Target properties that are ready to say yes

Two people send forty pitches each. One gets no replies, the other gets nine. Usually the difference isn't the writing. It's that the second one spent an hour deciding who to write to.

Why it works

Most of the answer is settled before you write, by things you can see from outside: whether anyone there does marketing, whether they've worked with creators before, whether they need rooms filled that month. Targeting is the highest-leverage hour in the whole process, because it turns a numbers game into a short list of places that were always going to be open to it.

Six signals that predict a yes

• They post, and recently. An account that published this week has someone whose job includes publishing. An account dormant since 2023 has nobody to receive your email.
• They reshare guest content. The strongest signal there is. It means they already believe creator content is worth using and have a habit of using it.
• They've worked with creators. Check tagged photos and recent posts for collaboration language. A property doing its first one ever is a much longer conversation.
• Independent, or a small group. One decision-maker, no procurement, no global brand guidelines. Big chains aren't impossible, but the yes lives three levels up.
• New, renovated or rebranded. A place that opened in the last year has a content gap and a budget conversation already open.
• A moderate following. Roughly one to twenty thousand. Below that there may be nobody home. Far above it they get twenty pitches a week and have a form for you.

The one thingThe hour you spend choosing who to write to is worth more than any improvement to the email itself.

Signals that predict a no

• A big international chain in a peak destination at peak season.
• A property whose Instagram is entirely reposted stock and rate graphics.
• Anything at the very bottom of the market, where an empty room still hurts.
• Somewhere that's just had a bad experience with a creator. You'll hear about it, and lesson 10 handles it.

Timing beats persuasion

Hotels think in occupancy. In August a full coastal property doesn't need you and can't fit you in. In February the same place has a marketing manager staring at an empty calendar.

• Pitch two to three months out. Long enough to be planned, not so long that nobody can commit.
• Aim at their quiet season, not yours. Their own rate calendar tells you which weeks those are — the cheap weeks are the receptive ones.
• Be flexible on dates and say so. “I can shift a week either side” converts better than any adjective.
• The exception is last minute. A property with unsold rooms three days out has nothing to lose. A short, direct WhatsApp message works exactly when planning wouldn't.

Building the list

1. Open a map of your destination, filter to hotels, set a price floor that matches the standard you want to be seen shooting.
2. Open each one's Instagram. Score the six signals. Keep anything scoring four.
3. Note, for each: property, what you actually liked about it, the channel you'll use, the contact you find, the date you write, the date you follow up.
4. Stop at 30 or 40. A focused list of 40 beats a scraped list of 400, and it's the number you can actually personalise and keep track of.

One rule worth setting now: if you can't find a route to a human in ten minutes, the property goes to the bottom of the list. There are always more properties.

Do this now

1. Choose a destination and a month that's quiet for them.
2. Build a list of 30 properties scoring four or more signals.
3. Put the ones that already reshare guest content at the top. Your first yes makes the next forty easier.