It happens more often than you might think. A journalist decides that your hotel is worth covering, opens the material you have sent and writes the piece without contacting you again. I have seen it happen many times. Each time, it means the press kit has done its job: the journalist had the story, the facts and the right photographs in front of them, with the usage rights clearly set out, and did not need to ask for anything else.
A hotel press kit is an organised collection of materials that allows a journalist to understand the property’s story, check the facts and download photographs that are ready for editorial use, without having to chase for missing information. It is not a press release, which announces a specific piece of news, and it is not the brochure you use to sell a room to a guest. It is the working resource a journalist turns to once they have decided your hotel may be worth a story.
This is where many hotels get it wrong. A press kit does not need to be beautiful above all else; it needs to be useful. It can be immaculately designed, but if an editor still has to email you to ask how many rooms the hotel has or request a high-resolution image, it is not doing its job. I do not judge a press kit by its appearance. I judge it by how many questions it saves the journalist from having to ask.
What is a hotel press kit?
A hotel press kit brings together everything the media need to cover a property accurately: copy that explains what makes it different, a fact sheet, photographs cleared for editorial use with captions and credits, and direct press contacts. Everything should be in one place and organised well enough for a journalist to use without assistance.
Ideally, it should be both attractive and useful. The design matters because it should reflect the quality of the project, and because presenting good material is also a matter of respecting the person reading it. But if I have to choose, usefulness comes first every time. A polished press kit with very little substance makes a good impression for thirty seconds, then leaves the journalist with exactly the same questions as before. It is not always possible to produce a perfect kit with every conceivable asset. The aim is to get as close as possible, and when something is missing, ask the hotel for it rather than inventing it.
Press kit, press release, media kit and brochure: what is the difference?
The terms are often used interchangeably, although they do not always mean the same thing.
A press release announces one specific piece of news: an opening, a restoration or the launch of a new experience. Its useful life is tied to that moment. A press kit is the resource that remains available over time and that a journalist can return to whenever they decide to cover the hotel, whether or not there is a particular announcement. The press release opens the door; the press kit is the room where the journalist finds what they need once they are inside.
Media kit is sometimes used as another name for a press kit. In publishing and creator marketing, however, it more often describes a commercial document containing audience figures, available formats and partnership opportunities. To avoid confusion, I use “press kit” here to mean the materials a hotel prepares for journalists’ editorial work. A brochure, meanwhile, is a sales tool. It speaks to the guest, not to the editor. A press kit written like a brochure, full of superlatives and promises, is likely to be ignored. Nor is a photo gallery a press kit in its own right; it is only one part of it.
Everything in one place, with no need to chase
What makes a press kit genuinely valuable sounds obvious, yet it is surprisingly rare: the journalist should be able to find everything without having to ask. Editors are overloaded and often working to tight deadlines. Every email they have to send to obtain a fact or an image adds friction. Sometimes that friction is enough for them to cover another hotel instead.
I have often seen journalists write an article simply by working their way through the materials folder, without contacting me once. For an editor, having everything readily available is the ideal situation. A press kit does not replace the work of a press office; I have written separately about what a hotel press office actually does. But it is what the journalist relies on once the real work begins, and at that point it makes a practical difference.
The copy journalists need, and the copy nobody reads
The heart of a press kit is the hotel’s points of difference: everything that explains why this project is not like the others. That might be the story of the person who created it, the thinking behind the restaurant, what genuinely happens in the spa, its experiences or the concept as a whole. A journalist is looking for something new. They are not interested in another version of a service they have covered a hundred times; they want the part of the story that has not already been told.
This is also why so much of the copy hotels place in their materials is of little use. Adjectives alone tell an editor nothing. “Authentic hospitality”, “an unforgettable experience” and “attention to detail” appear in almost every hotel’s communications and give a journalist no reason to write. The same applies to a list of facilities that could belong to ten competing properties. I explore the difference between what matters to a guest and what matters to a journalist in what makes a hotel interesting to the media.
How long should the main document be? Long enough to explain what sets the hotel apart and provide the facts, without padding. A shorter, information-rich document is worth far more than ten pages circling the same two ideas.
The fact sheet: a map of the essentials
The fact sheet has a specific role, separate from the main narrative: it is a map of the essential information. It is not storytelling, and it should not try to be. Its purpose is to help a journalist understand the property and verify details quickly.
I include room types and features, room sizes, restaurant and bar opening hours, facilities, indicative rates, directions and press contacts. The information should be practical, concise and exact. I keep the narrative and emotional detail in the main copy. The fact sheet answers the logistical questions before they are asked, leaving the rest of the kit free to tell the story.
Photography: what makes an image editorial rather than OTA-ready?
This is where hotels are least prepared, almost without exception. When I start working with a property, the photographs available are usually right for its website and online travel agencies, but not for an article. Standard room shots created for a booking platform are not enough.
A newsroom needs both landscape and portrait images because magazines and websites work with different layouts. It also needs the original high-resolution files: photographs of the spaces, details and surroundings, as well as lifestyle images showing real people and experiences. Above all, the photographs need some life in them. The human and emotional element is what I find missing most often, with a consistency I have almost come to expect. A photograph of an empty spa shows a room; a photograph of the same spa in use conveys what it feels like to be there.
Then there is the information journalists assume will be provided, but whose absence can bring everything to a halt: high-resolution files, captions, photographer credits and clearly defined usage rights. I have lost an article because the images were not ready in time. I also regularly see beautiful photographs that cannot be used because nobody has established the rights. For a newsroom, that is effectively the same as having no photograph at all. Agreeing in advance what may be published, and under which credit, is as much a part of preparing a press kit as taking the pictures.
