APRIL 29, 2026
Meet the Speaker: Santiago García Solimei
Own the Conversation:
Social Care, Personalisation
and Reputation for Hotels
Award-winning customer care strategist · Former Global Director of Social Media and Brands PR, Meliá Hotels International · Founder, Unfiltered Mindsets
Some hospitality leaders understand social media as content. Santiago García Solimei understands it as conversation, reputation and influence.
For more than 15 years, Santiago has worked at the point where brand, guest experience, social media, PR and public response meet. Most recently, he served as Global Director of Social Media and Brands PR at Meliá Hotels International, leading social and brand PR across 15 brands and more than 400 hotels.
Under his leadership, Meliá became one of the most influential hotel chains on social media. Santiago helped lead the group’s social-first transformation, building momentum across influencer and creator partnerships, user-generated content and an internal employee ambassador programme that turned people inside the business into part of the brand conversation.
His Meliá story also matters because it was not a short stop in a senior role. Santiago rose through the group from Brand Manager for the Meliá and Innside brands, to Director of Marketing for EMEA, before taking on the global social media and brand PR remit. That gives him a rare view of how social connects to brand, regional marketing, customer care, reputation and commercial leadership.
Today, as Founder of Unfiltered Mindsets, Santiago advises hospitality leaders on where social, AI and brand communication are heading next. He also teaches marketing and communications at ESERP Business and Law School, the University of the Balearic Islands and ESCOEX, and brings executive education from IE Business School alongside postgraduate studies in New Media Marketing and Strategy at Cornell.
That is why his Summit lab is not just about replying to comments. It is about helping hospitality teams own the conversation before, during and after the guest experience.
Track record
Santiago brings deep hospitality, social media and communications experience to the Summit, including:
Former Global Director of Social Media and Brands PR at Meliá Hotels International
Made Meliá one of the most influential hotel chains on social media under his leadership
Founder of Unfiltered Mindsets, advising hospitality leaders on where social and AI are heading
Completed an Executive Management Programme at IE Business School and postgraduate studies in New Media Marketing and Strategy at Cornell
Led the group’s social-first transformation across influencer and creator partnerships, user-generated content and internal employee advocacy
Teaches marketing and communications at ESERP Business and Law School, the University of the Balearic Islands and ESCOEX
International speaker across stages including DMEXCO, Wired Fest, the Influencer Marketing Show and Digital Travel Connect
Led social and brand PR across 15 brands and more than 400 hotels
Rose through Meliá from Brand Manager for the Meliá and Innside brands, to Director of Marketing for EMEA, to the global social media and brand PR remit
Recipient of the ESERP Business and Law School MBA and Masters Professor Award, 2024
Speaks English, Spanish and Italian
What Santiago leads at the Summit
At the Hospitality Social Media Summit, Santiago leads the Day 2 lab:
Own the Conversation: Social Care,
Personalisation and Reputation for Hotels
This is a practical 90-minute working session for hospitality teams who want to move beyond reactive replies and build a more consistent, measurable and brand-safe social care system.
Delegates will audit how their brand currently responds on social and review channels, then work through:
- tone rules for praise, questions, complaints and sensitive comments
- reply templates and personalisation principles
- escalation routes between social, marketing, guest relations and on-property teams
- ownership rules for who responds, when and how
- a KPI set leadership can understand, including first-response time, time-to-resolution, resolution rate, sentiment shift and review coverage
They leave with a Social Care Action Plan they can take back to their team and start using immediately.
Why this lab matters
For hospitality brands, the public conversation is now part of the guest experience.
A slow reply can damage trust. A generic response can weaken the brand. An unresolved complaint can travel further than the original stay. But a thoughtful, timely and well-owned conversation can turn friction into loyalty, protect reputation and show guests that the brand is listening.
That is why Santiago’s lab is not about community management in isolation. It is about social care as a commercial, operational and reputational discipline.
His perspective is especially valuable because it comes from the brand side. He has seen what happens when social teams, hotel teams, guest relations and leadership all need to work from the same playbook. He has also seen how the right system can turn guest conversations into stronger loyalty, clearer ownership and more measurable results.
Join Santiagoat the Hospitality Social Media Summit
Santiago joins the
Hospitality Social Media Summit in London on 3-4 September 2026, alongside senior hospitality social
media, marketing, brand, reputation and commercial leaders.
Join live in London or access the programme online to learn how leading hospitality teams are turning social media into a stronger system for reputation, loyalty, guest trust and commercial performance.
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