The PR work and the moment you start contacting journalists do not begin at the same time — and confusing the two is what throws many hotel openings off schedule. Preparation — strategy, positioning, materials and media mapping — can begin many months in advance, once there is a clear concept, a defined identity and a realistic opening date. Actual media outreach, however, usually becomes more focused around six months before opening — earlier still for print publications, which work to much longer lead times, and if you want to make the most of the “new openings” window. But the right moment to speak to the media is not dictated by the calendar alone: it also depends on whether the project is genuinely ready to withstand the attention.
In the sections below, I explain how I keep these timelines separate, what needs to be ready before approaching a journalist, and what happens when a hotel contacts me — as often happens — only a few weeks before opening.
Preparation and media outreach do not start at the same time
This is the most important distinction in the entire process, yet it is rarely made explicit: starting PR work is not the same thing as starting to contact journalists. They are two different stages, and they operate on different timelines.
In my work, I tend to divide the process into three levels.
The first is preparation: strategy, positioning, conversations with the ownership about where they want the property to go, development of press materials and mapping the media that genuinely make sense for that particular hotel. If there is already something concrete to work with — a concept, an identity and a credible opening date — this phase can begin well before the six-month mark. The earlier the groundwork starts, the stronger the assets will be when they are actually needed.
The second level is project-stage coverage, which is separate from the launch itself. The start of construction, the acquisition of the building that will become the hotel, or an interview with the people behind the project can all be legitimate stories long before opening. They allow the property to begin existing in the eyes of the media without using up the opening itself as a story too early.
The third level is launch outreach: the point at which I actively begin pitching the opening to publications. This is where the six-month timeframe becomes relevant, for a technical reason I will explain shortly. From this point onwards, the actual pitching process begins.
Keeping these three stages separate allows a hotel to enter the media conversation early without wasting the opening story by playing it either too soon or too late.
Why timing is not a matter of opinion
There is a technical reason behind the six-month benchmark, and it comes down to editorial calendars.
Print publications — and long-lead editorial sections more generally — work far in advance. In my experience, if you want to communicate something to a monthly title, you need to speak to them several months before you want the coverage to appear. In practical terms, you should always be thinking at least one season ahead: the stories you want to see published at the beginning of autumn may need to be ready by early summer. If you only start approaching those publications when the hotel is about to open, you are simply too late for that type of coverage. It is not a question of skill — the production window has already closed.
Online media give you more room to manoeuvre, which is why they become particularly important when timelines are tight. But the underlying principle remains the same: the strongest opportunities should be prepared before you need them, not requested at the last minute.
The “new opening” window: an editorial opportunity you only get once
There is one form of coverage that exists specifically before and around the opening of a hotel: the new-opening selections and round-ups produced by major international publications. These can be difficult spaces for a small independent hotel to enter under normal circumstances, but opening now gives a property a legitimate reason to be considered in a way that an hotel that has already been operating for a year simply no longer has.
The important point is that this window only opens once. Opportunities do not disappear after launch — quite the opposite, new ones continue to emerge — but that particular advantage, tied specifically to newness, cannot be recreated later.
I know this because I have seen the difference first-hand. With Moyseion in Matera, I began working on the PR strategy several months after the hotel had opened, and the results were still strong: you can see them in the case study. Even so, I am convinced that starting before opening could have created further opportunities, precisely because the hotel would still have been eligible for those new-opening selections that become much harder to enter once the launch has passed. There is also a very practical consequence that hotel owners often overlook: a publication of that level may still visit later, but by then you may have to organise and fund the trip yourself. In other words, you can end up paying for access to an opportunity that, at the right moment, might simply have existed because the hotel itself was news. Starting late does not mean becoming invisible; it means working harder — and sometimes spending more — to achieve something that good timing could have made easier.
The PR timeline for a new hotel opening
The sequence below reflects how I work in practice rather than a fixed industry template. The timings are indicative and will always vary according to the project, its ambitions and the markets it wants to reach.
Around six months before opening
I speak with the ownership to understand exactly where they want the property to go. I prepare as many of the necessary assets as possible so that everything is ready when the right opportunity appears, and I build the press kit. Only then do I begin contacting top editors responsible for new-opening selections — not to force an immediate commitment, but to understand their timelines and align the launch with their editorial calendar.
Between six and three months before opening
I begin laying the groundwork for higher-profile coverage and consider whether a launch press trip makes sense for a small, carefully selected group of journalists who could experience the property shortly after opening. This is the stage where the conditions for coverage are built — not yet the point where the results are collected.
During the final month
The work with major publications becomes more active. The objective is to reach opening day with the most important high-profile opportunities already well under way, rather than beginning the launch from zero.
In the weeks immediately before opening
With the higher-profile work already in motion, I broaden the outreach to the rest of the relevant media landscape, aiming to create a concentration of coverage around the opening rather than relying on one isolated article.
