Private · Prepared by Get Noticed
Social Marketing Playbook

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Private · Prepared by Get Noticed

The Captain’s Playbook

The social playbook for The Yacht Club at Hotel Trinity: the menus, the brand chart, the voice, and the grid, kept in one place. Building quiet anticipation before the doors open, and holding a steady, editorial rhythm once they do.

Part One · 2 sections

Recent Developments

The latest from the kitchen and the rooms, translated for the feed.

Part OneRecent Developments
02 · Selling Private Dining

How to sell two rooms that no one can walk into yet

Private dining is one of the Yacht Club’s top five launch strategies, and both rooms need to be on the website and open for booking by October 1, ahead of holiday-party season. Two spaces, one plan.

Space 01

The Mezzanine

60seated90reception16at one long table

Lofted above the main dining room, with the energy of the restaurant below. The largest private space, with its own bar and a dedicated restroom. Welcome parties, rehearsal dinners, business gatherings, celebrations. Short of a full buy-out, the tables push together for a 16-top.

Mezzanine floor plan with private dining room, dedicated bathroom, private bar, and tables that combine for 16
Space 02

The Private Dining Room

12seatedAVbuilt inWinelockers

Perched on the second floor, overlooking the bar and the main dining room. A door that closes, private wine lockers, and AV for corporate luncheons, milestone dinners, and everything in between.

The window

Sept 17–21Get Noticed in Austin for the brand shoot. Architectural images of the rooms, with whatever is in place.
Sept 22First day both rooms could plausibly be furnished.
End of SeptFull Yacht Club website launches, private dining page included.
Oct 1Spaces on sale. This is also the start of holiday-party booking season, when corporate planners lock December dates.
Oct 14–19Second shoot: the finished rooms, dressed and lit.
New · The renderingsThe deck plan, drawn: the Mezzanine and the Private Dining Room
Illustrated Yacht Club deck plan on a navy background: the Private Dining Room with its long table, the Mezzanine tables and banquettes, the private bar, the stairs and the dedicated restroom
On navyThe finished rendering on the Yacht Club navy. Ready for the website, the feed and sales decks.
The same illustrated Yacht Club deck plan with a transparent background
Transparent backgroundThe same rendering with no background, to drop over any color, texture or photograph.
Dropbox Folder · Download the renderings →

Full-resolution PNGs (3504 × 2336) of both versions live in the Dropbox folder.

The plan, agreedA little of everything, so October 1 does not wait on a furniture truck
1

Photograph the rooms in two passes.

September 17–21: whatever architectural images the rooms will give us with what is in place that week. No food on this pass.

October 14–19: the finished rooms, dressed and lit, to replace anything provisional on the page.

OwnerGet Noticed Photography Team
2

Draw the deck plans.

Illustrated floor plans of the Mezzanine and the PDR in the Yacht Club’s own hand: engraved style, numbered figures, a key that reads like a ship’s manifest. Started now, from the drawings. The one asset that gets better, not obsolete, once the rooms open.

OwnerGet Noticed Design Team
3

Walk select people through.

The Trinity team hosts first-look walkthroughs for a short list of planners and concierges in the last week of September, deck plans in hand. We capture real people in the rooms while they do.

OwnerWhite Lodging / Yacht Club Sales
4

Build the page to convert.

One card per room with capacities and the deck plan, a spec sheet, sample menus, occasion language in the brand’s voice, an inquiry form answered fast, and a dated “now booking holiday 2026” line.

OwnerWeb Development Team
Austin Sports Club Instagram post showing engraved-style floor plan illustrations

The deck-plan reference: Austin Sports Club, @austinsportsclub. Engraved floor plans as a launch post. The Yacht Club version is the same idea with a better reason to exist.

Part Two · 3 sections

North Star

Who The Yacht Club is and who it speaks to. The foundation every post is measured against.

03 · The North Star & The Brand Chart

A menu of many coasts.

The Yacht Club is a modern, elevated seafood experience inspired by the world’s great coastal cuisines, featuring globally-inspired seafood, bold flavors, oysters, caviar and a daily selection of fresh fish. Below, the whole brand on one page, drawn as a ship, so anyone on the team can see where they are and what leads to what. Hover a title for its definition.

