Using Influencers to Promote Your STR

[James Nicholson]

I'm launching a stylish high-end STR in California wine country and I was thinking about contacting some travel influencers for a complimentary stay at the property in exchange for posting about their experience to their followers. Has anyone had experience doing this? If so, was it worth it and what were the terms of the influencer arrangement?

[Ken Boone]

I have never contacted one however I have been contacted by a few. They usually want a completely free extended stay.  The last one that contacted me wanted like two weeks and had over a million followers. It was a lady that was doing some broadcasting locally and was on only fans among the other main platforms.  For one thing I didn’t think her fan base was one I wanted to attract to my cabins and for the other thing I didn’t need the help.  

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Ken Boone:

I have never contacted one however I have been contacted by a few. They usually want a completely free extended stay.  The last one that contacted me wanted like two weeks and had over a million followers. It was a lady that was doing some broadcasting locally and was on only fans among the other main platforms.  For one thing I didn’t think her fan base was one I wanted to attract to my cabins and for the other thing I didn’t need the help.  

Only fans? Yeh, that's ending up in a porno shoot. You made the right choice.

[Scott E.]

I haven't worked with influencers to stay in properties of mine but as a very small YouTube influencer myself I can share some perspective on what they might expect.

You need to look at their recent average views per video, which will tell you about how much they would make for a sponsored piece of content.

If they get about 10k views per video on average, a sponsored video would make them about $1,000. If they get about 100k views per video on average, a sponsored video would make them about $10,000.

So you will want to make sure you are giving them the appropriate amount of value based on their average views per video. This could be in the form of a free stay, or a cash payout, or a combination of both.

Also, you will want to track how many bookings come in as a result of their promotion (so you know whether its worth it to do this again in the future). So you will need to create a custom link for them to track clicks, and how many clicks convert to bookings.

[V.G Jason]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Ken Boone:

I have never contacted one however I have been contacted by a few. They usually want a completely free extended stay.  The last one that contacted me wanted like two weeks and had over a million followers. It was a lady that was doing some broadcasting locally and was on only fans among the other main platforms.  For one thing I didn’t think her fan base was one I wanted to attract to my cabins and for the other thing I didn’t need the help.  

Only fans? Yeh, that's ending up in a porno shoot. You made the right choice.

Yeah for real. I'd pay her not to come by.

[James Nicholson]

Quote from @Scott E.:

I haven't worked with influencers to stay in properties of mine but as a very small YouTube influencer myself I can share some perspective on what they might expect.

You need to look at their recent average views per video, which will tell you about how much they would make for a sponsored piece of content.

If they get about 10k views per video on average, a sponsored video would make them about $1,000. If they get about 100k views per video on average, a sponsored video would make them about $10,000.

So you will want to make sure you are giving them the appropriate amount of value based on their average views per video. This could be in the form of a free stay, or a cash payout, or a combination of both.

Also, you will want to track how many bookings come in as a result of their promotion (so you know whether its worth it to do this again in the future). So you will need to create a custom link for them to track clicks, and how many clicks convert to bookings.

 Thanks Scott - very helpful info.

[Ken Boone]

Quote from @James Nicholson:

Quote from @Scott E.:

I haven't worked with influencers to stay in properties of mine but as a very small YouTube influencer myself I can share some perspective on what they might expect.

You need to look at their recent average views per video, which will tell you about how much they would make for a sponsored piece of content.

If they get about 10k views per video on average, a sponsored video would make them about $1,000. If they get about 100k views per video on average, a sponsored video would make them about $10,000.

So you will want to make sure you are giving them the appropriate amount of value based on their average views per video. This could be in the form of a free stay, or a cash payout, or a combination of both.

Also, you will want to track how many bookings come in as a result of their promotion (so you know whether its worth it to do this again in the future). So you will need to create a custom link for them to track clicks, and how many clicks convert to bookings.

 Thanks Scott - very helpful info.

