8 Tips On How To Land Your First Hotel Collaboration As A Blogger

Working with a hotel is pretty similar to working with any company, but before I scored my first hotel collab, I was pretty lost how to go about it, so I figured I’d shed some light.

Before I break down how to reach out to a hotel, here are the main differences I found:

1. It’s rare that a hotel will pay you to stay there, unless your content is that beautiful or you’re a travel blogger who’s turned traveling into a living.

2. The amount of followers you have and the quality of your photos will determine how many nights you will be invited to stay at a hotel, usually ranging from 1-3 nights.

3. Hotel collaborations are very seasonal, as many hotels don’t accept collabs during prime tourist season, so your best chances at getting a comped stay are during off season.

How To Reach Out To A Hotel:

1. Do your research.
   Rule number 1 should be routine for any brand you contact, but for a hotel especially, do your research. Hotels get pitched constantly, so your email should highlight why you particularly love the hotel, what about their decor and amenities stands out to you, and why this partnership would be a good fit. Hotels generally have unique personalities that make them special. Recognize what that is and assure the hotel you will make sure to include it in your coverage.

2. Find the correct PR contact.
   It’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. When I receive an email that start with, “Hey blogger,” or anything of that nature, I delete it almost immediately. Why? Because not only is my name very clearly stated on all my social platforms, it is literally the name of my blog. That means the company did absolutely zero research and I was probably just one of a hundred other blogger they mass emailed. It shows me that company may or may not actually care to work with me, but is just looking to hook in some influencers. Finding the appropriate contact will show the hotel you are serious about wanting to work with them specifically and it will give you the advantage over any other blogger who decided to send a cold pitch. If the contact is not listed on their website, start Googling or try LinkedIn.

3. Introduce yourself.
   Without going overboard, give the hotel a little snippet about who you are (Esther Santer), what you do (fashion and lifestyle blogger), where you live (NYC), and the name of your blog (EstherSanter.com). Don’t forget to LINK to your website.

4. Include your travel dates.
   If you are looking to collaborate for specific dates, let the hotel know upfront. That will save everyone a lot of time, since the hotel can quickly let you know if they even have availability at that time.

5. Include a previous example.

   Obviously this is difficult if you’re trying to land your first hotel collaboration, but most hotels want to get an idea of the type of content they’ll be seeing from you. For every comped stay a blogger receives, a hotel is passing up potential profit from a paying customer, so the collaboration needs to be worth that loss. Because of that, hotels are less likely to bet on you if you don’t give them a solid reason. So my best advice is to either take pictures in your hotel room on your next vacation or book a hotel in your own city one night and spend time creating content there. That way, you’ll have work to show. Another idea is to reach out to a hotel with only the request of using one of their rooms to shoot in for a couple hours. Since that doesn’t necessarily create a loss for the hotel, they are more likely to oblige, and you will still get your content, without the hefty price of the room.

6. Include stats, information about your audience, and links to your social platforms.
   Don’t make them search. Make it easy for them to get an overview of the type of coverage they would be receiving. If you have a media kit with this information, include it without any rates.

7. Be direct with your request.
   Are you looking for a comped stay, a media rate, or are you just trying to feel out if the hotel supports blogger collaborations? The more direct you are with what you’re looking for, the quicker the hotel will be able to respond. Regardless of what you ask for, the hotel will tell you what they’re willing or not willing to offer, but if you are not interested in anything other than a free stay, it probably wouldn’t make sense to leave your request open-ended.

8. Be gracious in your email.
   Show the hotel appreciation for even considering your request and be honest with yourself what type of collaboration your following warrants. Check yourself before you start making demands for a specific room, view, or breakfast in bed. Hotels generally treat bloggers really well since they’re hoping for beautiful images, but unless your following and content deserves extra special attention, maybe only put in soft requests or let the hotel decide what they’re comfortable providing. The last thing you want is to be publicly shamed for asking for too much, like blogger Elle Darby was by the White Moose Cafe in Dublin, Ireland (which I thought was absolutely terrible, by the way).

Now that you have an idea of how to pitch a hotel, my best tip on finding which hotels to reach out to is searching for ones that have previously collaborated with bloggers. You can do that fairly easily by searching phrases like, “{insert travel destination} All Opinions Are My Own,” or “{insert travel destination} Hotel Travel Blog Collaboration,” or whatever other keywords make sense.

Feel free to check out my first hotel collaboration blog post to get an idea of what to expect: Where We Stayed On Our Honeymoon x Hotel Eiffel Blomet

Lastly, don’t be discouraged when hotels don’t respond, because many won’t. Just be persistent and send out as many emails as you need to score that collaboration! Let me know if you have any questions!

xx Esther