Today's final business meeting was a panel on public relations and the media. We had Chris Elliott who calls himself a consumer advocate and has so many irons in the various media pools and puddles and pies that even he can't keep up with all of them; we had Kitty Yancey, Travel Reporter for USA Today; and Susan O'Keefe, Associate Editor of National Geographic Traveler.
You can see them all seated left to right, with the exception that the person who is second from the right was the panel moderator, Mindy Bianca who is the Director of PR for Hershey Entertainment and Resorts (one of us!)
Their panel was an excellent one that answered many questions about how to deal with the media and wannabe media people, and people who are looking for free stays under the guise of writing a 'freelance' article about our hotels.
They talked about pet peeves regarding press releases, photo availability and delivery (sizing, format, and so on). There was far too much material for me to cover here, but suffice to say -- you should have been here! It was a very worthwhile session.
Oh, and on a somewhat personal note, (yes, I am blushing a bit, here) Chris has recognized our Hawthorne Hotel blog as one of the Top Eight Hotel Blog Sites worth bookmarking. He said "How does a historic hotel connect with guests? These guys wrote the book. I mean, the blog." -- since I am "these guys" I do take that as a compliment, despite the fact that I am only one gal.
Thanks for the great mention, Chris.
Juli
Juli Lederhaus
General Manager
Hawthorne Hotel
Salem, MA
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