Launch week
At this stage, much of the work is follow-up: keeping existing conversations alive and, where necessary, developing bespoke materials or angles for the most important publications. It is a refinement phase, but it is often what separates a good launch from one that achieves real editorial momentum.
What happens when the opening is gradual or the hotel is not fully ready
Not every hotel has a single “day zero”. Sometimes one part of the property is ready while another is still being completed, the opening takes place in stages, or a renovation unfolds across several seasons. In those cases, the rule changes: you do not have one story, but a sequence of stories.
I learnt this approach while managing PR around the two-year renovation of Splendido in Portofino with Belmond — a project that developed over several seasons. A property that remains under transformation for years cannot be communicated through a single announcement. It needs to be told in stages. With at least one refurbished area or new outlet introduced each season, I approached the media around individual milestones, building a multi-stage communications strategy: the announcement of the new element, preview images or mock-ups when final photography was not yet available, the possibility of a site visit, and then a press day or preview shortly before reopening so that online coverage could already be live and support bookings.
The transferable principle is simple: when part of the hotel is ready and part of it is not, you neither wait in silence until everything is finished nor pretend the entire project is complete. You communicate what is real now, and use each genuine milestone as a reason to return to the media — sustaining interest throughout the process rather than spending every possible story in a single moment.
Why photography and press materials can determine whether a story is publishable
An editor also makes decisions based on what they can actually put on the page. That is why press materials are not an accessory to the story: they can determine whether the story is publishable at all.
Photography carries enormous weight. Editors know that a powerful image can sometimes earn the click more effectively than the headline itself, and in my experience it is often the photography that first triggers genuine interest. With Moyseion, for example, images of the performers in action — unusual, evocative and almost dreamlike — made a significant difference. They were not standard photographs of hotel rooms, and that made them usable in editorial contexts where a conventional hospitality image might not have been enough.
There is an important distinction here that is rarely made clearly online because two very different objectives are often mixed together. A common piece of pre-opening advice is: “Do not wait for the real photographs — launch with renderings.” That may be perfectly valid as sales advice. If the objective is to start selling rooms, a rendering can sometimes do the job. Editorially, however, the situation is different. Mock-ups and renderings can work very well for project-stage and milestone stories — an announcement, a renovation in progress, a design reveal — whereas a major feature in a high-profile publication will almost always benefit from real, compelling photography. These are different tools for different purposes, and treating them as interchangeable leads to the wrong strategy.
The rest of the assets matter too: accurate captions and credits — because a photograph without clear usage information may not be usable at all — a complete and reliable press kit, precise factual information, a presentable website, a functioning booking system if the launch is also intended to drive reservations, and the availability of the people journalists may want to interview. I insist on preparing these elements early because an interested editor who encounters incomplete materials or unavailable spokespeople will often simply move on.
What being genuinely “PR-ready” means
There is a significant and often underestimated difference between having an interesting story and being ready for media exposure. The first is essential; the second determines whether that exposure will actually help the hotel or create problems for it.
For me, being PR-ready means three things at once: having a press kit and all its supporting assets ready; having an ownership team that genuinely understands what PR involves and what it can require from them; and having a property that is ready to receive a journalist — not simply attractive on paper, but operationally excellent as well. That third element cannot be assessed from a distance. I assess it through a visit.
The site visit: what I look at before pitching a hotel to the media
I start assessing the experience from the moment I get out of the car. Does the arrival feel welcoming? Are the gardens, entrance and exterior areas at the standard a journalist will expect? When I walk inside, am I greeted with a smile? Can the team explain the hotel’s main features clearly? Are they efficient and professional?
I look at the rooms in exactly the same way. Does the room smell fresh? Is it properly prepared? Does the first impression feel right? If there is a view, have the curtains been opened before arrival? Are the welcome amenities appropriate and thoughtfully presented? Then I look at the outlets: is the menu well considered, and are service times reasonable?
These are only examples, but they illustrate the principle. I ask questions constantly and work through consistent checklists because each of these details is exactly what a journalist will experience — and exactly what may end up in their story if something does not work. A property can have a remarkable narrative and still not be ready to be visited by the media.
The team, the chef, the ownership and the people behind the story
The people matter just as much as the physical spaces. Speaking with the chef or other members of the team can be extremely valuable, but there needs to be a sequence: I speak with them first, assess whether they are ready, and if they are not, I work with them on their storytelling before exposing them to an interview — while keeping a close eye on how the conversation develops. If the hotel has not yet opened, that can mean spending hours with the ownership and the team so they understand the standard expected of them: that mistakes become more visible under media attention, that every detail needs to be operating at its best, and — most importantly — what getting to that standard actually requires.
I have written separately about what happens when a property has strong editorial potential but is not yet ready for that level of exposure: a great story is not enough.
