Lay My Hat

Has anyone ever considered contacting journalists from the travel sections of national newspapers to suggest their accommodation? Do you think it would be considered too pushy to make direct contact?

I think it's great if you can get them to write something ABOUT your area maybe - even indirectly!

There was an article recently in the NYTimes, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/garde ... ref=slogin
about a friend and neighbor of mine returning to the town her grandmother was from...spurred a lot of interest in our litte neck of the woods I do think they get requests all the time though....still...can't hurt I think!

We have issued numerous invites - free accommodation offers in every direction. Not a single taker. Anyone know how you phrase these things to get jaded journos to accept?

We have had plenty of press coverage but always in the property pages and always at their request, not ours.

Do it Aldo!

I've had a certain amount of success with articles last year and what I found is that once you get one journalist to write a piece - you soon get contacted by others. I suppose it's a benefit we can get from the lazy journalism that goes on today.

I didn't have to have anyone to stay (I would have been out of pocket too much!) however contacting them and suggesting a 'story-line' does work. For instance I got picked up after the 2nd article by the main paper in Liverpool (as I'm from near there) who wanted to do an article about us.

In a month or so I'm going to have to get journalists over to the island for the company I'm working with to help promote our accommodation/guide website. One thing I've noticed in my research is that the 'travel blogs' are very powerful on the internet....so do think about getting in contact with those people...they're cheaper and easier to get onboard, but the publicity can be just as strong (all web based of course) and a link from their site to yours will be worth gold!

Mouse
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Rabitt had a lovely article written last year[was it the independent]??? It was great.
Dont know if it was a coincidence but she was/is listed with Garris Holiday Pad[as are a few others].
I think some of his places get oicked up because theyre a bit different and Lovely as Rabbits and MGs are[as well as others of course]

Hmm, I think have a missed opportunity , my apartment manager's hubby is a ski instructor, and skied with several travel journalists last week. I should have got her to hijack them at the end of the morning and show them round my wee place. Director of the ski area was a bit miffed they asked to ski with the British instructor rather than the ESF though.

Do you think it would be considered too pushy to make direct contact?

Not too pushy but you'll probably need to shout pretty loudly unless you've got an interesting and/or unusual property or your location is in some way newsworthy. Watch out, too, for journos offering to write a thin piece about you at the same time as passing your details to their advertising people. You may find yourself providing free accommodation to the scribe, paying for advertising and not seeing much return from your investment.

I've got a friend who writes freelance travel pieces for UK nationals to supplement her measly (ha!) editor's salary who doesn't often pay for her holidays.

Jim

Jimbo wrote:I've got a friend who writes freelance travel pieces for UK nationals

mmm, good to know! I've also heard the newspapers and magazines receive sackfuls of suggestions - but it can't do any harm to try, Aldo. You never know.

Thanks BS, you're kind to mention it (yes, the Independent). I'm sure Holiday Pad helped with that - I believe Garri's blog is widely read by the travel peeps.

And well done Margaret and Mousie for your efforts and success.

Mousie wrote: I've had a certain amount of success with articles last year..

You're being too modest, Mousie, I'll bet!

Yet to see the results of it though RR! I think where I fell down was that I didn't have a decent website that could benefit from links - although the blog got lots of hits it isn't really a quality site.

I would think Aldo would have a good chance as a) his property is stunning and b) in quite an unusual destination which could provide a unique angle.

Btw - if anyone seriously knows a well connected travel journalist or someone with a decent travel blog that would like an all expenses paid stay in the new 5* 'Art' Hotel opening in Ibiza this Spring (in exchange we need links on websites)...then point them in my direction.

Mousie
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Aldo

There is no such term as pushy when it comes to contacting journalists, in fact, if you aren't, you won't get anywhere. Your property is unique, I came across it by chance on Gumtree and was totally blown away, so much so, that I sent the link to a friend.

Having said that, thousands of others contact the journalists too, so you need to have a reason, for instance, a particular festival of note taking place in the area or a new airline route opening up etc.

What I would suggest as your property is so romantic, is to contact the wedding magazines, film companies or location companies as your property seems to be a perfect setting for filming or a photo shoot.

I wish you luck as your property is truly stunning and totally different.

Chianti

The thing is, I have these weird gaps I've never had before in January and February that I have become paranoid about. So much so that I have made a late booking offer that is well below the usual rates.

Jimbo, care to put me in touch with this freelance journalist? Thank you everyone for being so helpful.

We had a freelance journalist stay with us once. He promised us the earth and to be included in no less than two articles he was writing about Galicia. We drove him round we took him to the places we thought might be good to be included in the articles. Needless to say we did not appear in the most important one (the one about taking a vacation in Galicia) as another hotel seemly paid to be in the article. This was in a National newspaper and we were promised a link to our web site in the online article. The second article he wrote was about purchasing a house in Galicia, never appeared on line and was for the London Evening press, so it did not have the coverage we expected. So we are now feel some unease if we were to be approached by the press.
Still having said that we still link on our web page, to the said article as it gives some insight to the area.

I & I

Journalists love their freebies and there is no such thing as a promise from a member of the press, imagine how many other owners have done the same. Notice that they never put their promise in writing to you. They have their agenda, if you don't fit in with it, then it's your bad luck. Never, never trust them.

If you stike lucky and do get a good mention then that's cause for celebration !!! It's much better to get the link to a journalist via 1 of the major listing companies as there is advertising involved. It all comes down to money, money, money

Chianti

We did a piece for the Sunday Times a few years ago, it ended up being quite a large piece on the island, centre pages, photos etc. We agreed to do it on the sole understanding that our web site would be mentioned..........you guessed it, not a single mention even that we rented the house out.

Chianti
Yes you are correct.
The reason for the original posting was with an idea to contact journalists to publicise our locations. We just feel it is not worth it, as you say they want it all for free with no promise of an end result.