology, and each team's capacity to manage the program over time.
A connected concierge journey.
House Collective mapped the full path from awareness through membership and advocacy, connecting outreach, listings, content, social media, landing pages, email, referral tracking, rewards, and ongoing member communications.
The program manual translated that strategy into practical options the property teams could use. It included multiple rewards and tracking processes, from hotel-level tracking and individual concierge codes to technology-supported referral platforms, allowing each center to choose an approach suited to its resources and program needs.
Built for each destination.
House Collective translated the strategy into a complete program system for each destination. The work included program identities and logos, messaging and creative direction, calls to action, photography direction, landing pages, newsletter templates, email campaigns, SMS communications, social media recommendations, referral workflows, rewards processes, and program measurement. These assets were informed by research into the surrounding tourism ecosystem, including area hotels, travel professionals, tourism organizations, attractions, competitive programs, visitor behavior, and digital channels.
The result was a coordinated program architecture with room for each property team to prioritize the audience, offers, partnerships, and implementation approach most relevant to its market.
Marketing leadership that connects the work.
House Collective provided the strategy, research, program direction, and implementation framework while coordinating with portfolio leadership, property marketing teams, and established platform partners. The result was a connected tourism marketing system each destination could adapt to its market, relationships, resources, and priorities.