If you run an independent hotel, a small group of properties, a restaurant or a wellness space, you will know that the right coverage rarely happens by accident. A well-timed feature in a national travel section, a review from a trusted hotel writer, the right content creator staying for the weekend and posting about your spa, these are the moments that fill rooms and tables. A hospitality PR agency exists to make more of them happen, on purpose.
Kitten & Shark is a hospitality PR agency in London. We work with independent hotels, boutique hotel groups, restaurants, travel brands and wellness businesses across the UK and Europe, helping the right guests, editors, and journalists discover what makes a place worth visiting, writing about and recommending.
A hospitality PR agency manages the reputation and media visibility of hotels, restaurants, travel brands and related businesses. The work usually covers media relations, press office support, launch campaigns, influencer partnerships, press trips, awards entries and reactive comment, all aimed at building awareness, credibility and direct enquiries with the audiences that matter to you.
In practice, that means turning the things you already do well into stories the media want to cover. A new head chef, a refurbished suite, a seasonal menu, a wellness weekend or a quiet sustainability story can all become coverage when they are framed and timed properly and taken to the right writers.
Good hospitality PR is joined up. It understands the guest experience, the media angle, the commercial goal and the small details that make a property memorable. The point is not simply to get your name out there. It is to help the right people understand why your place is worth booking, and to give your story a clear route into the media your audience already reads.
Say you run a country house hotel in the Cotswolds and you are opening a new spa and a seasonal dining menu in the spring. Hospitality PR can get that story in front of travel editors, lifestyle journalists and hotel reviewers before your ideal guests start planning their next break, arrange a press visit so writers experience it first hand, and line up a few considered creator stays so the right content appears at the right time. Done well, the coverage lands while you still have availability to fill.
Hospitality PR suits any business whose success depends on people choosing to visit, stay, eat or book. Some of the situations we see most often:
We work across hotels, travel, restaurants, food and drink, wellness and wider lifestyle and consumer brands. UK and European independent hotels and small hotel groups are a particular focus. We do not work in fashion or beauty PR, which keeps our attention and our media relationships firmly in hospitality and travel.
Hospitality PR is not one single activity. It is a mix of services that work together, dialled up or down depending on whether you are launching something new, building steady visibility through a press office, or protecting your reputation. The table below sets out the core services and what each one supports.
| Service | What it supports |
|---|---|
| Media relations | Coverage in national travel, lifestyle and food sections, plus the regional and online titles your guests actually read. |
| Press office | Day-to-day handling of journalist requests, images, quotes and timely reactive comment so opportunities are never missed. |
| Launch campaigns | Openings of hotels, restaurants, spas, bars and seasonal experiences, planned so the story lands before opening week, not after. |
| Influencer partnerships | Considered creator stays and content that reach the right audience for your property, not simply the largest following. |
| Press trips and visits | Hosting journalists and reviewers so they experience the place firsthand and write about it with genuine detail. |
| Awards and rankings | Entries and submissions that build third-party credibility for hotels, restaurants and the team behind them. |
| Digital PR | Online coverage and quality links that build authority and help you show up in search results and AI answers. |
| Reputation and reactive | Protecting the brand when a story breaks, and steering the narrative calmly when it matters most. |
Most hospitality clients start with a retainer that combines a press office with ongoing media relations, then add launch campaigns or influencer activity around key moments such as an opening, a refurbishment or a seasonal push. Behind the three senior consultants who run your account, we also have a wider network of specialists across event handling, celebrity booking, hotel sales, social media management, digital marketing, SEO, international media, media buying and crisis management when a project calls for it.
One of the most common frustrations we hear from hotel owners and marketing directors is this. Senior people pitch for the account, win the work, and then the day-to-day is handed to a junior team who were not in the room and do not yet know the story. The brand ends up explaining itself to its own agency.
A boutique, senior-led PR consultancy works differently. The people who understand your account are the people who run it. That tends to mean faster decisions, fewer layers and PR that stays close to your commercial goals rather than drifting into activity for its own sake. The table below sets out the practical differences.
| What matters | Senior-led boutique | Large agency |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs your account? | The senior people you met at the pitch | Often, a junior team after handover |
| Team on the account | Three senior consultants across every account | Larger team with more layers |
| Access | A direct line to experienced decision makers | Account managers in between |
| Sector focus | Hospitality, hotels, travel, restaurants and wellness | Often spread across many sectors |
| Agility | Quick decisions and fewer sign-offs | More process and slower turnarounds |
| The relationship | An extension of your team | An external supplier |
None of this means a large agency is the wrong choice for every brand. If you need very high volume across many markets at once, scale has its place. For most independent hotels, small hotel groups, restaurants and lifestyle-led brands, though, the senior attention and sector focus of a boutique consultancy is the better fit.
