Q: What do you do if you're being a hosted by a hotel, but it's not that great? Is it okay to be negative in your review?
A: This is a question I get all the time! And the reality is, there's not just one answer to this. A lot of depends on what your style of content is, and what your philosophy is as a creator.
There are some travel creators who pride themselves on being no-holds-barred in their opinions. Other travel creators feel that they're more about creating inspirational content, so they always keep everything positive. And of course, many creators (like me) fall somewhere in-between.
I believe the most important thing is that you establish clear expectations with the hotel or resort. Some properties may have their own agreements/contracts that specifically say that they don't want you to say anything disparaging at all. While others leave it more up to the creator to share their honest experience. If you're going to be no-holds-barred, just make that clear to the property so they're not blindsided.
For me personally, I view content from hosted stays as a form of sponsored content, even in cases where we're not getting paid a cash fee. So overall I try to focus on the positive aspects of a property, since every hotel has things they're good at, and things they're not as good at.
In cases where I do have criticisms to make, I follow a few guidelines. First, as much as possible, I'll try to keep it constructive and diplomatic. So rather than saying "Damn... the food is expensive AF!" I'll spin it as, "Looking at the menus beforehand and planning a food budget will be helpful."
Also, if something negative happens during our stay, I'll only include that info in our review if I think there's a good chance that many other guests will be affected by the same issue. So for example, if it's just one server who had an attitude cause they were having a bad day, that's probably not something I would mention. But if it's a systematic problem with customer service across an entire restaurant, then that's something I would include, so that my audience has a heads-up to maybe skip that restaurant and go elsewhere on the property.
Also, always give a property the opportunity to correct an issue. Don't stay silent about it during the stay and then complain in your content. That's just not fair to them! No hotel stay is going to be perfect, so give them a chance to make it better.
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Take care,
Carmen Sognonvi
