By many accounts, boutique hotel booking platform Mr & Mrs Smith has had an interesting year: In April, it announced its step into the experiences space with the acquisition of UK-based tours and activities company, SideStory and then, it announced plans to raise funds, albeit in an unconventional manner – a crowdfunding campaign, opening up investment opportunities to the public in September.

After that, Mr & Mrs Smith went back to its roots as a printed travel guide with the release of its coffee table book, World’s Sexiest Bedrooms, on bookstore shelves now.

Between the book’s pages lies a Mr & Mrs Smith voucher for £25 off their next booking, with five ‘golden tickets’ worth £1000. “I hope that everyone gets this as a Christmas present and then by January, they’ll start planning their trips… if you book with us, then the cost of the book is free,” said CEO and co-founder James Lohan.

“As much as we all love social media, I just felt we should do something we could touch and feel again… and I’ve found that [people] tend to respond better. It gives another level of connection,” said Lohan. “We’ve become so digital as a business, worrying about the UX, UI, all this backend stuff… it’s very hard to be individual in that way.”

The decision to create a book is also Mr & Mrs Smith’s way to paying tribute to its origins as a traditional travel guidebook, tipping its hat to the beauty of print publishing and its staunch belief in the power of storytelling.

“If you have been around long enough, you’re going to come back into vogue… whether it’s clothing or books, there’s always a slight tweak on design but it’s hard to reinvent the wheel.”

While book sales are a slower, more traditional way to reach new customers, Lohan emphasised that it is just one channel through which the company is building awareness of its brand.

Mr & Mrs Smith still employs social media and influencer marketing to develop its outreach, though Lohan asserts that it is “pretty cut-throat” about those it chooses to affiliate with.

“The influencers have got to be credible… we tend to work with influencers where we genuinely respect their points of view or the businesses they run… We’re looking for people who are doing other interesting things beyond their Instagram account. It really isn’t about [the number of their followers].”

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