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I’ve spent most of my life in Utah and explored just about every corner that our state has to offer. Even with all those trips and hikes and adventures, there was one experience I had never had the chance to enjoy despite hearing it mentioned by countless friends and family members as the highlight of their summer.

That experience is houseboating on Lake Powell.

Here’s the interesting part. Despite hearing people talk about it for decades, I’d never actually seen many photos of my friends actually enjoying these trips.

It seems odd in hindsight and maybe my scaling back of social media use is to blame, but this combination of knowing lots of people who loved an experience but having no idea what this experience looks like was out mindset when my uncle texted us and asked:

Would your family have any interest in joining us on the houseboat at Lake Powell for a week this summer?

We said yes, but we did so with the unfamiliar feeling of having no idea what to expect.

Angle A: Visual Marketing Matters

Now, as a marketer, the first place you might go is that the reason I hadn’t ever been to Lake Powell is exactly because I’d never seen photos. Word of mouth is powerful, but seeing the experience is critical. And that’s a fair, accurate take. Maybe if I’d realized how amazing it looked I might have acted on those recommendations earlier.

And we absolutely live in a world where people will do something solely for the photo they can take of themselves doing the activity (and then share with their friends). That’s real.

But there’s another angle here that I want us to consider.

Angle B: The Power of Surprise

The day of the houseboat trip finally arrived. We drove the 6 hours to Bullfrog Marina and arrived just as dark had covered the reservoir. Early the next morning we pulled out of the slip and pointed the boat toward a side canyon in hopes of finding a quiet spot to anchor for the next few days. Before we could even reach the canyon, my jaw was on the floor. Sheer red rock walls towered above one side of the lake, rolling sandstone formations formed the other shore. The sky was a brilliant blue.

The whole scene was beyond magical.

Then we entered the canyon and the awe factor went up another 10 notches. The following three days were spent with this as our view.

This combination of an amazing experience and surprise was hard to describe.

The only other time this happened in recent memory (at least in the context of travel) was when we visited Badlands National Park. I knew virtually nothing about the park, so driving for hours across grassy plains only to suddenly dropping down into these incredible spires and rock formations? It’s stands out in my brain in a way that other memories just…don’t. It’s deeper, more meaningful, more…I dunno…special.

That’s what happened at Lake Powell as well.

Surprise

Being surprised is rare these days, especially in travel. Think about the last destination you visited and how many photos and reviews and videos you’d browsed before you arrived. Those were likely a big part of why you booked a trip there in the first place, but they also left little to be surprised by during your experience.

But, as you ponder that question, you probably can remember a few moments of surprise during your trip. An unexpected view, something not on the map, a random restaurant you discover. Do those things hold a special place in your brain that the fully expected, planned, rehearsed parts don’t? Does more surprise have a place in resort marketing? Is it competing with visual marketing? Or can they act as compliments?

I’m not sure, but it’s an interesting concept to think on.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.