Three lines, in orderA menu of many coasts.leadsA member, if only for the meal.followsA new standard of seafood.underwrites both

The Brand Chart

How to read it

Most brand strategies arrive as stagnant slides. Ours is a visual map.

A slide for purpose, a slide for values, a slide for the promise. By the tenth one nobody remembers how they connect, and the usual brand pyramid does not help: buzzwords stacked in a triangle, with no sense of how one level flows into the next.

So we drew the brand as a ship. Where it sets out, what keeps it upright, what moves it, and where it is headed. The crew runs it, and the water is what it feels like aboard.

1 · Harbor Story + PurposeWhere we set out from
2 · Keel Brand FoundationWhat keeps us steady
3 · Sails Unique Selling PropositionsWhat moves us ahead on East 5th
4 · Horizon Brand PromiseWhere it’s all heading
The Yacht Club at Hotel TrinityHover any title marked ? for what it means and why it sits where it does. Brand Chart
1Harbor Story + PurposeWhere we set out from
A member,
if only for the meal.

A yacht club is a room on the water where everyone is known, the day’s catch is on ice, and no one is in a hurry to leave. It usually comes with a membership. Ours comes without one.

Austin has no coastline, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. So we borrowed the name and the feeling of the great yacht clubs and brought the world’s coasts to it instead: Peruvian leche de tigre beside Japanese hamachi crudo, skate wing in a Thai shellfish broth, and a catch the chef chooses each morning.

Everything worth loving about a yacht club is here. Polished service, an easy mood, a raw bar at the center. No water required, and no membership either. Not a seafood steakhouse. Not fine dining. Not a club with a door. Austin never got a coastline. It got this instead.

2Keel Brand FoundationWhat keeps us steady
FoodThe MenuThe world’s coasts, one table
PlaceThe RoomWaterfront energy, elevated but never stuffy
PeopleThe Guest ExperienceA member, if only for the meal
3Sails Unique Selling PropositionsWhat moves us ahead on East 5th Street
Drawn from the menuGlobally-inspired, fish-forward, and daily catches
Drawn from the menu + the roomDockside sippers & a place for celebratory pours
Drawn from the room + the guestBelonging without exclusion
Drawn from the guestA Forbes-trained team, a Michelin-trained chef
4Horizon Brand PromiseWhere it’s all heading

For people who want seafood they have not had before, in a room where they already belong, the Yacht Club sets a modern, elevated seafood table: globally-inspired, fish-forward, fresh daily, with a raw bar at its center and a room that hums.

Underneath it is a single conviction: the world’s great coastal cuisines belong on one table, even two hundred miles from the nearest shore.

Our heading
5The Water Our Brand DNAWhat it feels like aboard
The menu’s current
Refined IndulgenceCaviar, champagne, the second bottle: pleasure with quiet significance, never a price signal.
Quiet ConfidenceThe catch and the technique speak first. No claims, no accolades.
The room’s current
Waterfront EnergyThe light and rhythm of the world’s great coasts. Alive but unforced.
Social, Never ChaoticA full table, never a crowd. Conversation over volume.
EnergeticThe pour, the pass, the first oyster. A room in motion, never loud.
The guest’s current
BelongingA seat at the table, first visit or fiftieth. The open door, never the rope.
PolishedEvery detail considered, worn lightly. Effortless, never formal.
6Standing Orders Brand Values + VoiceHow the crew behaves, aboard and online
The same four rules run the host stand and the feed.
iShow, don’t tellSpecifics earn intrigue; superlatives do not.
AboardThe dish arrives before the description. Name the coast, not the accolade.
OnlineThe photo is the menu. Captions name the dish and the coast, never the award.
Said aloudLet the catch do the talking.
iiThe open doorRecognition for everyone, gatekeeping for no one.
AboardEvery guest greeted like a regular, first visit or fiftieth. No rope, no members’ tone.
OnlineWe answer everyone, and we sound like a well-connected friend, never a club with a door.
Said aloudWelcome back, first visit or fiftieth.
iiiRitual, taken seriouslyThe pour, the shuck, the tableside finish.
AboardEach small ceremony gets its moment, precise and unhurried.
OnlineThose moments are the feed: close, slow, and never rushed in the frame.
Said aloudGive the moment its moment.
ivFresh decidesWhat came in this morning sets the menu, the grid, and the caption.
AboardThe team knows today’s catch by name and leads with it.
OnlineWhen the catch changes, the content changes. The daily catch is the feed’s steady beat.
Said aloudToday’s catch is today’s story.
04 · Who We're Speaking To

The Social Epicurean

The person who makes the reservation. The one whose dinner invitations you always accept.

