“We want to become international.” It is one of the phrases I hear most often, and it almost always hides the same misunderstanding. Usually, it means taking the press release that worked in Italy, translating it into English and sending it to a list of journalists abroad. Then you wait, and nothing happens.
International PR is not simply the same story distributed more widely. It starts with a decision: which countries are worth targeting, in what order, and for what reason. The difficult part is not writing in another language. It is deciding where it makes sense to be heard and understanding what, in that market, a journalist may actually want to cover. In this article, I explain how I approach international media relations when a hotel wants to build editorial coverage beyond its home market: how I choose markets, what genuinely changes from one country to another, the role of language, press trips and budgets, and where the limits of what PR can promise really lie.
What international PR is, and what it is not
Serious international PR starts with something that has genuine relevance beyond the hotel’s domestic market. A New Year’s Eve menu, a seasonal package or a new spa that looks much like a thousand others usually does not. Those things may be perfectly good reasons for a guest to book, but they are rarely a reason for a journalist in another country to write. An initiative that allows an international traveller to experience something they cannot find elsewhere, and return home with a story worth telling, may be.
Translating a press release is not international PR. At most, it is a useful first gesture: giving a journalist the material in a language they can read immediately, without friction. The real PR work starts afterwards, when you speak to them, show that you understand their publication and their readers, and present the story from an angle that makes sense for them. Translation opens the door. It is not the conversation.
The threshold for interesting international media is neither higher nor lower than it is at home. It is different. A story that works extremely well in Italy will not automatically travel. It needs a reason to matter to somebody in London, New York or another market: a theme, a moment or a relevance that survives the border. Here, I am assuming that the hotel already has something genuinely newsworthy and focusing instead on what changes once the audience becomes international.
The reverse situation follows a different logic: a hotel outside Italy looking specifically for visibility in the Italian media. That deserves its own strategy, because entering one defined national media market is not the same thing as building international coverage across several countries.
First question: is the hotel ready to go international?
Not immediately, and not every hotel is. Before approaching international media, the property needs a level of service, operations and thinking that can withstand the additional exposure. Nothing extraordinary is required. What matters is that the story being told genuinely exists and holds up in real life.
A hotel that has just opened, has never worked with the media in its own market and has not yet seen how its new experiences or initiatives perform with real guests would usually be better off waiting. Bringing an international journalist into an experience that has not yet been properly tested is one of the quickest ways to turn an opportunity into a problem.
A property that already has experience with domestic media and is accustomed to welcoming international guests starts from a stronger position, because the machinery is already working. If there are still uncertainties around the product itself, however, international PR is probably premature.
The heart of the work: choosing markets, and putting them in order
This is where much of the real work happens, and it is also the step hotels most often skip. When somebody tells me they want “international visibility”, my first question is not where they would like to appear. I ask where their guests currently come from, which markets they want to develop and, above all, why.
From there, the research becomes concrete: tourism boards, national tourism data and official market intelligence; how many travellers arrive from a particular country, how much they spend, when they travel and what kind of experiences they are looking for. You build a picture of the audience you want to reach before deciding which media market deserves attention.
One slightly counterintuitive conclusion often comes out of this work: not all markets are equally valuable, and working a small number of them properly usually delivers more than touching ten of them superficially. A single hotel, and a single consultant, cannot seriously cover half the world at once. I would rather choose two or three markets for clear reasons and work them properly than scatter pitches everywhere without building meaningful presence anywhere.
The market sending you guests is not always the market you should prioritise
This is one of the distinctions I find most useful. The obvious assumption is that PR should focus on the countries already filling the hotel’s rooms. Sometimes that is exactly the right decision, particularly when the aim is to strengthen an existing market or respond to an emerging flow of travellers with strong spending power and a real appetite for culture, food and local experiences.
But an editorial market can also be valuable for a completely different reason: its ability to amplify a story beyond its own borders.
With Moyseion in Matera, I started with the UK, securing a first-person feature in The Guardian and an independent 9/10 review in The Telegraph. I did not choose Britain because British travellers were necessarily the property’s largest source market. I chose it partly because strong coverage in authoritative British media can travel well beyond the UK itself. From there, the story was picked up organically elsewhere, eventually reaching 38 international pieces of coverage across 12 countries within twelve months.
An editorial market therefore matters not only for how many bookings it may generate, but also for how far it can make a story travel.
Understanding the difference between a market that sends guests and one that creates editorial resonance can materially change the strategy, and it is one of the reasons I do not treat every country as deserving the same investment.
