For a hotel, the choice often comes down to working with a structured PR agency or a senior PR consultant. In short: an agency makes sense when you need its infrastructure — multiple teams working in parallel, scale across several markets at the same time, complex crisis management, and a broader range of services such as social media, events and influencer relations. A senior consultant makes sense when what you really need is high-level strategy, storytelling and media relations, handled directly and consistently over time.
For an independent hotel, the right question is not “which one costs less?” but “how much structure do I actually need to get the PR work I want?”
Below, I break down the costs, the real differences and how to understand which model is right for you — from someone who has worked in PR from both sides.
I’ll start with an admission, because it is precisely what makes everything else more credible: there are situations in which an agency will outperform a single consultant, and I’ll tell you exactly what they are.
The choice, in one sentence
For a major hotel group, an agency can be a natural choice. For an independent hotel, however, it is not necessarily the most efficient one. Not because one model is good and the other is bad, but because they are designed to solve different problems. The rest of this article is about understanding which of those problems is yours.
What are you really paying for when you choose an agency?
When you hire an agency, you are not simply paying for the hours spent working on your hotel.
You are paying for an infrastructure: multiple professionals, processes, tools, backup capacity when someone is unavailable, coordination and, of course, the expertise and reputation the agency has built over time.
All of that has real value, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.
There is no universal price list for PR. Fees vary considerably depending on seniority, market, scope and the structure of the provider. Looking at publicly available benchmarks and agency fee structures, however, an ongoing relationship with an established agency can easily run into several thousand euros per month.
For an independent hotel, the more interesting question is:
do you actually need all of that infrastructure to get the kind of PR work you need?
If the answer is yes — because you need five markets managed simultaneously, social media, events and crisis management under one roof — then that investment can make perfect sense.
If the answer is no, you may be paying for infrastructure you are unlikely to use.
The myth of the “machine that never stops”
One of the strongest arguments in favour of an agency is its structure: you have a team rather than one individual. If someone is on holiday, someone else can step in.
That is a genuine advantage — and I’ll come back to it later, because it really does matter.
But it should also come with an honest question.
There is a recognised risk in the agency world: the most senior people can be highly visible during the pitch process, while much of the day-to-day work is subsequently handled by more junior members of the team.
It does not happen at every agency, of course — and a junior PR professional can be excellent.
But it is one of the questions every client should ask before signing:
who will actually be working on my account?
If you are paying for senior expertise, it is worth understanding how much senior expertise you will actually receive on a day-to-day basis.
With my model, that question does not arise: the person selling you the service is also the person delivering it.
You speak directly to the person writing the pitches, speaking with journalists and building the strategy.
No intermediaries. No handovers. No waiting because “the account manager is in a meeting”.
I’ve seen it from the inside
I’m not saying this based on hearsay.
Before founding Press & Pillow, I spent years working inside luxury hospitality, managing PR for properties including the legendary Splendido in Portofino with Belmond, after previously working within Hilton.
That gave me a front-row view of the relationship between hotels and PR agencies — and of what the work actually looks like behind the scenes.
For an iconic property such as Splendido, journalist requests arrived from all over the world.
And I was the person building the programme around each visit: following journalists on property, organising travel, collecting dietary requirements, coordinating activities and accompanying them throughout their stay.
The heart of the work — the relationship, the storytelling, the experience built around each individual journalist — was handled by one person.
That is where I realised something quite simple: much of what a hotel pays an agency to deliver on the PR side can also be handled directly by a dedicated senior professional, with the advantage of having no layers in between.
Two different economic models
There is another important difference, and it is about how you pay.
Many agencies work on a retainer built around a clearly defined scope: certain activities, hours, markets or deliverables are included in the monthly fee, while anything outside that scope may require additional budget.
It is a perfectly legitimate model, particularly when different teams and resources need to be coordinated.
I deliberately chose a different model — and a deliberately simple one:
one fee, everything included.
No hidden costs. No additional fee for each individual country within the markets agreed as part of the mandate. No surcharge because an additional press release is required that month. No separate price list for every individual activity.
Pitches to journalists are always personalised, one by one — never sent as a mass email.
And you always work directly with me: we discuss strategy and planning together and decide what to do next.
In practice, I become an extension of your team — not an external supplier you send a brief to and then wait for a report from.
To give you a sense of scale: compared with many publicly available retainers from established agencies, my fee for a complete international PR service can be in the region of one third of the cost.
And without a series of additional charges that can arise when work falls outside the original scope.
But the real point is not “one third”.
It is knowing from the beginning exactly what you are going to spend, without surprises.