The Social Epicurean

Who they are

Socially magnetic, culturally aware, and confident in their taste, but they wear that knowledge lightly. They live for the table: the gathering, the lingering, the second bottle. They travel around restaurants, have a go-to martini order, and are the friend who says "you have to go" to everyone in their circle.

They are Yacht Club's organic marketing engine. Weeks of craving turn into a Friday reservation on OpenTable, and one dinner turns into advocacy that reaches their whole table.

What stops their scroll

  • An oyster platter at golden hour
  • A full table mid-dinner, warm and in motion
  • A champagne pour catching the light
  • The craft: a shucking station, a proper martini being made

What makes them unfollow

  • Nightclub or party-venue energy
  • Beachy, kitschy, tiki-bar nautical
  • Promotional language and stock-looking food photos
Age
32–45
Income
$100K–$300K+
Primary platform
Instagram
Converts via
OpenTable

The upstream signal. This social persona skews younger than the room's buyer (the 45–65 Hotel Trinity guest). A 38-year-old creative director follows for months and becomes the reason her older client books. The feed creates the cultural gravity; the reservation is downstream.

Part Three · 6 sections

External Facing

What the world sees: how it looks, how it sounds, and how the grid holds together.

05 · Photography Standards

How every frame should feel

Tasteful, reserved creativity. Highlight the ingredient simply, play with color and depth on purpose, and let a touch of the human hand in, drawn directly from the Yacht Club Photography Standards.

Seek
  • Creative expression that is tasteful and reserved
  • Subtle texture mixtures; organic, natural shapes
  • Intentional plays on color, depth, and placement
  • Highlighting the ingredient simply
  • A focus on micro details
  • A "touch" of human elements
Avoid
  • Too much glimmer and glam
  • Artificial-feeling imagery
  • Seafood treated like an afterthought
  • Overly-styled models
  • Cheap-looking "coastal" motifs
  • Photography that is too avant-garde
Scales of what we desireWhere we aim to land

Straight from the Photography Standards deck. Tap through each board to see where Yacht Club imagery should land between the two extremes.

Tablescapes: scales of what we desire
Contrasts and shadows: scales of what we desire
Dynamic backgrounds: scales of what we desire
Chef lifestyle imagery: scales of what we desire
Our club service: scales of what we desire
By subjectThe standards, board by board

The full Photography Standards board for each subject. Tap through to see the avoid and seek references side by side.

Global Styling: photography standards board
Color: photography standards board
Lighting: photography standards board
Spaces: photography standards board
Cocktails: photography standards board
Seafood: photography standards board
Tablescape: photography standards board

Consistency is the whole game

The grid must read as one intentional, cohesive world at a glance. A random post that breaks the visual language costs a follow. Before anything is posted, it passes one test: does this belong in the room?

06 · How We Sound

Assured, never overstated

Yacht Club speaks with the easy confidence of someone who already belongs on the water. Knowledgeable without being instructional, refined without being formal. The host of the table, never the announcer of the room.

The North Star describes what the brand must feel across every touchpoint. This section is narrower: how that feeling sounds in captions, bios, replies, and anything else written in the brand’s voice.

Relaxed Confidence
01

Relaxed Confidence

Effortless and knowing. It assumes shared taste rather than spelling everything out. Social, not showy; confidence comes from atmosphere, not exaggeration.

Polished Social Energy
02

Polished Social Energy

The energy of a room already in motion, magnetic and warm, never chaotic or nightlife-heavy. Language opens the door without overselling the moment.

