Karen Stephens
Chief Marketing Officer
Karen Stephens drives long-term growth by building Revinate’s brand equity, product marketing, and customer acquisition strategies. With more than 25 years of expertise in global hospitality technology and online distribution, her deep connections with hospitality industry leaders play a key role in crafting strategic partnerships. She is also the host of The Hotel Moment Podcast, where she interviews top players in the hospitality industry.
Featured articles
Hospitality industry data reveals how hoteliers are winning
In hospitality, we’re used to curveballs. But 2025 has already delivered a few we didn’t see coming. Last week, I had the opportunity to co-host the webinar “Navigating hospitality’s new normal” with Jennifer Hill, VP of Commercial Strategy at Kalibri Labs, where we dove into the latest hospitality industry data and discussed what’s shifting in hospitality and, more importantly, what’s working for hoteliers right now. Federal policy shockwaves: what you need to know We began [...]
Hotel email marketing: The ultimate guide for hoteliers
Hotel email marketing is a powerful tool for boosting direct bookings and building stronger guest relationships. By using centralized and connected guest data, you can implement key strategies, like segmentation, personalization, and automation, to maximize engagement and drive revenue. It's Tuesday morning at The Avertine Resort. Ashley, the Director of Marketing, reviews her dashboard with satisfaction. The automated post-stay hotel email marketing campaign she launched a few weeks ago has already secured several direct bookings [...]
Hotel data management: How smarter data leads to higher revenue
A travel-weary return guest walks through your door. Without missing a beat, your staff greets him by name, mentions his favorite bourbon is waiting at the bar, and lets him know his room is already set at his preferred temperature. This is not a fairy tale — it’s effective hotel data management in action. Hotel data is your most valuable asset in today’s digital-first world. Yet many properties surrender this advantage with 21% of database [...]
Why email capture rate is critical for EMEA hoteliers in 2025
If there’s one metric hoteliers in EMEA should be tracking in 2025, it’s their email capture rate. A hotel’s ability to master email capture is critical to its success and impacts other bottom-line metrics like net operating income (NOI). Here’s why: Obtaining a guest’s email is the foundation for offering personalized guest experiences and executing successful direct booking campaigns. Without a strong email capture strategy, you’re leaving too much to chance and sacrificing the opportunity [...]
AI in hospitality: Using it to personalize guest experiences
When you were envisioning your career as a hotelier, odds are that you didn’t imagine spending days drowning in guest data. And now, thanks to AI in hospitality, those days can be over. AI for hotels is more than just a buzzword. It’s a tool hoteliers can use to organize and make sense of the guest data they have — providing actionable insights to use in personalized guest communication. Because the reality is that no [...]
Drive conversions with an omnichannel communication strategy
Inspiration. The spark that propels guests to hurry and book a stay with your hotel. But where do they find it? Maybe it’s the photos on your website — stunning ocean views or jaw-dropping mountain ranges right outside the hotel suite’s windows. Maybe they’ve vacationed with you before and received an email announcing the grand opening of a new property in their home city. Or maybe you reignited a guests’ inspiration to book when you [...]