Tourism Awards: Boost Bookings 15% by 2026

There’s a surprising amount of bad advice out there about how ‘best of’ awards actually benefit tourism marketing, especially for a destination like Savannah. Too many tourism boards and individual businesses are leaving money on the table because they’re working off old assumptions about what these awards are and how to use them in a real strategy.

Myth 1: ‘Best Of’ Awards Are Just Vanity Metrics

The idea that a “Best Of” award is just a pat on the back with no tangible return is a common, and costly, mistake. Many marketers dismiss these honors as good for internal morale but not much else. That’s just wrong. An award is powerful third-party validation that directly sways how consumers see you and what they buy. Reports from global research firms like NielsenIQ show that external endorsements and awards heavily influence traveler decisions when they’re picking a destination or service. This isn’t about ego. It’s about giving a potential customer a shortcut to trusting you in a market flooded with options. Take Savannah’s tourism scene. When a local boutique hotel wins a “Top 10 Boutique Hotels in the South” award, that’s not just a nice plaque for the wall. It becomes a verifiable trust signal that immediately sets it apart from the competition. Travelers, especially people planning a trip to a city they’ve never visited, are desperate for these signals. They want reassurance. An award provides it. That credibility turns into booking confidence, and for a traveler who’s never been to your city, that award is often the tiebreaker that gets them to click ‘book now’ instead of closing the tab. We’ve seen this happen time and again. One client, for example, added their new regional award badge right next to the ‘Reserve a Room’ button on their website and saw a near-immediate lift in their direct booking conversion rate that quarter.

Myth 2: You Just Need to Display the Badge on Your Website

A lot of people think the work is done once the award comes in: slap the badge on the website and watch the bookings appear. If that’s all you do, you’re leaving most of the value on the table. Displaying the badge is the bare minimum. The real impact happens when you actively push the award into every part of your marketing. This means going way beyond a static image on your homepage. An effective strategy weaves the award narrative into your blog posts, your social media, your email marketing, and your paid ads. For instance, a Savannah tour operator that wins “Best Historic Walking Tour” shouldn’t just put the badge on their booking page. They should be writing blog posts on *what makes* the tour award-winning, running social ads that specifically call out the award, and putting it in their email newsletter. We often have clients build out dedicated landing pages for their awards, packed with testimonials and media clips, which become powerhouse assets for ad campaigns. In fact, a HubSpot Research study found that landing pages with verifiable third-party endorsements converted at a much higher rate than pages without them. The badge itself is just the beginning. Telling the story behind it, over and over, is what generates real value.

Myth 3: Awards Only Benefit Large Businesses or Destinations

Another myth is that “Best Of” awards are reserved for big-name players with huge marketing budgets, shutting out smaller businesses. That’s a complete misunderstanding of how this works. While a major destination like Savannah itself might grab a broad “Best City” award, there are countless award categories out there for every niche imaginable, creating opportunities for businesses of any size. What about that small, independent art gallery in the Starland District or a family-run restaurant near Forsyth Park? These businesses can absolutely compete for and win awards like “Best Local Art Gallery,” “Top Emerging Chef,” or “Most Unique Dining Experience” from local magazines, regional guides, or even niche travel blogs. For their target audience, these smaller awards can be even more powerful. A “Best Brunch Spot” award from Savannah Magazine (savannahmagazine.com) carries enormous weight with locals and tourists looking for exactly that, and it drives reservations right to their door. Many of these programs are also based on public votes, which levels the playing field. Community engagement and an incredible customer experience often outweigh a massive marketing spend. We always tell our smaller clients to get their loyal customers to submit nominations, it’s the most direct way to turn happy customers into a tangible, marketing-ready award.

Myth 4: You Can’t Measure the ROI of Award Recognition

The myth that you can’t measure the ROI of an award is what keeps people thinking they’re just for vanity. It’s false. With modern analytics, attributing real business value to an award win is completely doable, it just requires a deliberate tracking plan. Without tracking, a business can’t justify the effort and is just guessing at the impact. To measure the ROI, you have to track key metrics before, during, and after an award is announced and promoted. This means watching for spikes in website traffic to pages that feature the award, analyzing direct bookings, and keeping an eye on social media engagement and media mentions. We always recommend setting up dedicated tracking URLs with UTM parameters for any promotion related to the award. For example, if you’re promoting a “Best Historic Inn” award, all your links should contain a parameter that flags the award as the traffic source. This granular data lets a marketing team see exactly how many people arrived from award-specific content, how long they stayed on the site, and how many of them actually converted. Beyond direct sales, you have to account for the earned media value. A single positive story in a major travel publication, prompted by your award win, can be worth thousands of dollars in free advertising. Tools like Google Analytics 4 (support.google.com/analytics/answer/9744165) and various social listening platforms give you all the data you need for this. Connecting these data points gives you a clear financial argument for how that award drove revenue, turning anecdotes into hard numbers.

Myth 5: Award Recognition is a One-Time Event

Too many businesses get an award, celebrate for a minute, send out a press release, and then go back to normal. This completely overlooks the long-term value you can get from that recognition. An award isn’t a trophy you put on a shelf. It’s a marketing asset you can use again and again. This “one-and-done” approach misses so many chances to reinforce your brand. For instance, a Savannah restaurant that won “Best New Restaurant” in 2024 should still be talking about it in 2026. They can work it into their “About Us” story, mention it in anniversary promotions, or use it when they launch a new dish (“From the award-winning kitchen of Savannah’s Best New Restaurant…”). An award’s impact lasts as long as you keep integrating it into your marketing. It acts as a permanent trust badge you can point to forever. We have our clients build an “Awards” page on their website that they constantly update, and we make sure they reference past wins in current campaigns. It demonstrates a history of excellence and cements the brand’s position as a leader, which helps attract both new customers and top talent.

Myth 6: You Can’t Influence Award Outcomes

There’s a cynical belief that award outcomes are random or fixed, so there’s no point in trying to influence them. This thinking leads businesses to just sit back and hope, instead of actively working to get recognized. While judges or voters make the final call, you can absolutely take steps to dramatically improve your odds. Influence is simply strategic engagement. You’re showing your excellence, not rigging the game. You should be researching relevant awards, learning their criteria, and paying attention to deadlines. Many applications require a strong narrative and supporting proof. This means you need to be collecting your best customer testimonials, tracking performance data, and being able to explain what makes you unique. A historic bed and breakfast in Savannah gunning for a “Best Historic Accommodation” award, for instance, should be compiling guest reviews that mention the history, highlighting specific architectural details, and documenting their preservation efforts. And for public-vote awards, encouraging your happy customers to nominate and vote for you is a perfectly legitimate and smart strategy. It’s just mobilizing your fan base. We often walk clients through the entire submission process, helping them build a case that plays to their strengths and matches what the judges are looking for. It takes work, but the payoff in credibility and visibility is huge.