If you believe the media, AI can take all the work off your hands. In reality, there are still some challenges; AI can't always tell the difference between a mountain and a tree. Online marketing agency TenZer works daily with AI tools for the recreation industry and sees that it can strengthen your team, but you have to stay sharp.
Keep control of your ads
Google and Meta's promise is beautiful: activate their fully automated campaigns and the bookings will flow in. Efficient? Absolutely. Flawless? Absolutely not.
For example, we saw a German campaign where Google itself had generated the headlines. Because a holiday park page mentioned a washing machine, the AI enthusiastically turned it into 'Urlaub in Wasmachine' . And in Meta, we saw an advertisement where the AI blithely changed a tiled roof into a thatched roof and transformed a tree into a mountain.
These are outliers, but they do indicate that as a marketer, you need to keep a close eye on everything. Sometimes, the best option is to manually disable those "smart" options.
The fastest copywriter
Yes, AI writes faster than any copywriter. But ask a tool to write a text about "camping at company X," and you often get a generic story. These days, you can recognize AI texts in no time by the excessive use of emojis and the specific writing style. If you want to come across as credible and professional, it's often better to skip those parts.
If you really want a text that makes sense, you'll have to write a good briefing yourself. You basically have to "pre-digest" everything:
- The goal: What do you want to achieve?
- The Target Audience: Who are you talking to?
- The structure: Which paragraphs do you want to show?
- Writing style: Which tone of voice suits you?
Such a briefing can sometimes be a page long, but it's the only way to truly make AI work for you. One advantage is that once the AI has mastered the right writing style, subsequent pages will go by much faster.
Opportunities: your new digital colleague
So is it just extra work? Absolutely not. AI is a fantastic source of inspiration and an ideal sparring partner. The trick is to personalize it. For example, you can create a personalized AI (like "Gems" in Gemini or GPT workspaces). You give this assistant a specific job description so it understands you faster and works more efficiently. You're essentially training it like a new colleague.
We like to extend that innovative side to the rest of the guest journey. For instance, we work closely with the team behind the AI agent Holli . She answers guest questions via WhatsApp, email, and chat. Because she can be integrated with reservation software, she provides real-time pricing and availability. This way, AI becomes an extension of your service.
The golden rule
AI can be a tremendous help, but be very clear about what you want. Break complex questions down into smaller pieces so you can adjust in time if the AI doesn't understand the question. Marketing remains human work, but with a smart digital assistant at your side, you'll go much further.
With thanks to (editor) Marielle van Slooten from www.tenzer.nl