When media come to visit your property, it’s important to put your best foot forward. Whether it’s one of those VIP stays that include rolling out the red carpet and waiting on the editor hand and foot, or whether it is a discreet reporter who wants to be left alone, your staff must be well organized to understand and respond accordingly to the needs of the media. The moment a reporter enters the property, the entire hotel is being evaluated. That includes everything from the bellman to the check-in process, to the moment the reporter gets into the car to leave.
It’s important to keep in mind that press who come in for Fam trips at a hotel are first and foremost guests. They should be treated no worse and no better. Going over the top with amenities and kissing up often backfires with negative press, and the same can happen, too, if not enough attention is paid to their needs. Press is there to write and tell a story, whether that includes the destination, or the hotel, or both. It’s important for the staff to be properly trained to handle media questions and know how to conduct themselves around the natural curiousity of the press.
By being organized and anticipating questions and needs in a polite and upfront manner will pay dividends with the media in the long run. And hopefully, with plenty of great placements along the way!
Posts Tagged ‘media training’
Hotels: preparing for a press stay
Thursday, May 19th, 2011Tags: boutique hotel fam trips, hotel marketing and pr, hotel press, media training, pr and social media marketing, press fam trips, press stays, training hotel staff
Posted in PR | No Comments »
Mad Men season 4 premiers with PR basics 101
Monday, July 26th, 2010Loved watching Mad Men last night! Aside that it is the only show I follow on TV, I enjoy it more and more every year. I follow it not so much for the stories of Betty and Don, but mostly it’s fascinating to learn about marketing and advertising in an era when the industry was all about men, and women fighting to break the glass ceiling…
In any case, last night’s episode presented Don Draper - now the head of a new ad agency - talking to a reporter writing a story for the firm to be published in Ad Age. Don clearly blew the interview by being modest and keeping a low profile. The article did little service to the agency, which was expecting an awesome PR piece to post in the offices and share with clients, by mentioning Draper “without a name.”
The lesson Don learned, which is timeless in PR regardless of how many centuries go by, is that the press is powerful because it shapes public opinion. How you present yourself reflects upon you and throughout your business. Don is in desperate need of media training, with a heavy dose of change of attitude. At the end of the episode we watch him on an interview with the WSJ for a new story, where he seizes the moment by appearing dynamic, powerful and in-control.
There is nothing more important in PR than the ability to drive and control the story. Let’s see what next Sunday brings!
Tags: mad men season 4, media training, PR, pr lessons, public opinion, public relations blunders
Posted in Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, social media | No Comments »
Celeb chefs and sommeliers as hotel ambassadors
Friday, June 11th, 2010I received this topic as a request to write a blog post a few days ago. Anyone who has some connection or experience at a hotel can become an ambassador. Employees, for instance, are probably the top ambassadors of the hotel and its brand. Repeat guests, corporate clients, and community members are also excellent ambassadors.
What happens however when the ambassador is a celebrity chef, or award winning sommelier who works at the hotel? Obviously, there is much PR value to be had from a celebrity who is sought after to do TV shows, interviews, etc., to promote the hotel. And this is absolutely fine, as long as the hotel’s message is in line with the PR strategy.
The fact is that many chef celebrities need media training. Period. As PR professionals, we cannot expect a chef, or sommelier, or GM to know all the right answers on camera. They may be very reserved, or overly enthusiastic, to the extent of blurring the hotel’s message. It’s clearly the PR team’s responsibility to train and make them understand the message and help them deliver it. For instance, talking points are great but they must be repeated, especially on camera, where a quick cooking performance could take all day to shoot, but is edited down to a few minutes.
Striking a balance between respecting the celebrity’s value in the hotel, and appreciating their talent is important to do in this process. Through media training techniques PR pros help the celebrity look good as they plug in the hotel. Yes, there are exceptions of chef celebs who are great PR ambassadors because they just get it right away. There are others who require more attention.
Either way, arm yourself with patience and tact when prepping a celeb.
Of course, if you’re in PR and reading this, you already know that it’s one thing to say this and another to actually follow through with it!
Tags: celebrity chefs, employee ambassadors in hotels, hospitality media training, hotel ambassadors, hotel pr, media training, pr and hotels, social media PR, sommelier in hotels, tv shows for hotels
Posted in European Destinations, Hospitality, Integrated Marketing Communications, Media Relations, PR, Top Accommodations, social media | 2 Comments »