Five-Minute Friday | How to Get to Get Free Trips for Being an Influencer

From a free Glamping trip in 2018 Want to know how to get free trips and luxury hotel stays for being an influencer?
People get really excited about getting free trips, gear, or luxury hotel stays just by posting on Instagram. And guess what? It’s totally possible and probably easier than you think.
The biggest thing is learning how to ask for what you want.
Sometimes hotels and businesses will find you and make you an offer, but most of the time staying in a castle or getting free hot air ballon rides doesn’t just fall into your lap – its up to you to go after the opportunities you want.
The next biggest focus should be to create a win-win situation (make sure both sides get value from a collaboration).
Wondering if your social media is really valuable enough to get free stuff? This is a great opportunity for a hotel to get in front of your audience – what would they pay for traditional advertising on TV or in a magazine?
It will probably easier for companies to say yes after you get to 1000+ Instagram followers or 100+ podcast/YouTube subscribers, but I have heard of people starting to get free stuff with as little as 7 followers.
Let’s looks at an example – say you want to stay in a boutique hotel for two free nights in exchange for media exposure on your instagram account.
Here is what I have done that works really well:
Find out when the hotel has rooms available and go during low season. Its fairly low cost for a hotel to give you a couple free nights when they have extra capacity.
Find hotels or trips that align with your existing audience – the hotel wants to know that they could actually get some customers from your posts. In my case, I prefer to work with eco lodges or boutique hotels that are a little more adventurous.
I try to play the odds – if 10% of the hotels say yes to partnering with you, then how may would you want to pitch to guarantee you get a match? Generally I will send start by emailing 10-15 potential partner hotels. I find the email for the hotel manager or the marketing manager on the hotel website.
When you get to the hotel, make sure you know what photos/video/stories you want to capture and how long it will take you to collect those, so you can enjoy you experience when you are finished. I try to shoot photos of the room in the first 10 minutes before it gets messed up with luggage unpacking
I try to ask what has worked well for a hotel in the past and if there is any specific angle they would like to promote. When we were staying at castle Otocec in Slovenia, the hotel manager really wanted me to focus on their highly rated restaurant and the fresh local food (the breakfast buffet made me feel like a Lord)
Then I try to over deliver – if I promised five instagram posts, then I’ll do six, plus a facebook live, plus a mention on the podcast. I also make sure I give them all the photos I take so they can use them for later for their own social media.
When negotiating with hotels, it’s great if you can provide some testimonials or case studies of hotels you have worked with in the past. So when people have reached out and said, “I went to this hotel after you mentioned it and had the best sleep I’ve had in years,” I keep track of that in a file.
Sometimes a hotel can only give you part of what you ask for. For example, you might have to settle for one free night instead of two, and a discounted dinner instead of free.
I invite you to experiment and have some fun with this! You never know what you will get until you ask.
Examples of free hotel stays and trips we have gotten: Hot Air Ballooning in Southern California
Glamping in Bali at Sangiri
Staying in a luxury hotel in Castle Otocec, in Slovenia
Staying in the boutique Temple Tree resort
Zadar outdoor festival
Hot Air Ballooning with California Dreamin’ Staying in a castle!
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