Most hotels, regardless of size, rank and diamond award, have a dedicated employee as a press contact, who manages and coordinates all media requests and on-site visits. More often than not, public relations employees in hotels have a title of Marketing Coordinator, or Manager and their position usually falls under Sales and Marketing.

Assuming that all three fields of Sales, Marketing and Public Relations are mutually exclusive disciplines, hoteliers tend to mix them all into one department to keep costs low. Once that happens, not only do job responsibilities become hazy, but also the hotel could suffer because it does not necessarily reach its publicity potential. That is when outsourcing public relations agencies and consultants come to play.

Choosing a successful publicist in hospitality can be difficult because there are not that many agencies or independent consultants who specialize in the hotel industry and know its media environment well. To begin with, when recognizing the need to outsource, hoteliers must establish a budget for public relations that will not only include service fees, but also the traditional "wining and dining," complimentary room nights for media, subsidizing press trips, and the cost of article reprints and permissions for their use on websites and ...