The launch press trip: when to invite journalists and when to wait
A launch press trip can be a powerful tool, but it also has a downside. If the property is not capable of handling the exposure, a journalist’s stay can become a boomerang, or simply an investment that produces no coverage at all — after you have spent time, hospitality and sometimes travel costs on a result that either never appears or appears negatively.
That is why I decide whether to invite journalists or wait based on the site visit, not on a presentation deck. If the product, service and team are not mature enough, bringing journalists in at that moment can do more harm than good. It is often better to delay the stay by a few weeks and host them once the property has properly settled into its operation. The risk of getting that decision wrong is not neutral: a journalist’s first impression carries weight, and it cannot always be repaired afterwards.
What if the hotel contacts me too late?
It happens frequently: the opening is only weeks away and very little is ready. My answer is not automatically no — in fact, I enjoy these kinds of challenges, and a strong project can still leave room to manoeuvre, particularly online and through highly personalised pitches to the right editors.
The priorities do change, however. I compress the preparation phase to the minimum necessary, let go of opportunities that require long lead times — beginning with print publications whose production window has already closed — and focus all the effort where there is still a realistic chance of coverage. Most importantly, I am transparent about what can and cannot realistically be achieved. I do not promise coverage that the timing itself no longer allows.
It is also worth remembering something that hotel owners often overlook: starting after opening, or simply starting late, does not mean the door has closed. You cannot recreate the “new opening” window, but once a hotel is operating, new editorial reasons to talk about it emerge continuously: seasonality, an event, a collaboration, a trend that genuinely relates to the project, or an evolution in the property or its offer. One practical tactic when starting late is to monitor major features in leading publications: when an article appears around a theme that genuinely connects with the hotel, there may be an opportunity to approach the journalist in good time and offer the property as a relevant voice or example. The launch moment cannot be repeated; editorial authority, however, can still be built afterwards — simply through different routes.
An editorial launch and a promotional campaign are not the same thing
One final distinction matters because it causes a great deal of confusion. An editorial launch and a promotional campaign do not serve the same purpose, and they do not operate on the same timeline.
PR and editorial outreach are about explaining why a hotel is interesting or different, why now, what kind of experience it offers and who that experience is relevant to. It is a process of storytelling and credibility built through independent third parties — journalists — who remain free to decide whether and how they cover the property. Advertising, commercial promotion and social media launches are different tools: complementary marketing activities with their own timing and logic, designed to drive direct visibility and sales. They can be valuable, but they do not replace editorial relations and should not be confused with them. Press & Pillow focuses on the first of these areas, not the second — and understanding that distinction is already part of doing PR properly.
In short: when should hotel PR actually begin?
PR work can — and often should — begin many months before opening, as soon as there is a clear concept, a defined identity and a credible opening date. The moment to begin approaching the media, however, depends on three things: how ready the project genuinely is, which assets are actually available, and which stories the hotel can credibly support at that particular point in time.
If I had to reduce the entire process to one principle, it would be this: prepare early, begin media outreach around six months before opening so that you do not miss the launch window, and do not expose a property to journalists before it is genuinely ready to be experienced. The opening date establishes the calendar; the maturity of the project determines whether that calendar can realistically be followed.
If you are preparing to open a hotel and want to understand when and how to structure the editorial work — or simply whether now is the right time to begin — you can explore my PR and media relations services for independent hotels, read the frequently asked questions or get in touch for an initial conversation.
Frequently asked questions
How long before opening should a hotel start working on PR?
The preparation phase — strategy, positioning, materials and media mapping — can begin many months in advance, as soon as there is a clear concept, a defined identity and a realistic opening date. Direct media outreach usually becomes more focused around six months before opening, and earlier still for print publications that work to longer editorial lead times. The two phases should not be confused: preparation starts early; media outreach starts when the timing is right.
Can hotel PR begin only one month before opening?
Yes, but the expectations need to change. With only a few weeks available, long-lead print publications will generally be outside the realistic window, while online media may still offer good opportunities — particularly through personalised pitches to carefully selected editors and when the project itself is strong. The preparation phase has to be compressed, long-lead opportunities are set aside, and the work is concentrated where there is still a genuine chance of coverage — without promising results that the timeline itself makes unrealistic.
Do final photographs need to be ready before contacting journalists?
For high-profile editorial coverage, in most cases yes. A strong image is often what first captures an editor’s attention, and weak or unavailable photography can significantly restrict the opportunities. Renderings and mock-ups can still work very well for project-stage and milestone stories — such as an announcement or an ongoing renovation — where the finished guest experience is not yet the story being told.
Is it too late to start PR after a hotel has already opened?
No. The specific advantage attached to being a new opening is lost, but new editorial opportunities continue to emerge after launch through seasonality, events, collaborations, relevant trends and the evolution of the hotel itself. Editorial authority can still be built after opening — it simply requires different routes.
