Well-written press releases are a key communication channel in the hotel industry. Whether you want to announce company news, events, or the appointment of a new CEO, a hotel press release provides a unique opportunity to communicate this to the world. But not every press release will have the same impact. In this article, you will learn more about press releases, when they should be distributed, how they can benefit you, and the steps you can take to ensure your news releases are well-written.

Occasions For a Hotel Press Release

A hotel press release is a viable option whenever you have something important that you want to draw attention to, including:

  • New Products or Services: It can be beneficial to try to get information about the launch of a new product or service into relevant publications, to build up excitement and increase sales.
  • Company News: If you have something important to share about your hotel, press releases can help to ensure the news media cover it, meaning more people will become aware.
  • Crisis Management: Hotels sometimes run into difficulties. One of the best ways to limit the damage can be to launch a press release, put your side of the story across, and apologize, if necessary.
  • Recruitment News: Journalists may be interested if you have recently hired someone to fill a key role in your organization, especially if the individual is well-known in your industry.
  • Business Partnerships: Have you entered into a new agreement with another company? A joint press release featuring quotes from both businesses can help to spread the word and explain the situation.
  • Occasions or Events: Press coverage can increase attendance for events or special occasions.
  • Awards: Showcasing that you won a hotel award can draw attention, generate traffic, and help build trust with potential customers.
  • Expert Insights: Whether you have a new research paper, a new study, or other expert insights to share, it can be beneficial to draw attention by encouraging relevant media sources to run the story.

The Benefits of Publishing a Hotel Press Release

Hotel press releases can help your business in the following ways:

  • Positive Attention: Whether you are launching a new service, have new offers, or looking to promote your hotel more generally, a press release can offer a simple way to generate positive attention in the media.
  • Marketing: Hotel press releases can help to build brand awareness, promote products, and get your name out there.
  • Reputation Management: Whether dealing with a crisis or attempting to establish credibility or expertise, press releases can do wonders for your overall reputation.
  • More Traffic: Journalists often include backlinks to your website or content, increasing the traffic you generate and potentially improving your hotel’s search engine optimization results.

Tips to Write a Successful Hotel Press Release

The following five tips can help you to write a successful hotel press release:

1. Create a Compelling Title

The first step to writing a successful hotel press release is to create a compelling title to help your press release stand out from other press releases. A good title should grab attention, clearly explain what the reader can expect from the press release, and make the reader want to learn more.

You mustn’t mislead people with your title, so focus on concisely summing up the contents of the hotel press release. You should also make sure that the title is kept short, as a longer title may put off journalists, or it may not fit into the email subject field, causing them to skip past it entirely.

2. Make the Topic Accessible

Journalists and media companies always deal with press releases, and you want your press release to be as accessible as possible, so they pick it up and run with it over an alternative option. To do this, you should ensure the start of the hotel press release grabs attention and neatly summarises the main details of the story.

If you are including statistics, it may be sensible to use bullet points to help them stand out. Furthermore, you should include a company boilerplate at the end of the press release, so journalists can contextualize the information and understand what your business is, what it does, and what the most relevant facts are.

3. Add Some Real Detail

Although a hotel press release should be easy to digest and kept relatively short, you can still include plenty of detail, which can be extremely important. After all, different publications may want to focus on different elements of the story, and you want to provide them with enough material to create an interesting article.

Try to avoid repeating yourself and flesh out some of the issues the hotel press release raises. Look to provide additional context when possible. Ultimately, journalists should be able to create articles using your press release alone, without chasing you up for further information or looking elsewhere for key details.

4. Try to Include a Quote

One of the biggest ways you can help journalists who may use the press release to draft their own story and add extra detail is to include an insightful quote or two. Ideally, This should be words from a key stakeholder in the business or someone directly related to the story so that the quote will be relevant.

Try to ensure the quote adds something valuable to the hotel press release or provides crucial details, as this will help ensure journalists include it instead of re-writing it. If the story focuses on two businesses, such as announcing a new partnership, try to include a quote from both businesses.

5. Answer the ‘5 Ws’

Finally, once you have written your hotel press release, go back through it and ensure you have answered the ‘5 Ws’ – who, what, why, when, and where. The concept of the 5 Ws is considered important for information-gathering purposes and can also help writers explain points properly.

What is happening? Where is it happening? Who is involved with the events described? Why are the described events taking place, or why is it important for readers to know about them? And when are the events described going to occur? If your hotel press release fails to answer these critical questions, re-write it to ensure it does.

Considering these practical tips when writing your hotel press release will increase the likelihood of uptake in different news platforms. If you regularly send out hotel press releases, you will stay on top of the journalists and media companies’ minds, which will benefit your hotel. This way, you get the most out of your hotel press releases.

Want to Learn More About Hotel Marketing Strategies?

Marketing plays a crucial role in helping businesses operating in the hotel industry maximize bookings and revenue. It is the main way hotels can reach potential customers, conveying their unique selling proposition and brand values. In the following articles, you will find more essential marketing strategies to boost your revenue:

More Tips to Grow Your Business

Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and Software.

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This article is written by:

Martijn Barten

Hi, I am Martijn Barten, founder of Revfine.com. With 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, I specialize in optimizing revenue by combining revenue management with marketing strategies. I have successfully developed, implemented, and managed revenue management and marketing strategies for individual properties and multi-property portfolios.