I 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!