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The Island Was Hard to Reach. The Strategy Made It Worth the Journey.
How Ashley Steinmetz helped reposition a remote boutique hotel as an in-demand wellness destination for retreat leaders, groups and travelers from around the world.
Request a Growth ConversationA remote boutique hotel with a much bigger opportunity.
- Client
- Yemaya Island Hideaway & Spa
- Location
- Little Corn Island, Nicaragua
- Industry
- Boutique Hospitality + Wellness Tourism
- Engagement
- Approximately 18 months · Wellness Tourism, Retreat Development, Positioning + Growth Strategy
- Lead Strategist
- Ashley Steinmetz · Engagement completed through Perfect Wave Marketing, the agency Ashley founded before Coconut Creative
- The Objective
- Reposition Yemaya from a beautiful boutique hotel serving individual guests into an off-grid wellness destination capable of attracting retreat leaders, groups and wellness-seeking travelers from around the world.
- The Work
- On-site property immersion · Market positioning · Retreat product development · Guest and group strategy · Retreat-facing branding · Retreat Guide + marketing collateral · Messaging · Public relations · Targeted media strategy + creative · Team alignment
- The Impact
- A turnkey retreat sales and marketing platform · Global media visibility · Yoga Journal print + online placement · Qualified retreat-leader inquiries · A clear wellness market position · An enduring international reputation
Monthsfrom on-site immersion to a market-ready retreat offer
Part strategyspanning positioning, product, sales tools, media and team
Mile-long islandcar-free, and reached only by boat
A beautiful hotel is not automatically a retreat destination.
Yemaya had the raw ingredients of an extraordinary wellness property: oceanfront cabanas, an intimate scale, a spa, nourishing food, natural beauty, rich island culture and access to experiences guests could not find at a conventional resort.
What it did not yet have was a fully defined wellness product—or a market position strong enough to make retreat leaders and wellness travelers choose it over easier destinations.
The owners wanted to move beyond serving individual leisure guests and become known as the off-grid destination for wellness retreats and group experiences.
That shift required far more than new marketing language. The property, guest experience, packages, staffing, sales story and operations all needed to support the promise.
Paradise was 43 miles offshore—and several travel legs away.
Reaching Little Corn Island required commitment. Guests traveled by multiple planes before completing the final leg by panga, the small boat used to reach the mile-long, car-free island.
For an ordinary hotel, that distance could have been a liability. For the right wellness traveler, it could become part of the transformation.
The strategy was not to minimize the journey. It was to make the experience on the other side feel so rare, intentional and rewarding that the journey became part of the reason to go.
Yemaya did not need to become easier to reach. It needed to become worth the journey.
You cannot build a credible retreat strategy from behind a desk.
Ashley traveled to Little Corn Island with her team to experience the property as a guest, a retreat leader and a commercial advisor would.
The team evaluated the entire journey: the arrival experience, accommodations, restaurant, spa, grounds, island culture and available excursions—including snorkeling, exploring the island and swimming with sharks.
The goal was not simply to find attractive details for a campaign. It was to uncover what the property could credibly promise, where the guest experience needed to evolve and which elements could be shaped into a retreat offer people would cross borders and water to experience.
That on-site immersion revealed the true opportunity: Yemaya was not merely a place to stay. It could become the destination around which the entire retreat was built.
Not everyone was the customer—and that sharpened the opportunity.
Broad appeal was not the goal. Ashley saw that the long journey naturally filtered for guests who wanted what the island could offer better than more convenient destinations: genuine separation from ordinary life. No cars. No crowds. No easy way to remain half-connected to the world left behind.
For the right audience, the travel was not wasted time. It was a threshold. The farther guests moved from routine, the more completely they could enter the experience.
Ashley identified the travelers and retreat leaders most likely to value that distinction, then built the positioning around what they wanted most: privacy, natural beauty, restoration, adventure, connection and the feeling of discovering somewhere few people would ever reach on their own.
Build the retreat product first. Then build demand for it.
Define a Position No Comparable Property Could Easily Claim
Ashley established the property’s unique selling proposition around its rare combination of boutique luxury, true off-grid seclusion, Caribbean nature, island culture, wellness and adventure.
The positioning made Yemaya’s distance meaningful rather than inconvenient—and gave the property a category it could own.
Identify the Guests and Group Leaders Most Likely to Say Yes
Not every traveler would appreciate the journey, the island or the intimacy of the setting. That was precisely the point.
Ashley defined the wellness-seeking guests, retreat leaders and groups most aligned with the experience so Yemaya could stop trying to appeal broadly and become highly desirable to the people most likely to book, return and recommend it.
Turn the Property Into a Retreat-Ready Offer
Attracting groups required more than selling every cabana to one buyer. Ashley advised on the structure of retreat itineraries and packages, as well as the role of food, spa, accommodations, excursions and island experiences within the guest journey.