Humble Expert
03

Humble Expert

Quiet mastery. Expertise shows in the details: thoughtful sourcing, precise preparation, never in grand claims or accolades. Guests feel guided, not lectured.

Belonging and Recognition
04

Belonging & Recognition

Insider without exclusion. The subtle impression that guests already belong here, regular or first-timer. Prestige from atmosphere, never gatekeeping.

Sensory and Atmospheric
05

Sensory & Atmospheric

Felt as much as seen. Light on glassware, the movement of the room, the rhythm of conversation. Capture the moment, not the feature list.

Ritual and Refinement
06

Ritual & Refinement

The small ceremonies (the pour, the first oyster, the start of an evening) treated with quiet significance. Precision in the details, softened by coastal ease.

Words to choose

Pull from the brand's own vocabulary: the room, the evening, the hum, the flow, the late table, the second bottle, a proper martini, a good pour, a familiar table.

The room hums Settle in Another round Thoughtfully selected Welcome back In the know

Words to avoid

Anything promotional, exclusive, or "concept"-speak. No emojis. Show, don't tell. The photo is the menu.

Award-winning cuisine Book now / Don't miss out Culinary destination Members-only Nightlife hotspot Chef-driven concept Fine dining Seafood steakhouse Private club energy
Global coastalThe world’s coastlines, one raw bar

Elegant without ever tipping into fussy: the service is polished, the mood stays easy, and the guest already belongs the moment they sit down. Everything the feed says about the menu flows from the full statement below.

Latest update as of: August 10th, 2026
Fresh from F&B

The Culinary Statement

The Yacht Club at Hotel Trinity · Verbatim from Food & Beverage

Anchored in seafood and waterfront energy, The Yacht Club delivers an experience that feels elegant without ever tipping into fussy — the sense that you've been handed a membership card to somewhere exclusive, where the service is polished but the mood stays easy.

The menu draws its inspiration from the world's great maritime cuisines — Peruvian leche de tigre and Japanese hamachi crudo anchor the menu in two distinct coastal traditions, while dishes like poached skate wing in a Thai shellfish broth and yakiniku and XO sauces pull in flavors from across Asia, and octopus a la plancha with harissa oil brings Mediterranean warmth to the table. It's a global coastal sensibility built around dressed oysters, caviar service, and a chef-selected fresh fish that rotates daily, so there's always something new pulled straight off the boat to discover.

Tableside moments and a tasting menu bring in the special-occasion flair, while the bar program leans into “dockside sippers” — a lineup of low- and no-ABV cocktails, spritzes, and aperitivos built for lingering, so guests can sip all day and still feel like they never left the seaside. Champagne pairings, coastal wines, and stiff martinis round out the list for those who want the full celebratory pour.

One to decide on

This statement still reads “handed a membership card to somewhere exclusive.” It has been left exactly as written, but under the updated direction it is the one line here still carrying the club framing. Worth deciding whether it stays before this language travels any further.

Pulled from the statementThe six things the menu gives us to talk about
Global Coastal

The menu draws from the world's great maritime cuisines: Peruvian leche de tigre, Japanese hamachi crudo, poached skate in a Thai shellfish broth, XO and yakiniku, octopus a la plancha with harissa oil. Name the tradition or the technique when it adds intrigue, never the full recipe.

The Raw Bar

Dressed oysters and caviar service anchor the room. Editorial and restrained, the ingredient always first.

The Daily Catch

A chef-selected fresh fish rotates daily, straight off the boat. The standing reason to come back and see what's new.

Tableside & Tasting

Tableside moments and a tasting menu carry the special-occasion flair: ceremony without stiffness.

Dockside Sippers

The bar leans into low- and no-ABV cocktails, spritzes, and aperitivos, built for lingering. Sip all day and never quite leave the seaside.

The Celebratory Pour

Champagne pairings, coastal wines, and a stiff, proper martini round out the list for the full celebratory pour.

Words the menu gives us

Global coastal The world's great maritime cuisines Straight off the boat The daily catch Dockside sippers Sip all day Dressed oysters Caviar service Elegant, never fussy Globally-inspired Fish-forward High-end and stylish Elevated

Specifics earn intrigue: drop a leche de tigre or an a la plancha when it pulls someone in, but keep the caption show-don't-tell. The dish is the menu; the photo does the describing.

