Are you looking to make a splash in the press with your hotel opening? My advice is to leverage hotel openings through targeted media relations to create significant buzz around the property through substantial feature coverage in top tier media.
This week, I am offering five travel PR tips for maximizing coverage of your hotel opening in the press. After all, hotels only open once, and it is imperative to make the most of such a momentous and newsworthy occasion.
Five Tips to Make Your Hotel Opening the Buzz of the Press
1. Begin Your PR Program Early – Timing is everything, and nowhere is this more true than in the field of public relations. Be sure to begin your public relations campaign at least six months before your hotel opens its doors. Public relations, part art and part science, involves a systematic process including a gearing up period where information is gathered and background documents are prepared. Do it right and ensure that everything is perfectly and expertly prepared to give your PR team time to both become experts on your hotel and also, tenaciously pitch the long lead magazines, like Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler.
2. Define Your USPs and Brand Positioning – Tying into our first tip, it is essential that you work closely with your PR team to clearly define what will set your hotel apart from the competition. Understanding your unique selling propositions (USPs), will guide your PR team’s pitching strategy and allow them to appropriately and accurately position your hotel in the marketplace. For instance, Casas del XVI, will be the first hotel in the Dominican Republic comprised exclusively of accommodations in restored sixteenth century houses in Santo Domingo’s Ciudad Colonial. As the first hotel to exist in these houses and also the first hotel to provide guests with the intimacy and services of renting a private villa, but at a fraction of the cost, the hotel becomes newsworthy in and of itself. While news of the opening will attract the attention of the press, it is the USPs and brand positioning that will ultimately captivate them in the long term.
3. Approach the Right People – As discussed in our recent blog “Pointers on What Makes Great PR: Dispelling the Myths,” it is essential to do your research and know who you are contacting. Specific writers and editors cover specific beats or areas of interest. For instance, there is a particular editor on staff at Conde Nast Traveler who covers hotel openings. If you cannot obtain the name and contact details by doing research online, then contact the editorial desk of your target publications to obtain the information. In your outreach and pitching efforts, mention specific recent stories that the writer has published and make a connection to the story that you are pitching.
4. Offer Exclusives – In media relations, exclusives can be gold. Create a list leading up to your opening ranking the top five publications in which you want to appear, then, go after them in order. Offer them exclusive images and opportunities to feature the property in ways that no other outlet will. The press want to give their readers something special and something different. Exclusives are your way to help give this to them.
5. Capitalize Off of the News – Your hotel opening is news and as such it is imperative that you capitalize off of it. It is always good however, to find other newsworthy angles that help to leverage your opening. For instance, the government may be investing in restoring colonial neighborhoods to make an area more pedestrian – this, as is currently the case in Santo Domingo, is news, as it shows that investments are being made to promote increased tourism to that area. Whatever the peg might be, find it through your research, and utilize it. Connect your hotel opening to the destination and to broader trends in travel and your pitching efforts will result in feature coverage.
What strategies do you find most effective in bringing buzz to your hotel opening? Sound off in the comments.