01/08/2025
🌿 Case Feature: MOUNT HIGH LODGE - Mpumalanga, South Africa (Mpumalanga)
🎯 What They Did Right:
In mid‑2020, Mount High Luxury Country House, a lodge in Mpumalanga, launched a voucher campaign during COVID‑19 lockdown—selling 47 vouchers in just 13 minutes.
That’s swift traction for a local property.
They also grew their email list by 750 contacts in 3 days, gained 450 new Facebook likes, 423 new Instagram followers, and amassed nearly 75,000 post engagements and 2,453 link clicks in just one month.
✅ Why the Campaign Worked:
Emotional appeal during lockdown: Their messaging tapped into hope and future travel dreams, even when bookings were paused.
Leveraged existing social audience effectively while attracting new followers.
Data capture: Email growth shows they focused beyond social metrics—creating a future booking pipeline.
High engagement: Strong visuals and timely messaging drove clicks and visibility.
💡 Lessons for Hospitality & Travel Brands
Area Opportunity for Your Brand
Campaign Timing Use crises or slow seasons to launch voucher or pre‑booking offers.
Emotional storytelling Tap into aspirations—like future travel and local escape.
Boost social push Use short‑term paid boosts to increase reach on Instagram and Facebook.
Email integration Convert social followers into leads through exclusive offers and newsletters.
Track engagement metrics Monitor likes, follows, post engagement, link‑clicks, and conversion rates.
⚠️ Challenges They and You May Face
Immediate conversion vs. long‑term ROI
Selling vouchers fast is great—but turning that into actual stays depends on strong redemption incentives and follow-up.
*Sustaining campaign momentum*
Social buzz and growth can slow once the initial offer ends—requiring strategic follow-up content.
*Resource strain*
Managing creative content, executing paid campaigns, and monitoring analytics can be heavy for smaller teams.
*Attribution gaps*
Separating the impact of email, social, and paid boosts can be tricky without integrated tracking.
*Balancing promise and delivery*
Pre‑sold experiences must match or exceed guest expectations when they redeem—ensuring credibility.
🎯 Final Takeaway
Mount High’s campaign shows that even a mid‑sized lodge in Mpumalanga can ignite strong social engagement and revenue by combining emotionally resonant storytelling with short‑term voucher promotions and strong analytics.
They turned crisis into opportunity, building both brand loyalty and measurable interest.
For hospitality and travel brands in Mpumalanga and beyond, the formula is clear:
Tap into emotional storytelling tied to local experiences,
Launch tactical offers timed to build urgency,
Track and convert social engagement into leads,
And lean into a data‑driven follow-up strategy to secure actual bookings.
Because in this jungle, the ones who listen to data... Lead the herd!
