PR Portfolio | Courtney Young

Earned media campaigns

As a Media Relations and Content Strategist with The Decker/Royal Agency, Young independently ideated and collaboratively executed numerous successful PR campaigns on behalf of travel and hospitality clients.

Colima 71's ‘Midnight Mezcal’

In an effort to promote a brand new boutique hotel in the heart of Mexico City, the “Midnight Mezcal” campaign saw the creation of a unique turndown amenity, delivering late-night mezcal cocktails to interested guests. Inspired by the hotel’s popular on-site “Honesty Bar” and Mexico City’s gastronomic culture, the offering provided guests with a direct call line to the Mezcal Masters. This campaign landed feature coverage in Forbes and The Hollywood Reporter.

Music in a Mill (SoFar Sounds x The Lincoln Hotel Partnership)

In 2009, a musician invited some friends over to a London flat for a low-key, intimate gig. Eight people gathered in the living room, shared a drink, and sat on the floor, listening to the music. Now, Sofar Sounds is a global community for artists and audiences. Sofar brings music and communities to unique and welcoming rooms, creating space where music matters. To capitalize on The Lincoln’s unique event space and history as a former textile mill, the hotel would partner with Sofar Sounds to create a series of performances to engage the local community and entertain guests.

This Travel App Is Helping Jakes Get Out Of Town

In the buzz of Taylor Swift's “Red” re-release, this campaign was ideated on behalf of travel app, App in the Air. Addressing the client's goal of increased in-app flight bookings, the campaign invited anyone named Jake to enter for a chance to win a flight booking credit to escape the "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" craze. This campaign landed feature coverage on Travel + Leisure, The Wall Street Journal, and Apartment Therapy.

Beaches Resorts Wants to Make Your Grandma a TikTok Star

Capitalizing on the mid-2021 trend of "granfluencers," this campaign aimed to promote brand awareness among a younger generation, and introduce the Beaches Resorts brand to the TikTok app. In partnership with a popular TikTok granfluencer, Beaches Resorts ran a social media contest calling for grandparent-grandchild duos to post a TikTok of their own, entering for a chance to win Beaches' newly launched "GrandEscapes" multi-generation vacation package. This campaign landed feature coverage on Forbes, Travel + Leisure, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and more.

Sandals Resorts’ Swipe-Stakes

Originally titled, "Sandals' Hingemoon," this campaign spoke to millennial and gen-z couples, a new target demographic for the all-inclusive Caribbean resort chain. The brand invited couples who met via dating app during the pandemic to share their love story, entering for a chance to win the “ultimate honeymoon period,” a four-night stay at a Sandals Resort. This campaign saw a record breaking number of entries and landed feature coverage on Travel + Leisure, Thrillist, CBS This Morning, and more.

Scrapped media campaigns

In her years of client-facing experience, Young has ideated and presented many media campaigns that were left on the cutting room floor. See below a bit of what could have been, but never was.

This Boutique Hotel Has Commissioned a Chief Curator to Gift Guests Vintage Treasures

Helen Uffner is a vintage-clothing expert and curator who sources fashion for films and TV shows, with a client list that includes Netflix, Amazon, Universal Studios, and Sony Entertainment. Connected by their love for antiques and high design, Atlantic Hospitality to partner with Hollywood’s most reputable vintage curator to create a resident vintage collection for The Lincoln Hotel. The hotel would host Uffner as she explores Biddeford’s vintage scene, collecting items inspired by her Lincoln experience, marked by its textile mill history and eclectic design. From there, guests who book a stay during a specified window to be gifted a surprise vintage item from this acclaimed curator, plus her tips on vintage thrifting in Maine.

This Coffee-Centric Boutique Hotel is Bringing Back ‘Dumb Starbucks,’ 10 Years Later

July 2024 marks the 10 year anniversary of “Dumb Starbucks,” the cultural comedy juggernaut that came from the Comedy Central’s Nathan For You. In 2014, the episode and parody stunt made major news, seeing Nathan Fielder rebrand a struggling coffee shop as a Starbucks parody business titled ‘Dumb Starbucks,’ aligned with parody laws by selling goods like “Dumb Venti Latte” and “Dumb Lemon Loaf.” Colima 71, a new coffee-centric boutique hotel in Mexico City, to host a “Dumb Starbucks” pop-up in their on-site coffee bar. This campaign would also connect to the rising publicity around Fielder, following his HBO series The Rehearsal and forthcoming A24 film, The Curse.

Ring for a Roll: These Bar Harbor Cottages Come With a Lobster Roll Phone

In partnership with a local restaurant, Bar Harbor’s Salt Cottages to outfit each of their cabins with an exclusive Lobster Phone – that only knows one number. When a guest picks up the phone, they will be connected with the local restaurant and invited to order a lobster roll (or five) for delivery. For additional coverage in art publications, the Lobster Phones would be designed to look like the famous “Lobster Telephone” art piece from artist Salvador Dali.

This Hotel Brand Is Joining The Picket Line With A “Writers’ Room” Giveaway

Amid the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, many of the union’s 171k striking members were worried about finding the funds to pay their rent and feed their families -- forget booking frivolous travel. Stress was high, morale was low, and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts would do their part to support, giving a select few picketers the keys to their own “writers room” to destress and try to make the best of their forced time off.

This Post-Natal Suite Comes With A Future Travel Guarantee

According to data from Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, the average timeshare owner is 39 years old. For the average American, the mid to late 30’s are marked by global travel, home ownership, and family planning. Inspired by the travel industry’s postnatal retreat trend, Wyndham to create a state-of-the-art postnatal care suite for new parents -- one that comes with a travel guarantee. One of the biggest hesitations to having children is losing the ability to travel. That’s why, one year from check-in, guests would be given a stay free of charge to celebrate their first year of parenthood and maintain their commitment to themselves to keep traveling.