Marketing Manager for Luxury Vacation Rental — SEO, Google Ads, Guest CRM, AI Visibility

About the Property Saguaro Sanctuary (saguarosanctuary.com) is a luxury private wellness retreat in Cave Creek, Arizona — pool, spa, sauna, fire pit, mountain views. Nightly rate $800-1,200+. Every guest has left a 5-star review. The product is exceptional. Current state — where we are now: 99% of bookings come from Airbnb. Almost zero direct discovery. Website exists but generates no organic traffic or bookings. No blog content, no email list, no active ad campaigns, no social media driving bookings. We subscribe to Passionfruit Labs for AI search visibility tracking. Current stats: 11.6% AI Share of Voice, #11 industry rank, only 2 unique AI citations. We've identified 1,295+ high-intent AI search queries where competitors appear but we don't — this is the biggest untapped opportunity. Summer (June-August) is our slow season. Cave Creek is hot, Scottsdale gets the traffic. We need both immediate bookings and long-term positioning. Goal — where we need to be: 10-20% direct bookings by end of year (from current 0%) 1-5 extra bookings per month from marketing efforts Top 5 AI industry rank (from current #11) A self-sustaining marketing system that runs without the owner spending more than 2 hours per month on it The Role You will own the entire marketing operation for this property end-to-end. This is not task-by-task work — you are the marketing manager. I set the budget, you run the show and report results. What you own: SEO blog content (highest priority). Write and publish 2-4 blog posts per month targeting specific AI search gap queries we've identified. Examples: "Best Wellness-Themed Airbnbs in North Phoenix and Cave Creek," "Desert Airbnb with Massage, Sauna & Spa Near Cave Creek," "Best Private Retreats for Friend Groups in Arizona." Goal: increase AI citations from 2 to 10+ and capture 1,295+ queries where we're currently invisible. Posts should be 800-1,200 words, SEO-optimized, human-written. Google Ads management. Set up and manage a $250-300/month Google Ads campaign targeting high-intent booking keywords (luxury airbnb scottsdale, private wellness retreat arizona, group rental cave creek, etc.). Monitor, optimize, report weekly on spend/clicks/conversions. Guest CRM and email marketing. Build and manage a simple past-guest CRM. I'll provide guest contact info from past bookings. You manage: thank-you emails, review requests, return-stay discount offers (10% direct booking discount), referral program tracking (guest refers friend → both get 10%). Set up automated sequences so this runs itself after initial build. Directory and listicle submissions. Submit Saguaro Sanctuary to travel directories, "best of" roundups, wellness retreat lists, travel blogs — anything that creates backlinks and AI citations. Goal: increase unique citations from 2 to 10+. AI search visibility tracking. You'll have access to our Passionfruit Labs dashboard. Monitor Share of Voice, Citation count, and Industry Rank weekly. Your blog content strategy should be directly informed by the gap queries Passionfruit identifies — we know exactly which searches we're missing. Make us show up. Weekly report. Every Friday, a short update (5 lines max): Google Ads: spend, clicks, inquiries/bookings this week Content: what was published, what's in progress Passionfruit: Share of Voice %, rank, citations (any changes) Guest CRM: emails sent, referrals tracked, any direct bookings What you're working on next week What I do (and don't do): I provide the budget, past guest data, website access, Passionfruit access, and Google Ads account I approve the first round of blog posts and ad copy, then you run independently I check Passionfruit weekly (2 min) and read your Friday report I am NOT involved in day-to-day execution. You own this. I spend a maximum of 2 hours per month on marketing oversight. Budget: Total marketing budget is $500/month. This covers everything — your compensation, ad spend, and tools. How it's roughly split: Your pay: $150/month (based on hours + performance) Google Ads: $250-300/month Tools: covered (Passionfruit already subscribed, Mailchimp free tier for email) Performance bonus: $100 per direct booking that comes through a marketing channel you manage (trackable via website inquiry form, referral code, or "how did you find us" question). This is on top of your base pay and comes from the booking revenue, not the $500 budget. Milestone targets: Timeframe Target Month 1 Google Ads live. 2 blog posts published targeting gap queries. Past guest email sequence set up. Passionfruit baseline recorded. Month 3 6+ blog posts live. AI citations from 2 → 5+. Share of Voice trending up. At least 1 direct booking from marketing. Google Ads CPC optimized. Month 6 12+ blog posts. AI Industry Rank top 8 (from #11). Steady 1-2 direct bookings/month. Referral program generating leads. End of Year Top 5 AI rank. 10-20% direct booking mix. Organic flywheel self-sustaining. What won't work: You don't need to manage Instagram or social media (we don't have local photo/video content to post regularly) You don't need to be physically in Arizona You don't create strategy from scratch — the data and direction are clear. You execute, optimize, and report. To apply — read this carefully: An AI-generated cover letter will be immediately rejected. I've read hundreds of them and can spot them instantly. Don't waste your time or mine. Instead, answer these four questions with real, specific answers: Show me results. Have you managed marketing for a vacation rental, hotel, Airbnb, or hospitality property? What did you do, what was the budget, and what were the measurable results? I want specific numbers — clicks, bookings, revenue generated, rankings improved. If you haven't worked in hospitality, tell me about your closest relevant experience with the same level of specificity. Show me your writing. Link to a blog post you wrote that ranks for a target keyword. If you don't have one, write me a 200-word opening for a blog post titled "Best Private Wellness Retreats Near Scottsdale for Groups" — right now, in your application. AI search visibility. Do you know what AI Share of Voice means for travel properties? Have you worked with tools like Passionfruit Labs, Profound, or similar? If yes, what was your approach? If no, what's your understanding of how AI models decide which properties to recommend? Availability and rate. What hours can you work? What's your hourly rate? Are you comfortable with a $150/month base + $100 per direct booking performance bonus structure? Only candidates who answer all four questions with real examples backed by numbers will be considered.