20 Questions With Katrina Weick, Director, Marketing and Digital Strategy, Aimbridge Hospitality
Katrina Weick is director of marketing and digital strategy for Aimbridge Hospitality. She’s also a Women Leading Travel & Hospitality member! In this member spotlight, we asked Katrina a series of questions about both her professional role and personal life, including the woman who inspires her, her leadership style, her advice for the next generation of female leaders, and much more.
- What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
“Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara - What do you love most about the travel and hospitality industry?
I love the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry. Since my initial exposure to the industry during my college internship, I’ve witnessed continuous evolution across various aspects of the field. It cultivates an environment of ever-learning, which I enjoy. - What is something the community may be surprised to learn about you?
One of my jobs, put very simply, was to sell the same type of rope/paracord under multiple brands on e-commerce sites. It did provide me with a lot of transferable knowledge and confirmed for me that I love digital marketing and analytics. - What’s the toughest part of being in charge?
The toughest part about being a leader on a team is having to change the way you think about your day to day. From really focusing on you and your tasks/responsibilities to focusing on bigger picture aspects of the team. You’re not only responsible for you; you’re responsible for the development and support of others as well. - What personal skill or attribute do you believe is most responsible for your success?
I think a willingness to admit when I’ve done something wrong/taking accountability for my work is one thing that is most responsible for my success. Being able to say, “I messed up” or “I was wrong and here is how I plan to move forward” takes a hit to the ego, but it’s important to be humble in a field where it’s impossible to know everything. Everyone messes up; you just need to be solution-based and take accountability for yourself. - What woman inspires you right now and why?
My prior vice president, Anna Paccone, has always inspired me. She taught me to be confident in my skills, to ask questions, continue learning, and stand firm in my opinions on what I believe is right. I very much take a “WWAD” approach to many tough encounters and situations in my work to make sure I’m being true to what I know, make quick decisions that I’m confident in, and humbling myself if support is needed. She’s a rockstar and I feel so grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work with her for many years. - What is one industry trend you’re closely tracking and why?
Definitely artificial intelligence. It’s so interesting to see its evolution and how different companies/brands are leaning into it. You can see that it isn’t perfect, but I certainly commend those leaning in where they can to test it out. Between being able to create “temporary” images based on specific queries or taking reviews and coming up with a scoring methodology for search and sort in an OTA, it really has been showing up in many different areas. - What is one thing you look for when interviewing a job candidate?
Grit. I’m always looking for someone who is willing to put in the work to get where they want to go. - What’s something that you learned about yourself in the past year?
The importance of being able to evolve. Our team has changed, shrunk, grown, advanced, and opened new conversations with the greater Aimbridge team, and change is not easy. However, you need to be able to flow with the evolution of the work and industry you’re in. You can stand firm in what you believe is the right way to do things, but also you need to be open to compromise and what is best for the greater team. I spent a lot of time asking myself, if I’m doing something differently, how will that change benefit my owners and hotels — regardless of if it feels like an uncomfortable change for me. That helped me keep focus on the greater reason for the evolution of changes we went through in 2024. - What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Keep your positivity bank positive. Another way to say the small stuff matters. Keeping a positive relationship with your client (in whatever capacity that is) will help when those inevitable oversights/mistakes/misses come up. Letting them get to know your true character will help when things come up that take away from your positivity bank; it won’t put your relationship at risk. They will understand your true character based on how you’ve built up your relationship throughout your time with them. - What values are most important to you as a leader?
Transparency, empowerment and development, and creating a culture of curiosity - What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
I’m always going to ask the annoying/tough questions. It’s part of my nature to want to understand the whole picture, the why and the thought process behind something. Even if the questions aren’t fun to ask, I’m always going to ask. - Do you prefer to work in the office, at home, or hybrid? Why?
I love working in the office. I love being able to walk over to someone and figure out a problem, get an answer quickly, have my own space to focus on work and leaving my home life to be home. - Where is your favorite place you’ve traveled to? Why?
Costa Rica. The landscape is so diverse — rain forest, ocean, mountains, farms — and I’ve never met nicer people in my travels. - What is the top item on your bucket list?
The top item on my bucket list right now is Germany during Oktoberfest. - What do you do to recharge?
I disconnect. I like to silence emails and texts to only focus on family/friends and the day or moment at hand. It really helps me reset my mental health. - What is your biggest accomplishment?
Developing an onboarding process for our team. Being able to recognize the gaps in onboarding a new team member at any level and come up with solutions to present to my leadership and help lead development of onboarding has been a huge resource library/support for people on our team throughout the years. - What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?
Be disruptive. Shake things up. Don’t be afraid to fail — many times — to get where you’re going. Believe in yourself and be proud of your accomplishments. - What gets you up in the morning?
The excitement of the unknown. Letting the day unfold and present its own set of challenges and successes. It’s kind of exciting not knowing what it will bring, no? - What do you like most about being a member of Women Leading Travel & Hospitality?
The opportunity to connect with other women in the industry is a great part of Women Leading Travel & Hospitality. You can find members in your own backyard, where you maybe didn’t expect it, and create new relationships with those women. I love it!
Interested in connecting with women like Katrina? Apply today to become a Women Leading Travel & Hospitality member!
