PressStays.com
Advice

What is a Press Stay? A guide for hotels

A practical guide to Press Stays for hotels, including how they work, what to prepare and the difference between editorial visits and creator collaborations.

Published 6 September 2026

A Press Stay is a hosted visit that gives a journalist or influencer the opportunity to experience a hotel first-hand. The property usually provides agreed hospitality, such as accommodation and meals, so the visitor can understand the place properly and consider it for editorial coverage or create content under an agreed collaboration.

Press Stays are a long-established part of hospitality public relations. They are not simply free breaks, and they are not the same as buying advertising. A well-planned stay brings the right professional into the right property for a clear reason, with expectations understood before anyone travels.

How a Press Stay works

The process normally begins with a relevant opportunity. A hotel may be reopening after a refurbishment, introducing a new chef, launching a wellness experience or giving the media a timely reason to visit. Equally, a journalist may already be researching a destination or feature and need a suitable property.

  1. The hotel and visiting professional discover one another and establish whether the proposed stay fits the work.
  2. They agree the practical arrangements: dates, guest numbers, length of stay, hospitality included and any access needed.
  3. For creator work, they also record the content, timing, disclosure and usage expectations before confirmation.
  4. The hotel prepares the relevant team and the visitor experiences the property.
  5. Afterwards, both sides follow up professionally and record published coverage or agreed content where applicable.

PressStays.com brings those stages into one place: discovery, requests, conversations, confirmation, practical details and the eventual record of what resulted. See the full PressStays.com process.

Editorial Press Stay or Hosted Creator Collaboration?

PressStays.com keeps two arrangements distinct because the professional expectations are different.

Editorial Press Stay

This is a hosted visit for genuine editorial consideration. A journalist may be researching a commissioned feature, destination guide, review or another piece of independent editorial work. The hotel can explain what is noteworthy and make the visit useful, but coverage is never guaranteed. The journalist and publication retain editorial control over whether anything is published and what it says.

Hosted Creator Collaboration

This is a hospitality-based collaboration in which the content being provided is agreed in advance. The parties should be clear about formats, quantities, timing, usage rights and disclosure. Within PressStays.com, the hosted experience is the exchange; an additional creator fee is not attached to the stay.

Hotels should decide which arrangement they are offering before inviting or accepting someone. Trying to treat editorial coverage as a guaranteed deliverable undermines editorial independence; leaving creator deliverables vague invites avoidable disappointment.

What should a hotel prepare?

  • A clear reason for the visit. Explain what is timely, distinctive or relevant rather than relying on broad promotional claims.
  • An accurate offer. Set out dates, stay length, room arrangements, meals, activities and any travel contribution precisely.
  • The right internal brief. Reservations, reception, food and beverage, spa and management teams should know who is arriving and what has been agreed.
  • Useful access. Consider who the visitor may need to meet, what they need to see and whether photography or filming requires preparation.
  • One reliable contact. Give the visitor a named person for practical questions before and during the stay.

What should a hotel expect afterwards?

For an Editorial Press Stay, appropriate follow-up means thanking the journalist, providing any promised facts or images and asking whether further information would help. It does not mean demanding positive coverage or imposing a publication date that was never agreed.

For a Hosted Creator Collaboration, the agreed content and timing provide the reference point. If circumstances change, both sides should communicate early rather than allowing a missed commitment to become a surprise.

In both cases, a good Press Stay is selective, clearly arranged and professionally handled. Hotels remain in control of whom they host, while journalists retain editorial independence and creators know exactly what the collaboration requires. Read the shared Professional Standards or explore PressStays.com for hotels.