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Part 3 · The pitch · Lesson 8 of 13

Find the person who can say yes

Most pitches aren't turned down. They're quietly filtered by someone who was never allowed to decide.

5 minute read

A creator writing outreach emails at a café table.

Here's what usually happens to a pitch. It arrives at a general inbox watched by reception. Reception is busy, has no say over marketing, and has been told not to forward things they don't understand. Your email isn't turned down. It's filtered, quietly, by someone who was never allowed to say yes.

Why it works

“The hotel” is never one person. There's whoever reads the inbox, whoever decides if something's worth passing on, and whoever can actually authorise a comped room. Getting to the third person removes two chances to be dropped along the way.

When people tell us cold outreach doesn't work, they almost always mean they were writing to the first person.

The one thingFinding the right name is worth more than rewriting the email. It's the biggest single lever in outreach.

Who you're looking for

Roughly in order of usefulness: Marketing Manager, Social Media or Communications Manager, Sales & Marketing Director, Guest Relations Manager, General Manager. At a small property the owner is all of them. For villas and short stays it's often a management company running several places — find that company and one relationship can open five doors.

Six ways to find them

  1. Just ask, on Instagram. Fastest route and the most underused. Spend a day being a real person on their account first — a like, a reply to a story — so you're less likely to land in message requests. Then three lines.
  2. Their own website. Press, Contact and About pages often name the team. Press pages exist for exactly this.
  3. The map listing. Phone numbers and WhatsApp links are frequently sitting right there, and a WhatsApp message gets read in a way a general inbox doesn't.
  4. LinkedIn. Search the property or the group and read job titles. You often get the full name without connecting, and the email pattern is usually guessable from a press release.
  5. Facebook. Often better maintained than a neglected Instagram, especially outside Europe.
  6. Search the name plus the role. Press releases, trade publications and conference speaker lists surface names constantly.

The message that asks for the contact

Hello! I came across [property] while planning a shoot in [city] — the [specific thing you actually noticed] is beautiful. I'm a hospitality content creator and I'd like to send a short proposal to the right person. Could you point me to whoever looks after marketing or partnerships? Thank you — have a lovely day.

Short, one easy question, answerable in four words, and it asks nobody to decide anything. That's why it works.

Which channel, when

SituationChannel
You have a name and an addressEmail, always. It's forwardable and it's a record.
Small property, number listed, abroadWhatsApp. Often the fastest reply you'll ever get.
No number, no name, active InstagramInstagram DM, asking for the contact — not pitching.
Short-stay rental or villaAnywhere except the booking platform's own messages, which usually prohibit it.
Three days out, rooms clearly unsoldWhatsApp. Short, direct, now.

When you can't find anyone

Give a property ten minutes, no more. If nothing turns up, send a professional email to the two likeliest addresses and move on. The goal is forty properties contacted, not one property researched perfectly.

Do this now

  1. Take the top ten from your list and find a named human for each. Name, role, channel, address.
  2. Where you fail, send the contact-request message above instead of guessing at a pitch.
  3. Never send the full proposal to a reception inbox. It's the most common way a good pitch dies.