PR used to be measured almost entirely by coverage and links. That has shifted. Today, the same earned coverage that builds your reputation with readers also shapes how visible you are in search results and in AI answers from tools such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews.
When a potential guest asks an AI assistant for the best country house hotels in the Cotswolds, or a journalist searches for a spa hotel to feature, the answer is built from what credible sources say about you online. Consistent, accurate coverage in trusted travel and lifestyle titles is now part of how you get found, not just how you get admired.
Digital PR for hotels is no longer only about links. It is about being the property that trusted publications describe clearly, so search engines and AI tools can recommend you with confidence.
We make sure your story is told consistently across the titles your audience and the search engines trust, with the facts, names and details that both readers and AI tools rely on.
This is an area where most hospitality and travel PR has been slow to catch up. Getting it right early is one of the clearest opportunities for hotels and lifestyle brands that want to be the name that comes up first, whether someone is reading a magazine or asking an AI assistant.
The best hospitality PR agency in London for you is the one that knows your sector, gives you senior attention and can show coverage that looks like the coverage you want. There is no single ranking that decides this, so it helps to judge agencies against a few practical questions:
If you run a four-star or premium property, also check that the agency can position you well without making you sound like it only works with the very top of the market. Strong mid-market and four-star hotels deserve coverage that feels confident and credible, not out of reach.
Kitten & Shark is a boutique hospitality PR agency in London, made up of three senior PR consultants who have worked at larger agencies and chose to do things differently. We bring big-agency strategic thinking with the independence, agility and personal attention of a smaller consultancy.
Because the three of us work across every account, everyone knows your story, your goals and your media landscape. There is no handover, no learning curve halfway through, and no waiting for the one person who understands your brand to come back from leave. You get senior people who are reachable, involved and accountable.
Our focus is hospitality, hotels, travel, restaurants, food and drink, wellness and lifestyle, with UK and European independent hotels and small hotel groups as a priority. We work with four-star, five-star, boutique and premium properties, and we are careful not to lean on the word luxury so heavily that strong mid-market hotels feel left out. We do not work in fashion or beauty, which keeps our relationships and our attention where they matter for you.
Three senior consultants. One close-knit team. Direct access, sector focus and PR that behaves like an extension of your team rather than an outside supplier.
There is real momentum behind the sector. VisitBritain forecasts around 43.4 million inbound visits to the UK in 2025, with roughly £33.7 billion in visitor spending, and more than half of overseas visitors spend time in London. Hospitality contributes about £93 billion a year directly to the UK economy, according to UKHospitality. The demand is there. The job of PR is to make sure the right share of it finds you.
A hospitality PR agency builds the reputation and media visibility of hotels, restaurants, travel and lifestyle brands. The work typically includes media relations, press office support, launch campaigns, influencer partnerships, press trips, awards entries and reactive comment, all aimed at growing awareness, credibility and direct enquiries.
Most hospitality PR in London is delivered on a monthly retainer, with the level set by how much activity you need and how senior the team is. One-off projects, such as a hotel or restaurant launch, are often priced as a fixed campaign. The right question is not only the fee, but who is actually doing the work for it. With a senior-led team, you are paying for experienced people on the account rather than a junior delivering under a senior name.
A marketing agency tends to focus on paid channels, advertising and your own platforms. A hospitality PR agency focuses on earned coverage and reputation, getting trusted journalists, publications and content creators to talk about you. The two work well together, but PR is what builds the third-party credibility that advertising alone cannot buy.
For most hospitality businesses, the line is blurred, and a good agency covers both. A hotel PR agency focuses on the property, its rooms, dining and experiences. A travel PR agency thinks more broadly about destinations, routes and the wider trip. If you are a hotel, you usually want a partner who understands both, because guests plan a journey, not just a stay.
The best hospitality PR agency in London for your brand is the one with genuine sector knowledge, the right media relationships, senior people on the account and coverage that resembles the coverage you want. Specialism matters more than size. An agency that lives in hospitality and travel will reach the right editors faster than a generalist.
For independent hotels, small hotel groups, restaurants and lifestyle-led brands, a boutique, senior-led agency is often the better fit. You get direct access to experienced consultants, faster decisions and PR that stays close to your commercial goals, rather than being handed to a junior team after the pitch.
Coverage in the publications your guests trust shapes how they choose where to stay, eat and book. A feature in a national travel section, a strong review or the right creator stay builds confidence and keeps you front of mind when people are planning. Many hotels see this show up as more direct enquiries and a stronger pipeline rather than relying on third-party booking sites alone.
Yes. AI tools build their answers from credible sources across the web. When trusted travel and lifestyle titles describe your property clearly and consistently, you are more likely to be surfaced when someone asks an AI assistant for recommendations. Digital PR has become part of how hotels and lifestyle brands stay visible in search and AI answers, not just in print.