Are High-Ticket Marketing Courses Worth It?
Dear Dawn,
I keep getting ads for high-ticket marketing courses claiming they can help me “attract dream customers,” and “scale to six figures with ease.”
They say they’re proven systems, but none of it feels grounded in the reality of running a hospitality business.
I’m juggling bookings, staff shortages, overheads, and review responses.
I don’t have time or budget to waste on a course that won’t directly help me increase occupancy or improve my profit margins.
How can I tell which of these courses (if any) are worth the money?
A Cautionary Guide for Hospitality Business Owners
A lot of these courses don’t teach real marketing. They teach you how to sell the course you’re about to buy.
Watch for phrases like:
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“Book out your business on autopilot”
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“My proven customer attraction system works for any niche”
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“Steal my exact script to convert lookers into bookers”
These aren’t strategies. They’re dream-selling hooks. And the top success stories? Often, people reselling the exact same course.
That creates a loop where nothing actually helps you solve real-world hospitality problems, like midweek slumps, group booking conversion, or high-cost channel dependence.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
🚨 “I made £100K in 30 days. You can too.”
That’s a pitch, not a plan. Real growth takes time, testing, and context. Credible case studies include the path, not just the outcome.
🚨 “Act now. This offer disappears forever.”
False urgency feeds fear of missing out, not evidence of quality. If it truly delivered results, it wouldn’t rely on pressure tactics.
🚨 “Works for every industry.”
Hospitality is not ecommerce. You deal with perishability, physical service, and guest emotions. One-size-fits-all systems rarely fit.
🚨 All testimonials come from resellers.
If the only success stories are people making money by selling the course itself, that’s not business strategy. It’s multilevel marketing in disguise.
How to Evaluate a Course Before You Buy
Real hospitality marketing courses cover things like:
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positioning in a crowded market
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OTA channel strategy
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menu and design psychology
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localised campaign structures
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guest experience strategies
If the focus is funnels and lead magnets with no operational grounding, it’s not made for you.
Are they affiliated with the Chartered Institute of Marketing or the Institute of Hospitality? These markers show alignment with industry standards.
Look them up on LinkedIn. Check if their posts speak to hospitality-specific challenges, like occupancy, guest expectations, or platform shifts. See if their tone and content stay consistent across channels.
Search the course and creator using these prompts:
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“[Course name] reviews site:reddit.com”
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“Is [Instructor name] course legit or scam?”
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Paste snippets into AI detection tools to check if testimonials are bot-written.
Also scan affiliate-heavy blogs. If every review ends with a discount code, the praise may be paid for.
