Notes

Playing Ball With The Big Boys: 2 Ways Small Hotels Get Featured In Major News Publications
One of the largest discrepancies between small properties and big ones in the travel industry is press. Stereotypically, the larger the property is, the bigger its budget to spend on PR agencies and the corresponding glory to be featured in big name publications. But imagine if small property owners had access to exactly the same powerful resources that did expensive PR firms? Imagine if all it took from a vacation rental owner or boutique hotel owner was the right pitch? This article will highlight two methods any small property owner can get featured in major publications like The New York Times, Conde Nast, Travel & Leisure, and hundreds of other travel-centric publications.

Much of the PR world is about contacts, so rather than spending years attempting to build up your own personal network of journalists, editors, and so on, small home owners can make use of the several rich PR repositories online. Both featured in this article will be HARO (free) and PRLeads (paid).

Exactly what is a PR repository? It is a like social media meets personal networking. Additional info unite reporters from all kinds of publications (including the famous ones) with sources of expertise. Sign up for these services and you'll receive a healthy flow of story leads several times every day via email. Simply choose Additional info that appear to pertain to your hotel or vacation rental and make your pitch directly to the journalist. Create a good enough pitch and you will land on the pages of the world's most illustrious travel magazines without spending a dime. A quick breakdown of my favorites:

1. HARO: Help A Reporter Out is a free resource has published a lot more than 75,000 journalist queries, has facilitated nearly 7,500,000 media pitches, and has marketed and featured close to 1,500 brands to the media, smaller businesses and consumers. For more info , this is usually a dream come true. No such thing as free press? Think again.

2. PRLeads: Spearheaded by the fearless leader Dan Janal, marketing wiz, PRLeads is really a paid service (around $99/month) and tends to represent a higher echelon of journalists. Same concept as HARO, but better reporters and publications.

"Whenever we got featured in Travel & Leisure, our occupancy risen to typically 94% for the entire year," says Miriam Goldboom who, with her husband Michael, operate a 7-room B&B in NEW YORK. "Since we normally average around 50%, this is our absolute best year in history. It was the first lead that I pitched. And it worked! Now I pitch stories just about every week."

Whether you go just how of paid or free access to these press goldmines, understand that in the end, it all boils right down to your pitch. If you make your story seem alluring enough, you'll be playing ball with the big boys and getting major press in major publications: a surefire step towards increased reservations and increased revenue.

Evelyn Milner contributes to the Boost Occupancy Report [http://www.boostoccupancy.com]: outlining 54 free or inexpensive ways small home owners can play like the big boys, increasing reservations and bookings at the drop of a dime.
My Website: https://www.demilked.com/author/lowry33edmondson/