PR agency vs senior PR consultant: the differences at a glance
| Structured PR agency | Senior PR consultant | |
|---|---|---|
| Main point of contact | Team / account manager | The professional directly |
| Backup in case of absence | High | Limited |
| Simultaneous scalability | High | More limited |
| Expertise | Broad range of functions (PR, social, events, influencers) | Senior specialist expertise |
| Structural costs | Higher | Lower |
| Complex crisis management | Better suited | Less suited |
| Independent hotels | Depends on the scope | Often highly efficient |
The proof: what can one person actually achieve?
Words mean very little without evidence, so here it is.
Moyseion, in Matera, is a project I manage personally as its always-on press office.
Between August 2025 and July 2026, the mandate generated 114 published outputs, with 78% of the coverage dedicated to Moyseion as the main subject..
Independent editorial coverage reached 12 countries, with 38 international outputs.
Results included a first-person feature in The Guardian and an independent review in The Telegraph, which awarded the property a score of 9 out of 10.
The mandate has since been renewed through at least 2027.
You can see the full figures and methodology in the Moyseion case study.
No large team. No junior layer in between.
One person, one direct relationship and a strategy built and developed consistently over time.
That is what I mean when I say that the senior, direct model is not a cheaper substitute.
It is a different way of building authority — the same editorial authority that can increasingly help determine whether artificial intelligence knows, understands and cites your hotel rather than one of your competitors.
So when is an agency genuinely the better choice?
This is the honest part — and the reason I can say everything else.
There are situations in which an agency will outperform a single consultant, and it would be misleading not to acknowledge them.
The first is real absence.
I am one person. If I am on holiday, unwell or dealing with several major launches at exactly the same time, there is no second version of me who automatically takes over the relationships.
I manage that limitation by intentionally working with a limited number of clients so that I am never overloaded — but it remains a genuine limitation of a one-person structure.
The second is simultaneous scale.
A global launch that needs to happen on the same day across multiple countries, with local native-speaking teams working on the ground in each market, requires infrastructure.
One person simply cannot do that, however experienced they may be.
Moyseion reached independent editorial coverage across 12 countries, but that was built progressively, market by market and over time — not by launching everywhere simultaneously on a single day.
The third is a serious, high-risk crisis.
I am not talking about one negative article, which can often be handled more effectively through a fast and direct response.
I mean a genuine emergency requiring multiple people to operate on several fronts, twenty-four hours a day.
And finally, there is breadth of services.
An agency that brings social media, events, influencer relations and PR together under one roof can coordinate different disciplines that one individual cannot realistically manage to the same level of depth.
But look at what most of these scenarios have in common: they are situations involving a major hotel chain, a group or an international brand with multiple simultaneous needs.
They are not usually the reality of an independent hotel or a cultural hospitality project, which primarily needs senior, direct and consistent expertise capable of telling its story over time.
In conclusion
The question, then, is not whether a PR agency costs too much.
The question is whether your hotel genuinely needs to pay for an agency infrastructure in order to get what it is looking for.
If you need scale, multiple teams working simultaneously, complex crisis management or simultaneous activation across many markets, that infrastructure can be a valuable investment.
If, on the other hand, you are an independent hotel looking primarily for strategy, storytelling and ongoing media relations, there is another model: working directly with a senior professional who personally handles both strategy and execution, through a much leaner structure.
Not less PR. Less structure around the PR.
If your property has a story worth telling, the first step is a conversation — not a proposal filled with asterisks. Explore my PR and media relations services for independent hotels, read the frequently asked questions, or book an introductory call.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a PR agency for hotels cost?
There is no universal rate card. Costs depend on the seniority of the team, the number of publications and markets involved, the frequency of activity and the services included, such as PR, social media, events and crisis management. Based on publicly available agency pricing, an ongoing relationship with an established agency will commonly run into several thousand euros per month, with additional costs potentially applying to work outside the agreed scope. A senior PR consultant working with a leaner structure can provide a complete international service for a fraction of that amount.
When does it make sense to choose a senior PR consultant?
When what you primarily need is high-level strategy, storytelling and media relations managed directly and consistently over time — a common situation for independent hotels and boutique hospitality projects. A senior consultant gives you one point of contact, a direct relationship without multiple handovers and, generally, lower structural costs. The model is less suited when you need several teams operating in parallel, simultaneous activation across many markets or complex crisis management.
Can one PR consultant manage international PR for a hotel?
Yes, provided the work is built progressively rather than launched everywhere simultaneously. One concrete example is Moyseion in Matera: a single consultant secured independent editorial coverage across 12 countries and 38 international outputs between August 2025 and July 2026, including a feature in The Guardian and a 9/10 review in The Telegraph. The real limitation is not international reach itself, but simultaneity: launching in eight markets on the same day with local teams on the ground is agency territory; building an international strategy market by market is entirely within the scope of a dedicated senior professional.
