Storytelling for Caribbean hotels, beyond the cliché.
Sun. Sand. Sea.
That's the story the world already knows, and it's the story most Caribbean hotels keep telling.
It's not wrong. It's just not enough.
The Caribbean is one of the warmest, most vibrant places on earth, and that deserves to be seen. So does what makes each hotel, and the island it calls home, genuinely its own.
Rum & Roots Studio is a brand and content consultancy that helps boutique and luxury Caribbean hotels show there's more to their story.
Rooted in experience.
I was born and raised in Barbados, where my family has been for generations, and spent my childhood traveling throughout the Caribbean. I don't just adore this region; I know it, island by island.
I spent a decade in brand marketing, first in entertainment at Sony Pictures in Los Angeles and New York City, then in Caribbean and LATAM luxury hospitality at Ennismore, the group behind brands like SLS and Our Habitas.
Four years ago, I launched my own Caribbean travel advising company, Rum & Roots Travel. That means I hear, directly and constantly, not just what makes a guest choose a hotel, but what they can't stop raving about once they've stayed, and exactly why they book their return.
That combination—real Caribbean roots, real marketing experience, and a live feed of what travelers genuinely love—is why I built the following approach, and why I believe I'm positioned to help hotels move beyond S³ and show what actually makes them worth choosing.
—Taylor Edghill
These four ideas guide everything we do:
Reflection
When one story is all that's ever told, it rarely shows a prospective guest whether a hotel is actually the one for them. Hotels should show what it's actually like to stay there as that traveler: a family, honeymooner, a group of friends, not a generic guest.
Rhythm
A lot of hotel content chases glossy, polished photos and drone shots, and stops there. But travelers are craving something else, a real sense of what it's like to be there. The feeling of a place, its music, its pace, its texture, is what actually brings a hotel to life.
Rapport
What guests can't stop talking about is rarely the beach or even their rooms. It's the profound level of hospitality they received, from the soul of the hotel team to the warmth of the island's people.
Roam
Bucketed together as one region, few realise how different every island actually is. The destination starts the dream. The hotel delivers it. Both deserve their place in the story.
What we do
Brand & culture strategy
We help hotels build a brand identity, voice and positioning that speaks to international travellers while staying authentically Caribbean, and true to the hotel's own personality.
Content strategy
We strategise the digital and social content that creates the perfect balance for a hotel. Yes, we still show its beauty, its rooms, its access to sun, sand and sea. But we balance that with what makes it more than that: its rhythm, its personality, its team, its warmth. A blend of both, without sacrificing either.
Guest experience strategy
Beyond digital, we help hotels bring their brand to life across physical guest touchpoints, from welcome rituals and signature scents to in-room details. We help hotels craft the moments that could only happen there, not the version every property on the island already does.
Content creation & direction
Hands-on filming and direction, on-site. As a Caribbean-first company, we work with photographers, videographers and creatives from the region. That's not just a preference, it's strategic: their intimate understanding of this region is exactly what brings out the personality we're striving to capture.
Communications & press
Through partnership with a specialist communications agency, we extend into community building and press office work, connecting hotels with tastemakers, creators and media relationships.
In action
Cobblers Cove is one of my most booked hotels in Barbados. One of my clients, who stayed at the property in 2024, told me something that stuck with me: Cobblers Cove is Key West retro meets Caribbean whimsical. I mentioned this to Sam, the owner, at a local event at the end of 2024, and she loved it, asking if I had any thoughts on how we could bring that vibe to life through social content.
I worked with her and her creative team to pair old-school Caribbean music with soft, vintage-feeling footage of the patterns and prints she'd developed with local artists. Separately, we built content around another theme I kept hearing from clients: that Cobblers Cove has one of the most wholesome hotel teams they've ever come across. We let that warmth lead, including dancing housekeepers and a resident parrot with his own drink order.
Cobblers Cove
Destination: Barbados
I was connected to Coulibri Ridge's GM in early 2025. At the time, their social content was mostly user-generated but off-brand, featuring bright visuals and trending pop music, when the property itself is darker tones of blue and green, with the sound of nature as the dominant soundtrack. It also didn't show off the property's stunning stone architecture set against dense rainforest, or the sustainability values so central to who they are. I had clients about to elope on property, and asked if they'd be the faces of a proper shoot.
Coulibri is a place to exhale, so the content needed to reflect that: simple, unhurried, total immersion in nature, the sound of the rainforest carrying it all, alongside drone footage that shows just how remarkable the property is. The team is warm, humble, and genuinely connected to nature, especially Damien, their chef, who lights up talking about their farm-and-sea-to-table ingredients. And since Dominica isn't the first island people think of in the Caribbean, it was never a question of whether Coulibri was beautiful, it was people not knowing what else Dominica had to offer. So we built content that educates too.