07 · The Caption Bank

Ready-to-use examples, in voice

Show, don't tell. Three beats, measured cadence, no emojis. Use these as reference, not a script; the image always leads.

"Something is taking shape downtown. A new standard for seafood. Fall 2026."
Pre-Launch · Vibe-Setter
"The room is still coming together. The intention is already here."
Pre-Launch · Filler
"Oysters, champagne, and the long dinner. Reserved for this fall."
Pre-Launch · Teaser
"Globally-inspired seafood, drawn from the world’s great coastal cuisines. Yacht Club opens this fall in downtown Austin: a raw bar, a champagne list, and a room built for lingering."
Pre-Launch · Anchor carousel
"A menu with more than one coast. Peru, Japan, the Mediterranean, in one room."
Pre-Launch · Menu tease
"The doors are open. Pull up a seat at the bar."
Launch · Opening day
"First oysters. First pour. The room finally hums. We're open."
Launch · First night
"Where the rhythm of the room carries the night. Reservations, link in bio."
Launch · Soft CTA
"The room hums as the evening unfolds."
Ongoing · The Room
"Thoughtfully selected, impeccably shucked. The raw bar is ready when you are."
Ongoing · The Raw Bar
"A proper martini at the bar. The right bottle for the table."
Ongoing · The Pour
"Another round for the table. The late table always stays a little longer."
Ongoing · The Table
"The kind of place that remembers your table. Welcome back."
Ongoing · Belonging
"Today's catch, straight off the boat. Ask what's new."
Ongoing · The Daily Catch
"Dockside sippers, built for lingering. Sip all day, never leave the seaside."
Ongoing · The Bar
08 · Grid Direction

The Grid Inspiration

Yacht Club Instagram grid direction mock

The role of the feed

Instagram is not a menu and it is not a booking engine. It is the room, before the room exists. Every post should make the Social Epicurean feel they already have a seat at the table, an invitation from a well-connected friend, not a restaurant trying to fill seats.

We win on saves and shares, not reach. Quiet, meaningful engagement from the right people is the signal that matters. If the grid feels like a world someone wants to inhabit, the reservation follows.

What the grid establishes

A seafood-forward feed on a warm, dark editorial ground, with deliberate pops of color: coral crudo, red chili, a bright lobster, back-lit cocktails. Oysters on ice and silver service are the lighter beats; moody interiors carry the room. No two neighboring tiles share a tone, so the grid stays alive without ever feeling busy.

View Yacht Club's Grid: Work in Progress  › View Yacht Club's Gallery of Images  ›
09 · Live Grids

Where content lives before it goes live

Review the visual flow, read captions in context, and leave approvals or comments right on the post.

Live Grid · Planable

Hotel Trinity

Property-side content: the rooms, the residential world, downtown moments, and the launch grid as it builds row by row. Opens in its own tab, no login required.

View the grid →
Live Grid · Planable

Yacht Club

Food and beverage forward: the raw bar, the bar program, the room mid-evening, and the seafood-led flow of the feed. Opens in its own tab, no login required.

View the grid →
10 · The Motion Reel

Yacht Club, in motion

Video showcase · Vimeo

The Yacht Club Vimeo Showcase

The full library of motion for the feed: teasers, room-in-motion clips, food and cocktail films, and launch content — everything cut and ready to schedule. Opens in its own tab.

Open the showcase ↗ Password GN
Part Four · 2 sections

Internal Planning & Management

The working links behind the feed: the sister playbook and the live project board.

Part FourInternal Planning & Management
11 · The Sister Playbook

Hotel Trinity

Companion site · Hotel Trinity

Hotel Trinity Social Playbook

The same playbook, built for the rooms upstairs: the Quiet Curator, the residential grid, the caption bank and photography standards for Hotel Trinity.

Open the playbook ↗ Password GN-HotelTrinity
12 · The Launch Plan

Notion Project Management

Live board · Notion

Holy Grail of Hotel Trinity Launch

Click through for the live to-do's, agenda items, approvals in flight, concept work and brand asset links, kept current by the team.