Language and the differences between markets
Do you need to be a native speaker to pitch internationally? No. I work mainly in English and, across many international markets, it is a perfectly workable professional language even when it is not the language of the country where the publication is based. With Moyseion, I have pitched successfully in English to media inside and outside the European Union. It is not a shortcut. In many situations, it is simply a practical way to work effectively across markets.
When the local language matters and the opportunity justifies it, I translate the press release using professional tools so that the journalist can read the material immediately. But I keep one rule very clear: I always explain that the translated material is provided for convenience and that, on a call or in person, I work in English. I do not want somebody to reply expecting a conversation in German or French and discover otherwise later. Being clear about what you can and cannot do, even on something as apparently minor as language, is part of building a relationship that lasts.
Plenty changes from one country to another: the angle that works, the right tone for an email, how direct or formal the approach should be, and the timescales within which a publication operates. I am wary, however, of reducing entire markets to formulas such as “Germans behave like this” or “Americans want that”. In practice, I work much more individually. I study the publication, then the journalist, and build the approach around the person I am actually trying to reach.
Some Asian markets, for example, require more research because of distance, language and significant cultural and editorial differences. They are not impossible markets. I simply would not treat them as an effortless extension of the same work carried out in Europe.
The pitch that crosses borders
An angle developed for Italy can work abroad, but only if it is broad enough to survive the journey. It depends on how strong the story is in its own right.
With Moyseion, for example, I worked on an experience inspired by the Odyssey at a moment when the subject was becoming culturally relevant again, partly because of renewed attention around the forthcoming film adaptation. The connection was universal enough to work with both Italian and international media: the Odyssey does not belong to one country. Other stories are deeply tied to an Italian context and need to be reconsidered almost from scratch before they can work elsewhere. There is no fixed rule. I assess it case by case.
What does not change is the work I do on the individual journalist. Before contacting somebody, I read what they have published, understand what they cover and work out why my story might genuinely matter to them. Mass mailing does not work, in any country. An email addressed to a journalist by name is never sent by me as part of a mass distribution. A press release may occasionally go to a general newsroom or desk address, but individual journalists are contacted one by one.
A relationship with an international journalist begins in exactly the same way as one with an Italian journalist: by showing that I have read their work, that I understand their publication and their market, and then by speaking as people, exchanging views rather than treating the interaction as a database transaction. Trust is built there, not inside a media list.
International press trips and media stays: when they genuinely make sense
An international press trip is particularly useful when you need to create concentration and momentum, typically around a launch or an opening. Instead of throwing one stone into the water, you throw several at the same time: journalists from different countries experience the project together, and the resulting waves can reinforce one another. Nothing is ever guaranteed, and I will come back to that shortly, but a well-designed press trip can create a level of concentrated editorial attention that is difficult to reproduce in other ways.
When a press trip is badly designed, the problem is usually the group or the programme. If you put together journalists with completely different interests, every activity created for one person leaves somebody else looking at the clock. A press trip that works has a thread running through it, with angles and experiences that make sense for everybody invited. It is not a random collection of media contacts sharing the same itinerary.
There is another distinction worth protecting, because two things that look similar from the outside can be very different in practice: a journalist visit and a content creator stay. Sometimes they can work together; sometimes they should not. A creator needs time and situations in which to shoot, film and produce content. A journalist generally needs to experience and understand the place. Those are different working requirements, and forcing both into the same programme can easily serve neither particularly well.
There is also an international mistake I see with invitations: bringing creators from everywhere without any real sequence or strategy. It may fill the internet with content, but it can also burn through the novelty of the hotel. When relevant publications see a property that has already been shown everywhere except in their pages, the reaction can simply be: “everyone has already covered it, so why should I?”
The visibility that matters needs order and priorities. It should not be scattered indiscriminately.
Costs and timing change less than you might think
Timing follows much of the same logic internationally as it does domestically. Editorial lead times and seasonality still matter. I would not pitch a seaside destination in autumn for an article due to run in January if the publication has no reason to recommend a beach holiday in the middle of winter.
International work simply adds another layer: flight connections and the periods when people in that particular country actually travel to the destination. A market’s travel calendar matters just as much as the hotel’s own season.
Costs work in a similar way. Many of the underlying cost items are the same as they are for domestic PR, and international work is not automatically more expensive. Sometimes the opposite is true. A major US publication may have a correspondent already living in Italy, and hosting that journalist can cost less than bringing an Italian journalist from one end of the country to the other.
