Digital Content & SEO Specialist

Digital Content & SEO Specialist

Bartell Hotels is San Diego's largest independent hotel owner-operator with a sharp focus on employees, customers, and community. This diverse collection of properties reflects Southern California's natural beauty, love for active lifestyles, and exceptional hospitality. Our hotels combine classic and modern design, farm-to-table restaurants and energized bars, three beautiful marinas, and the iconic Humphreys Concerts by the Bay entertainment venue.

At Bartell Hotels, you will find a team of incredibly friendly people who are committed to exceeding guest expectations every day. The Bartell Hotels culture emphasizes respect, pride, teamwork, and development. When you work at Bartell Hotels, you are encouraged to think entrepreneurially and empowered to perform and show leadership in ways that can help advance your career. Bartell Hotels embraces colleague diversity, inclusion, and equity, and is firmly committed to respecting and appreciating each colleague.

Bartell Hotels is an equal opportunity employer.

Are you ready to take the next step in your career? Bartell Hotels is currently looking for a talented and creative Digital Content & SEO Specialist who shares our passion for excellence and is excited to help shape the future of hospitality marketing.

Bartell Hotels is seeking a creative, organized, and digitally savvy Digital Content & SEO Specialist to support content marketing, organic social media, website storytelling, and search visibility initiatives across a portfolio of San Diego hotels.

This role will help create engaging digital content designed to strengthen brand visibility, support direct bookings, improve organic search performance, and enhance discoverability across evolving digital channels, including AI-driven search experiences.

The ideal candidate is passionate about hospitality, digital marketing, content creation, and social media, with an understanding of SEO best practices and modern digital storytelling.

This role works closely with the Digital Director and commercial team to support both independent and branded hotels across the Bartell Hotels portfolio.

This is a remote position based in the San Diego area. While day-to-day work is performed remotely, the successful candidate will regularly visit hotel properties, attend team meetings, participate in content capture opportunities, and collaborate with hotel teams throughout the portfolio. The ideal candidate is highly self-motivated, organized, and capable of managing multiple projects and deadlines while working independently.

Essential Responsibilities

Content Marketing & Website Support

• Lead content strategy, planning, and development across hotel websites, landing pages, blogs, promotional campaigns, FAQs, destination content, and organic social channels
• Create engaging, conversion-focused, and guest-centric content that supports both brand storytelling and direct booking initiatives
• Develop content designed to showcase hotel experiences, local destinations, seasonal travel inspiration, and unique property differentiators
• Assist with ongoing website merchandising, homepage updates, promotional placements, and content refreshes to ensure websites remain current, engaging, and competitive
• Create content calendars that align website, blog, social media, and promotional campaign initiatives across the portfolio
• Collaborate with hotel operations, sales, and commercial teams to identify storytelling opportunities, local partnerships, events, and guest experiences that can be leveraged digitally
• Develop destination-focused content strategies that position Bartell Hotels properties as trusted resources for exploring San Diego neighborhoods, attractions, events, and local experiences
• Support the development of destination-focused content including travel guides, itineraries, neighborhood highlights, event-driven content, and experience-based storytelling
• Help ensure consistency in brand voice, messaging, and visual storytelling across all digital channels
• Coordinate and organize digital creative assets including photography, video, promotional graphics, and user-generated content
• Identify opportunities to repurpose content across multiple channels including websites, blogs, email marketing, social media, FAQs, Google Business Profiles, and AI-driven search experiences

SEO & Digital Discoverability

• Own and help lead organic search visibility initiatives across the hotel portfolio in partnership with external SEO agency partners
• Develop content strategies designed to improve discoverability across both traditional search engines and emerging AI-driven search experiences
• Create and optimize conversational content designed for generative search platforms and evolving guest search behaviors
• Develop FAQ content, travel guides, itinerary content, and experience-focused storytelling designed to improve topical authority and guest engagement
• Build content structures that align with conversational search patterns, long-tail guest intent, and evolving search behaviors
• Monitor search trends, guest search behavior, and emerging AI-search opportunities to identify new content initiatives
• Research and test emerging AI-search platforms, generative search experiences, and conversational discovery trends to identify opportunities for increased visibility and guest engagement
• Collaborate with agency partners on keyword strategy, on-page optimization opportunities, metadata recommendations, and organic search initiatives
• Help maintain and optimize Google Business Profile content and other local search visibility opportunities
• Support content optimization efforts including internal linking, metadata recommendations, content refreshes, and structured content development
• Work to improve local authority, destination relevance, and overall digital discoverability for both branded and independent hotels
• Position hotel websites as trusted resources for local experiences, travel planning, and guest inspiration
• Monitor and analyze content performance, organic search visibility, engagement metrics, and discoverability trends to identify opportunities for optimization and growth

Cross-Channel Collaboration

• Coordinate content across website, email, and social channels
• Support seasonal promotions and digital campaigns
• Assist with organizing photography, video, and digital creative assets
• Collaborate with CRM and digital marketing team members on campaign execution
• Manage multiple concurrent projects and deadlines across a portfolio of hotel brands while maintaining a high level of organization and attention to detail
• Work independently to prioritize workload, identify opportunities, and drive projects forward with minimal supervision
• Maintain strong communication and collaboration with remote team members, agency partners, and on-property hotel teams

Reporting & Administrative Support

• Assist with tracking content, social media, and SEO performance
• Pull and organize digital marketing reports
• Support project coordination and digital workflow management
• Maintain organized campaign and content documentation

Preferred Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in digital marketing, content marketing, SEO, or social media
• Hospitality, travel, lifestyle, tourism, or destination marketing experience preferred
• Strong writing, editing, and communication skills
• Familiarity with SEO fundamentals and website content optimization
• Familiarity with CMS website platforms and social media scheduling tools
• Highly organized with strong attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Self-motivated with the ability to work independently, prioritize competing deadlines, and consistently deliver high-quality work in a remote environment
• Strong communication and time management skills with a proactive approach to problem solving and project ownership
• Must be based in the San Diego area and able to regularly visit hotel properties for content development, meetings, and collaboration opportunities

Preferred Skills

• Basic knowledge of Google Analytics, Search Console, and SEO reporting tools
• Familiarity with AI tools and emerging digital marketing trends
• Experience with photography, video, or visual storytelling is a plus
• Understanding of local search, destination marketing, and hospitality marketing trends
• Canva or light creative editing experience preferred

What Success Looks Like

• Consistent and engaging digital content across channels
• Improved website content quality and organic visibility
• Increased discoverability across traditional search engines and AI-driven search experiences
• Strong destination storytelling that supports guest inspiration and direct bookings
• Well-organized content planning and execution across multiple hotel brands
• Strong collaboration across the commercial team and hotel operations teams
• Measurable growth in content engagement, organic visibility, and search performance
• Timely and detail-oriented project execution