Coulibri Ridge
Destination: Dominica
I was connected to Kimberly and Stephanie, the owners, through the owners of Planteray Rum, who'd hosted a cocktail party at the hotel for their new coconut rum (Boardwalk used to be a coconut plantation). Fun fact: my family farm in Barbados happens to supply the coconuts for said rum. Gotta love small island connections!
We got on a call that turned into an hour of us laughing our heads off. They mentioned they wanted more humorous social content; they'd been trying, but it wasn't quite landing. They asked, half-joking, if I'd be their humour consultant. I didn't take it as a joke. I said yes!
Boardwalk's content game was already elite, and still is. My job was simply to help sharpen the humour through simple, but effective, content. Oh, and I got some clients in for a couple fun shoots too.
Boardwalk Boutique Hotel
Destination: Aruba
The team at Golden Rock recruited me to help facilitate a content partnership with a Barbadian stylist I know well, who'd just launched a new venture leading group trips across the Caribbean for style influencers, timed around the Nevis Mango Festival. The focus wasn't just the hotel, it was the island itself. Nevis is quiet and peaceful, smaller in population and tourism than most of its neighbours, and Golden Rock sits right at the heart of that atmosphere. We built the visuals around the rich orange tones of a mango, letting that colour anchor the cinematography throughout.
Golden Rock Inn
Destination: Nevis
Cobblers Cove is one of my most booked hotels in Barbados. One of my clients, who stayed at the property in 2024, told me something that stuck with me: Cobblers Cove is Key West retro meets Caribbean whimsical. I mentioned this to Sam, the owner, at a local event at the end of 2024, and she loved it, asking if I had any thoughts on how we could bring that vibe to life through social content.
I worked with her and her creative team to pair old-school Caribbean music with soft, vintage-feeling footage of the patterns and prints she'd developed with local artists. Separately, we built content around another theme I kept hearing from clients: that Cobblers Cove has one of the most wholesome hotel teams they've ever come across. We let that warmth lead, including dancing housekeepers and a resident parrot with his own drink order.
In action
Cobblers Cove
Destination: Barbados
I was connected to Coulibri Ridge's GM in early 2025. At the time, their social content was mostly user-generated but off-brand, featuring bright visuals and trending pop music, when the property itself is darker tones of blue and green, with the sound of nature as the dominant soundtrack. It also didn't show off the property's stunning stone architecture set against dense rainforest, or the sustainability values so central to who they are. I had clients about to elope on property, and asked if they'd be the faces of a proper shoot.
Coulibri is a place to exhale, so the content needed to reflect that: simple, unhurried, total immersion in nature, the sound of the rainforest carrying it all, alongside drone footage that shows just how remarkable the property is. The team is warm, humble, and genuinely connected to nature, especially Damien, their chef, who lights up talking about their farm-and-sea-to-table ingredients. And since Dominica isn't the first island people think of in the Caribbean, it was never a question of whether Coulibri was beautiful, it was people not knowing what else Dominica had to offer. So we built content that educates too.
In action
Coulibri Ridge
Destination: Dominica
I was connected to Kimberly and Stephanie, the owners, through the owners of Planteray Rum, who'd hosted a cocktail party at the hotel for their new coconut rum (Boardwalk used to be a coconut plantation). Fun fact: my family farm in Barbados happens to supply the coconuts for said rum. Gotta love small island connections!
We got on a call that turned into an hour of us laughing our heads off. They mentioned they wanted more humorous social content; they'd been trying, but it wasn't quite landing. They asked, half-joking, if I'd be their humour consultant. I didn't take it as a joke. I said yes!
Boardwalk's content game was already elite, and still is. My job was simply to help sharpen the humour through simple, but effective, content. Oh, and I got some clients in for a couple fun shoots too.
In action
Boardwalk Boutique Hotel
Destination: Aruba
The team at Golden Rock recruited me to help facilitate a content partnership with a Barbadian stylist I know well, who'd just launched a new venture leading group trips across the Caribbean for style influencers, timed around the Nevis Mango Festival. The focus wasn't just the hotel, it was the island itself. Nevis is quiet and peaceful, smaller in population and tourism than most of its neighbours, and Golden Rock sits right at the heart of that atmosphere. We built the visuals around the rich orange tones of a mango, letting that colour anchor the cinematography throughout.
Golden Rock Inn
In action
Golden Rock Inn
Destination: Nevis
