Green Flag Digital created and promoted 26 travel content campaigns for Reservations.com over 12 months, earning 275+ link placements. The work ranged from an illustrated world map and original surveys to a seasonal Irish coffee dream job.
Reservations.com wanted to earn relevant links and compete for attention in a market led by much larger travel brands. We handled the research, writing, design and outreach, building stories that travel editors, local newsrooms and specialist publications could use.
The results at a glance
| Campaigns | 26 published over a 12-month program |
| Placements | 275+ historical link placements |
| Top campaign | 46 placements for the Irish coffee dream job |
| Formats | Original surveys, illustrated maps, rankings and seasonal campaigns |
Our campaign tracker records 280 placements across the 26 campaigns, supporting the 275+ result reported in this case study. These are historical placement counts; they do not represent links still live today. The original case study also reported blog growth from nearly zero to roughly 5,000 monthly visits during the program.
Joe and the Green Flag team have greatly exceeded our expectations since day one. They have been as attentive and responsive as any agency we have worked with. The content produced has been extremely well done and consistent throughout our engagement.
Peter Lizza, Strategy + Operations, Reservations.com
The campaign work and the coverage it earned
The Reservations.com blog is currently unavailable. We have preserved campaign visuals here and linked to surviving coverage and archived campaign pages. Select an image to inspect it at full size. Long infographics are shown as cropped previews.
Around the World in Perfect Weather
We turned weather research into a year-long travel itinerary, mapping a route through 52 destinations with comfortable temperatures. The illustrated world map made an ambitious trip easy to grasp, with regional maps for readers who wanted to explore individual legs.
- Matched destinations and travel dates to a target temperature range of 70–75°F (21–24°C).
- Created a world map and regional graphics that publishers could reproduce and discuss.
- Earned 26 tracked placements; SAS even built its own interactive version inspired by the campaign.
Selected coverage: Lonely Planet · Matador Network · SAS
Dream Job: Irish coffee taster in NYC
We built a seasonal dream job campaign around a simple offer: get paid to visit New York City and review its Irish coffees. The application page gave travel, food and Irish-interest publications a timely story to share before the holidays.
- The offer combined a $500 food-and-drink allowance with a $1,500 travel and writing stipend.
- The selected applicant would visit eight bars and restaurants and write a review of each experience.
- The tracker recorded 46 placements, the highest total in the program.
Selected coverage: Newsweek · IrishCentral · The Irish Post
Facial Recognition in Airports
As airports expanded facial recognition, we ran an original survey to find out how travelers felt about it. We published the findings with charts and an explainer, giving technology and government reporters a fresh source for an ongoing news story.
- Surveyed 1,001 U.S. adult internet users through Google Surveys in May 2019.
- Found 42.6% approval, 32.5% disapproval and 24.8% neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
- Recorded 15 placements, including Nextgov reporting with commentary from Joe Robison and a contributed article in Biometric Update.
Selected coverage: Nextgov · Biometric Update (contributed article)
Hallmark Christmas Towns Index
We built a seasonal ranking of small towns that captured the feel of a Hallmark Christmas movie. Each town had its own story and ranking, giving local newspapers, tourism organizations and city websites a reason to share the results.
- Ranked 25 towns using factors including scenery, friendliness, walkability, Christmas activities and small businesses.
- Paired the index with illustrated graphics and destination writeups.
- Earned 16 tracked placements, including coverage on Columbiana’s official city website.
Selected coverage: Williamsburg Yorktown Daily · City of Columbiana · Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce
Think Weeks
We connected travel with a subject that business readers already cared about: finding time to think. An illustrated guide to Bill Gates’s “Think Week” retreat gave Reservations.com a story for productivity, leadership and HR publications.
- Explained the retreat format and how readers could plan their own time away.
- Combined research, practical guidance and a shareable infographic.
- Recorded 14 placements, extending the campaign’s reach into business and workplace publications.
Selected coverage: Inc. · Human Resources Online · Infographic Journal
9 Surprising Literal Names of U.S. Cities
Our first published campaign turned the meanings behind city names into a series of illustrations. The visual treatment gave a familiar travel topic a distinctive hook that infographic publishers could share.
The tracker dates the launch to April 21, 2019 and records seven placements. Infographic Journal featured the work two days later and still hosts the complete Reservations.com-branded graphic.
Surviving coverage: Infographic Journal
The campaigns that earned the most links
The spread is the lesson. The top two campaigns earned 72 placements between them, while several others earned three to five. That variation is why we plan a program of campaigns rather than rely on one big bet.
How the 12 months unfolded
| March 2019 | A three-month pilot is agreed and kicks off |
| April 21, 2019 | The first campaign goes live, on the literal meanings of U.S. city names |
| July 2019 | The “Around the World in Perfect Weather” map campaign launches; travel-publication coverage follows |
| August 2019 | The program is renewed and expanded to two standard and two premium campaigns a month |
| November 2019 | A dream job campaign for an Irish coffee taster in New York earns 46 links, the most of any campaign |
| January 2020 | The program is extended for another year |
| March to April 2020 | Work pauses when COVID-19 stops travel |
Tools and data sources
We ran the original surveys (airport facial recognition, holiday travel and coronavirus travel plans) through Google Surveys. Outreach was tracked in BuzzStream, link value was judged with Ahrefs, and the campaign pipeline ran in Airtable and Asana. Infographic design was produced with Milkwhale.
Questions about the campaign results
The figure records placements earned during the engagement. Publisher pages, links and client websites can change over time. The campaign examples above pair preserved creative with surviving coverage so you can inspect the work.
The program included reported news coverage, reproduced infographics, local tourism and city website mentions, and contributed articles. Contributed pieces are identified in the coverage links above.
The engagement aimed to strengthen Reservations.com’s authority through relevant content and links. This case study documents campaign placements and reported blog traffic growth; it does not establish an increase in bookings or isolate changes in hotel-page rankings.
Give publishers a travel story worth covering
The work above began with a story an editor could use: a new survey result, a visual itinerary or a timely travel offer. If you want to build a similar program, explore our link building services or travel SEO services, then tell us about your audience and goals.
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