Of course there are additional elements that can matter: translations when they are necessary, travel, or a press trip involving several markets. But the simple equation “international equals more expensive” is not particularly useful. The real calculation depends on the project and the countries involved.
“We want to be in Condé Nast Traveller” — and do you need a PR agency in every country?
These are two of the questions I hear most often, and both come back to the same underlying issue: what exactly are you trying to build, and over what period of time?
Wanting coverage in a specific publication such as Condé Nast Traveller is perfectly legitimate. What is not realistic is treating it as a programmable placement. An exceptionally strong story may interest a major publication immediately. In other cases, credibility and awareness around the project need to be built over time, with previous coverage helping establish the story before the right angle reaches the right editor at the right moment.
There is nothing wrong with asking a PR professional to work towards a publication of that calibre. Treating the resulting article as something you are entitled to receive, however, is usually a route to disappointment.
Do you need a PR agency in every country? Not necessarily. Local representation can be very useful when one market is important enough to justify continuous activity, when the local language is particularly important or when deep, on-the-ground knowledge of a specific media ecosystem can make a meaningful difference.
But it is not automatically the best structure for every hotel. For many independent properties, centralised management through a single point of contact can work extremely well, keeping positioning consistent while different markets are approached selectively rather than fragmenting strategy and messaging across several providers.
If the broader question is whether a hotel should work with a large PR agency or a senior independent consultant, I have covered that separately in PR Agency or Senior PR Consultant for Hotels?
What international PR cannot do
It is worth being clear about this, because it is often the part hotels least want to hear. Realistic expectations abroad are essentially the same as they are at home. A New Year’s Eve dinner menu will not suddenly appear in major publications around the world. For a dinner to become an international story, something more would need to be happening: an experience unavailable elsewhere, or a reason why that particular evening in that particular place deserves attention beyond the hotel’s own market.
A good menu can be an excellent reason to book. On its own, it is not necessarily a reason to write an article.
Then there is the limitation that exists regardless of how good the PR professional may be: nobody can guarantee editorial coverage. Earned media is earned, not bought. I can create the conditions for a relevant story to reach the right people at the right moment, but the final decision belongs to the journalist and their editorial team.
A press trip is not paid for in exchange for articles, and hospitality is not a deposit on a review. If somebody guarantees publication in a specific title as part of an ordinary earned-media mandate, it is worth asking exactly what kind of coverage they are promising. When editorial space is bought or contractually guaranteed, we are talking about advertising or branded content, not earned media.
Serious PR works with probability and relationships, not guarantees.
Where to start
Building coverage in international media is not primarily a question of volume. It is a question of choices: which markets genuinely make sense for the hotel, which story can travel beyond its domestic context, and where it is worth concentrating time and resources rather than spreading them too thinly.
Done in the right order, international media relations can build value over time. Reduced to translation and hope, they can just as easily waste both money and opportunity.
If you are considering international media for your hotel and want to understand whether the timing is right, and which markets might genuinely make sense, we can start with a conversation. I will tell you frankly where I see a real opportunity and where I think it may be too early or simply not worthwhile. You can also explore my PR and media relations services.
Frequently asked questions
Can a hotel contact international journalists directly?
Yes. A hotel does not necessarily need a PR agency in every country. The process remains fundamentally the same: identify the right publications and journalists, understand what they cover and whether their audience is relevant to the hotel, then approach them individually with a proposal designed for them. For many independent hotels, centralised international media relations can be entirely sufficient.
Is it better to target many countries or only a few?
A few, chosen properly. A single hotel rarely has the resources to maintain meaningful media relationships across a large number of countries at the same time, and scattered coverage can leave very little lasting impression. Two or three markets worked properly, selected according to the hotel’s existing guests, commercial objectives and the places where its story can generate the greatest editorial resonance, will usually achieve more than ten markets touched superficially.
Is translating a press release enough for international PR?
No. Translation can make the story immediately accessible to a journalist, but it is only a first step. International PR begins when you show that you understand the journalist’s market, publication and audience, and present the story from an angle that is genuinely relevant to them.
Can international PR guarantee coverage in foreign media?
No. Earned media remains an independent editorial decision made by the journalist and their publication. A serious PR professional can create the conditions that increase the likelihood of relevant coverage, but cannot promise publication in a specific title. When coverage is guaranteed, it is generally advertising or paid content rather than earned media.