She also advised on staffing and the people needed to deliver the level of care, flexibility and wellness fluency the new market position required.
The result was a more coherent product: not simply rooms, meals and activities, but a complete setting for a meaningful group experience.
Create a Turnkey Retreat Sales and Marketing Toolkit
The property was not left with a strategy document and expected to build the pieces itself. Ashley translated the new position into a retreat-facing brand and a set of practical materials the team could immediately use to attract and convert group business.
This included a dedicated Retreat Guide created specifically for retreat leaders, along with supporting marketing collateral that presented Yemaya as a complete wellness destination—not simply a collection of rooms available for a full-property booking.
Replace Hotel Language With a Reason to Travel
Ashley changed the language across the website, email and digital presence so every touchpoint communicated the experience behind the property.
The message no longer relied on beautiful accommodations alone. It gave travelers an emotional reason to make the journey and gave retreat leaders a business case for trusting Yemaya with their communities.
Build Authority and Targeted Reach Through Media
A strategic public-relations effort introduced Yemaya and Little Corn Island to influential travel audiences and helped turn an unfamiliar property in a hard-to-reach destination into a place worth knowing.
Alongside earned media, Ashley developed the placement strategy and designed the creative for Yoga Journal in both print and online—putting Yemaya directly in front of yoga teachers, retreat leaders and wellness travelers already inclined toward the experience the property was building.
Align the People Responsible for Carrying the Position Forward
Ashley trained and advised the management team and outside marketing partners on the strategic direction so the new positioning would extend beyond a campaign.
Marketing, operations and the guest experience could now move toward the same goal: establishing Yemaya as a wellness destination for travelers and groups.
The Retreat Sales + Marketing Toolkit
The toolkit organized the property, experience and retreat opportunity into one clear sales story.
- A retreat-facing brandThe new position, translated into a look and voice built for group business.
- A dedicated Retreat GuideCreated specifically for retreat leaders.
- Supporting marketing collateralYemaya presented as a complete wellness destination.
- A consistent way to sellA polished way to conduct outreach, respond to inquiries and pursue retreat partnerships.
Leaders could picture their group at Yemaya.
Creative designed to reach yoga teachers, retreat leaders and wellness travelers.
Together, the earned coverage and targeted placements created more than awareness. They supplied the credibility an emerging destination needed, reached the right audience and gave prospective guests and retreat leaders compelling reasons to believe the journey would be worth it.
Changing the audience changes the operation.
Retreat leaders are not simply booking more room nights. They are placing their reputation, their community and the success of an entire experience in the property’s hands.
They need to know the accommodations, meal service, gathering spaces, schedules, staff, transfers, excursions and unexpected moments can work together for a group.
That is why a retreat pivot cannot begin and end with a new webpage. The offer must be thoughtfully designed, operationally deliverable and commercially compelling before promotion can create sustainable demand.
Having an advisor who understands hospitality, retreat operations and the psychology of the wellness traveler helps a property avoid expensive guesswork—and move more quickly from possibility to a market-ready offer.
From an unknown hideaway to a recognized wellness destination.
The engagement gave Yemaya a defined market position, a retreat-ready commercial direction and the branding, Retreat Guide and marketing collateral its team needed to take the new offer to market.
Rather than receiving recommendations alone, the property was equipped with a turnkey foundation its management and marketing partners could continue using and building upon.
The work generated qualified interest from retreat leaders and significant travel-media visibility, helping place the property on the map for wellness-seeking travelers and groups.
The position proved durable. Today, the property continues to promote yoga, spa, slow travel and retreat experiences on Little Corn Island, and is represented as a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World through Hilton.
At the Beginning
- A beautiful boutique hotel serving individual leisure guests
- No fully defined wellness product
- A journey that looked like a liability
After the Engagement
- A clear wellness market position
- A turnkey retreat sales and marketing platform
- Qualified retreat-leader inquiries
- Global media visibility, including Yoga Journal print + online placement
- An enduring international reputation
What began as a remote boutique hotel became something far more valuable: a destination people seek out.
A retreat pivot is not a change in marketing. It is a change in what the property is prepared to sell—and known for delivering.
Yemaya already had the setting. Ashley identified the opportunity, shaped the offer and built the strategy that allowed the right market to see its full value.
Could your hotel become the retreat destination leaders are already looking for?
If your property has the space, setting or potential to serve retreats and private groups—but the offer, positioning or path to demand is not yet clear—this is the work Coconut Creative does best.
We look across the entire business: the property, guest journey, group experience, operations, positioning, partnerships and path to market. Then we show you what the opportunity can become and what must happen next to make it real.
Today, Ashley brings this depth of experience to hospitality, travel and wellness clients through Coconut Creative Agency.
Request a Growth Conversation