 Also to point out, Scott mentioned if they are sponsored as in another company is paying them to do this video or paying them directly to put a specific ad or product placement ad in their video directly.  The flip side to that is if they are doing the video unsponsored to generate ad income from the video that YouTube brokers.  If that is the case the revenue they would get is drastically lower than what Scott has stated.  I have made exactly $282 on a video that has around 300k views, and $165 on a video that has around 25k views.  There is a big range of what can be made, depending on a lot of variables, but the point is if it is unsponsored they make a LOT less.

[John Underwood]

Great properties sell themselves without any gimmics.

[Scott E.]

Quote from @John Underwood:
Great properties sell themselves without any gimmics.

I would not consider advertising your property as a gimmick. Companies have been using various form of advertising to market their products and services for the past 200 years.

[John Underwood]

Quote from @Scott E.:

Quote from @John Underwood:
Great properties sell themselves without any gimmics.

I would not consider advertising your property as a gimmick. Companies have been using various form of advertising to market their products and services for the past 200 years.

 I don't consider this proper advertising.

[James Nicholson]

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Scott E.:

Quote from @John Underwood:
Great properties sell themselves without any gimmics.

I would not consider advertising your property as a gimmick. Companies have been using various form of advertising to market their products and services for the past 200 years.

 I don't consider this proper advertising.

Hi John, when it comes to STRs what do you consider proper advertising? Do you just stick with listing it on Airbnb or are there other avenues you pursue? 

[John Underwood]

Quote from @James Nicholson:

Quote from @John Underwood:

Quote from @Scott E.:

Quote from @John Underwood:
Great properties sell themselves without any gimmics.

I would not consider advertising your property as a gimmick. Companies have been using various form of advertising to market their products and services for the past 200 years.

 I don't consider this proper advertising.

Hi John, when it comes to STRs what do you consider proper advertising? Do you just stick with listing it on Airbnb or are there other avenues you pursue? 

 Vrbo is all I need. Airbnb doesn't do very well for me.

[Chase Hoover]

We've done this with a few local influencers for our boutique motels.  They are based either in our region or in our target market (DC) and they post about things to do.  They usually have around 20k followers, nothing too crazy.  We invite them for a free weekend when we first launch and they post content around the property and different hikes, breweries, wineries you can do while staying at our property.  They post a promo code for 20% off that month using a custom code, this way we could track if the strategy actually got us bookings.  I think last time we got something like 10-15 bookings, so it's worth it to us.  Good exposure for when you first launch a property.

[Jeremy H.]

Quote from @Nathan Gesner:

Quote from @Ken Boone:

I have never contacted one however I have been contacted by a few. They usually want a completely free extended stay.  The last one that contacted me wanted like two weeks and had over a million followers. It was a lady that was doing some broadcasting locally and was on only fans among the other main platforms.  For one thing I didn’t think her fan base was one I wanted to attract to my cabins and for the other thing I didn’t need the help.  

Only fans? Yeh, that's ending up in a porno shoot. You made the right choice.

 May be another revenue generator? Kidding kidding 

That being said OP, I personally don't run my business that way of giving free stays of any reason (other than immediate family members)

[Leslie Anne Morris]

I have hosted travel bloggers. Ask to see their media one card to determine if it’s worth it or not. Normally they will pay third party costs, such as cleaning fees. 

[Paul Sandhu]

I sometimes get a group of 6 to 36 people that come to town and need a place to stay.  They don't all come at the same time. They arrive in stages depending on the progress of the work.  I'll rent a place to the first 2 or 3 persons and then it's their word of mouth that gets the rest of places rented to the remaining people.

[Michael Baum]

Interesting idea, but I am not sure why they would want to. We have a nice place but we cater to regular families looking to get away.

Like @John Underwood, we get plenty of bookings just from being on VRBO and AirBNB. I would give it a try if someone came forward, but they aren't lining up. :)