How to organise and distribute a hotel press kit
The organisation should be simple and immediately clear. At the top level of the materials folder, I place the press kit PDF and, where relevant, the fact sheet. Below them, I generally use just two subfolders: images and press releases. In most cases, that is more than enough. A handful of essential files in plain sight, supported by well-organised folders, works far better than a screenful of documents the journalist has to dig through.
A well-designed PDF is an excellent format for the copy and gives the journalist a useful overview, but it should not be the only place where photographs are stored. Original high-resolution images need to be available as separate downloads. A cloud folder works; an online press room on the hotel’s own website is even better. File size matters too. A large email attachment may never arrive or may be blocked by the recipient’s server. A link to a tidy folder is more useful than ten megabytes of attachments.
I keep the press kit publicly accessible and update it whenever there is a development, a revised detail, a new press release or fresh material. Keeping it current is part of my responsibility. A kit last updated a year ago, with information that is no longer accurate, does more harm than good. If you are preparing for an opening, it is one of the resources to have ready well in advance. I discuss the wider timing in my article on when to start hotel PR before opening.
A press kit for international media
For international media, I would normally prepare one press kit in English. It should not be a literal translation. It needs to be localised and written for the way an international newsroom approaches a story, just as I would adapt a pitch. Translation changes the language; localisation adjusts the story. If the brief and scope of work call for it, versions in other languages can be considered, but a strong English master will cover the great majority of situations.
This connects with two opposite routes I often work on: helping an Italian hotel reach overseas media, and helping an international hotel build visibility in Italy. I have explored both in international PR for hotels and, from the other direction, Italian PR for overseas hotels.
When even an excellent press kit is not enough
A press kit removes friction, but it cannot make an unnewsworthy property newsworthy. If a hotel has no genuinely distinctive element, or the experience is not yet ready to be tried by a journalist, immaculate copy and photography will not solve the problem. The work then has to begin with the product, the story or both. Good materials help a strong story to be told; they cannot create one from nothing. It is the same distinction I make when deciding whether a hospitality property is genuinely ready for PR.
A real example: the Moyseion press kit
For Moyseion, the inhabited museum set within Matera’s Sassi, the press kit brings information and atmosphere together while remaining practical. One document covers the experience of arriving, the idea behind the project, the cave dwellings and their individual details, the daily rituals, the underground sanctuary, the programme devoted to food and ancient music, the team and its founder. It closes with a clean fact sheet leading directly to the press office contacts. There is also a page of previous media coverage, which helps a journalist see how the project has already been presented.
The document sits inside a folder containing the fact sheet, image gallery and press releases as well as the kit itself. A journalist can understand the project, check the details and find the photographs without writing to me. It informs and still leaves room for a sense of discovery, but never loses sight of what matters most: it is ready to use. That is the balance I try to reach for every property I represent.
The tell-tale signs of a poor press kit
Some signs tell me immediately that a press kit was not prepared by someone familiar with how newsrooms work. The most common is a two-paragraph document accompanied by a selection of images, simply repeating information already available on the website. That is not a press kit. It is a gallery with an extended caption.
The other problems have already come up, but they are worth setting out clearly: only OTA-style images, with no editorial or lifestyle photography; photographs with unclear usage rights; no direct press contact; information that has not been updated; sales copy where factual editorial copy is needed; and no meaningful points of difference, leaving a document that could describe almost any other hotel. Any one of these can be enough for an editor with ten other things to read to set the material aside.
Hotel press kit checklist
At a minimum, a hotel press kit should contain:
- Copy explaining the hotel’s points of difference: its concept, the story of the people behind it, the restaurant, spa and experiences.
- A fact sheet with the practical details: rooms, dimensions, opening hours, facilities, indicative rates and directions.
- Landscape and portrait editorial photographs supplied as original high-resolution files: spaces, details, surroundings and lifestyle imagery featuring people, complete with captions, credits and usage information.
- Direct press contact details.
- Press releases in a dedicated subfolder.
- High-resolution logo files.
- A straightforward folder structure, with the essential files immediately visible.
- A localised English version if the hotel is targeting international media.
- A publicly accessible, up-to-date kit with someone clearly responsible for maintaining it.
If something is missing, ask for it and build it. What you should never do is invent a fact or an image simply to fill a gap.
One last thought
A press kit is not a calling card designed to be admired. It is a working tool that somebody else will use on your behalf, against a deadline and often without telling you. Judge it from that perspective: how much easier does it make the journalist’s job? A beautiful document that leaves them with unanswered questions is worth less than a plain one that puts everything they need in their hands.
If you are preparing materials for your hotel, or you are unsure whether the ones you have will hold up in a newsroom, we can review them together. You can also explore my PR and media relations services.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a press kit and a press release?
A press release announces a specific piece of news, such as an opening or a new service, and its relevance is tied to that moment. A press kit is the lasting resource a journalist returns to when they decide to cover the hotel. It brings together the copy, facts, photographs and contacts needed to tell the property’s story, regardless of any single announcement.
Should a hotel press kit be translated for international media?
Translation alone is not enough. For overseas media, I generally prepare one press kit in English, localised rather than translated word for word and written for the way an international newsroom approaches a story. Other languages can be considered when the project and scope justify them, but a well-written English master is sufficient in most cases.
How often should a hotel press kit be updated?
Whenever something changes: revised facts, new developments, fresh press releases or additional materials. A publicly accessible kit containing outdated information does more harm than good. Responsibility for keeping it current should sit clearly with the person handling the hotel’s communications.
Is a PDF or an online press room better?
They serve different purposes. A well-designed PDF is useful for reading the main copy and understanding the hotel at a glance, but it should not be the only place where photographs are stored. Original high-resolution images need to be downloadable separately, either from a cloud folder or an online press room. In many cases, the best solution is to use both: the document for reading and the folder for downloading.
