Part 2 · The proof · Lesson 6 of 13
Look like a professional in five seconds
Someone glances at your profile for five seconds before they read a word you wrote.
4 minute read
Before anyone reads your message properly, they glance at you. Bio, profile picture, last nine posts, email address. It takes about five seconds and it decides whether the rest gets read carefully or skimmed.
Why it works
Saying yes to you is a small risk for them. Someone will be in their building, near their guests, representing their brand for a few days. Everything that says “this person is organised and does this regularly” lowers that risk. Everything that says “this might be a hobby and they might vanish” raises it.
What they're scanning for is coherence, not size.
The one thingThey're not asking whether you're impressive. They're asking whether you're safe to say yes to.
The profile
- Public. A private account ends the conversation before it starts.
- A bio that names the job. “Hospitality content for boutique hotels”, or “Hotels & short stays · Lisbon”. Not “wanderer ✈️ coffee ☕ dreamer”.
- A highlight for hotel work, even if the first entries are the self-funded weekend from lesson 5. Call it Stays, or Hotels, or Work.
- A feed that looks like one person made it. Nine posts in a row should share a palette and a pace. This matters more than the number above them.
- Not only hotel rooms. Some life, some place, some food. You're showing taste, not filing a report.
Your email identity
An address on your own domain costs about a coffee a month and changes how a proposal reads. Failing that, a clean address with your name in it. Then a signature:
Two lines and a link. No quote, no image banner — half of all mail clients strip those anyway.
Pick a lane, and make it narrow
“Travel creator” doesn't tell a hotel anything, because everyone says it. Something specific makes you memorable and makes the yes easier, because they can picture exactly what they'd get:
- Boutique and design hotels
- Wellness, spa and retreats
- Family-friendly resorts
- Food-led properties and hotel restaurants
- Villas and short-stay rentals
- City hotels for weekend and business travellers
You're not signing a contract with the category. You're giving a stranger four words to file you under.
The seven things a property wants to know
Everything a hotel needs about you fits into seven answers. These are the exact ones Questroo looks for when it writes on your behalf, and it will leave a line out of a message rather than make one up — so a blank here is a sentence missing from every pitch you send.
| Answer this | Because |
|---|---|
| Specialty — what kind of content you make | It's the line that says who you are. Nothing works without it. |
| Portfolio — where they can see your work | The link every pitch ends with. |
| Past collaborations — properties you've worked with | Answers “have you done this before” before anyone asks. |
| Testimonials — anything written about you | Two sentences from a named manager settle more doubt than three paragraphs from you. |
| Equipment — what you shoot with | Reassurance for a property that's been burned by a phone and a prayer. |
| Audience — only if you want it mentioned | Opt-in. Leave it blank and your reach never appears in a message. |
| Travelling with — anyone coming with you | Occupancy is a real logistics question. Say it upfront and it's a non-issue. |
The first two are the ones to do today. The rest fill in as you work.
What to leave out
Don't lead with your follower count if it's small — and don't apologise for it either. Don't attach a media kit full of reach statistics to a proposal where the content is the product. And don't put your Instagram link in the first line of the pitch; put it on your portfolio's contact page, so they look at the work before the numbers.
Do this now
- Rewrite your bio as: [what you make] for [what kind of property] · [city].
- Make the hotel highlight, even with three things in it.
- Set up the signature. Send yourself a test and read it on your phone.
- Scroll your own feed as a stranger. If you can't tell what you shoot within three seconds, neither can they.
- Answer Specialty and Portfolio in your workspace. Ten minutes, and every message after it gets better.