A travel PR agency helps hotels, resorts, restaurants and travel brands earn media coverage, build their reputation and reach the right guests through press coverage, influencer partnerships and digital activity. Kitten & Shark is a boutique travel and lifestyle PR agency based in London, made up of three senior consultants who work directly on every account, from the first conversation through to the coverage that lands.
If you run an independent hotel, a small group of properties, a country house hotel with a new spa, or a restaurant getting ready to open, the challenge is rarely that your place is not good enough. It is that the right travel editors, lifestyle journalists and hotel reviewers have not heard your story yet. Good travel PR closes that gap, so more of the people planning their next trip discover what makes you worth booking.
Travel PR is the work of getting a travel or hospitality brand talked about in the media that its guests already read, watch and trust. For a hotel or travel business, that usually means a mix of press office support, media relations, influencer stays, launch campaigns, events and digital PR. The aim is steady, credible visibility that supports bookings and reputation, not a one-off burst of attention that fades by the following month.
Travel PR works best for businesses with a real story and a clear reason to be recommended. We work with independent hotels, boutique hotel groups, country house hotels, four- and five-star properties, lifestyle-led hotels, resorts, restaurants inside hotels, wellness brands and distinctive travel businesses across the UK and Europe.
You might be a boutique hotel group wanting more national press coverage, a country house hotel launching a seasonal menu or weekend package, a restaurant preparing for opening night, or a wellness brand trying to build credibility in lifestyle media. Or you might simply have noticed that the organic enquiries which used to arrive through your website have quietened down, and you want the right people talking about you again.
Being a London-based travel PR agency matters because so much of the UK travel, hotel and lifestyle media is based here. Editors at national newspapers, travel desks, lifestyle magazines and digital titles work to tight deadlines and rely on the agencies that know their patch. We stay close to that media and keep relationships warm all year round, so when you have a story, we already know who to call and what angle will land.
Our focus is the UK and Europe. That suits independent hotels and small hotel groups that want coverage at home and across key European markets, without being treated as a minor account inside a much larger agency.
Corporate travel PR is about the reputation side of a travel or hospitality business, not just guest-facing coverage. That can mean profiling the people behind a hotel group, supporting announcements such as a new opening, an investment or a senior appointment, and making sure your business is represented clearly and consistently when it counts. As senior consultants, we are comfortable handling the more considered, commercially sensitive side of communications alongside the creative storytelling.
Digital PR is travel PR built for how people actually find places today. Alongside print and broadcast, we work to earn coverage and mentions on the websites and online travel titles your guests use when they research a trip. Increasingly, that includes visibility in AI search tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, which pull from credible, well-structured online sources. Strong digital PR supports your wider search visibility too, which matters if you want more direct enquiries through your own website rather than only through booking platforms.
Here is the part that tends to matter most when you are choosing between agencies.
At a lot of larger firms, you meet the senior team at the pitch, then a junior team handles the day-to-day once you sign. We do the opposite, on purpose. Kitten & Shark is three senior PR consultants, and you work with all three. We are small enough that everyone knows your account inside out, and experienced enough to bring big-agency thinking without the layers.
When a campaign needs extra hands, we draw on a trusted network across events, influencer work, hotel sales, social media, digital marketing and crisis communications. The idea is simple: we want to feel like an extension of your team, not an outside supplier.
There is no single best travel PR agency, only the one that fits your brand, your goals and the way you like to work. A few things are worth checking before you commit:
Do they genuinely understand hotels, travel and hospitality, or is it one of many sectors they cover?
Will the senior people you meet in the pitch be the ones running your account?
Can they point to coverage and contacts that match your audience?
Are they a reactive press office only, or do they also create stories worth covering?
How do they report on coverage, reach and the enquiries that follow?
| Service | What it supports | Typical example |
|---|---|---|
| Press office | Day-to-day media enquiries, quotes and images | A journalist needs a comment or photos fast |
| Media relations | Proactive coverage in your target titles | Featuring a new suite in a travel supplement |
| Launch PR | Openings, relaunches and new offers | Introducing a new hotel to travel editors |
| Influencer partnerships | Reach engaged travel audiences | A curated press stay shared on Instagram |
| Press trips | First-hand experience for journalists | Hosting media for a seasonal tasting menu |
| Digital PR | Online coverage, links and search visibility | Earning mentions on online travel titles |
| Events | Moments worth covering | A launch dinner or supper club |
| Corporate travel PR | Reputation and key announcements | Profiling the team behind a hotel group |
The UK travel market is busy and competitive. That is a lot of potential guests, and a lot of hotels and travel brands competing for their attention. Earned coverage, the kind a good travel PR agency creates, is one of the most credible ways to stand out, because a recommendation in a trusted title carries weight that paid advertising rarely matches.
Inbound visit and spend figures from VisitBritain.
A travel PR agency earns media coverage and builds a reputation for hotels, resorts, restaurants and travel brands. The work usually covers press office support, media relations, influencer partnerships, launch campaigns, press trips, events and digital PR, all aimed at getting the right people talking about your brand in the titles your guests trust.
Marketing is largely paid and controlled: advertising, your own channels and booking platforms. PR is earned: the coverage, reviews and recommendations that come from journalists, editors and influencers. They work well together, but PR tends to carry more credibility because someone independent is choosing to feature you.
Most travel PR works on a monthly retainer, with project fees for one-off launches. The right level depends on your goals, how much coverage you want and how hands-on the work needs to be. We are happy to talk through what would make sense for your business before you commit to anything.
No. We work across boutique, independent, four- and five-star, and premium hospitality brands, including strong mid-market hotels with a good story. The common thread is a brand worth recommending, not a particular price point.
Digital PR earns coverage, mentions and links on the websites and online titles your guests use to research trips. It supports your search visibility, including in AI search tools such as ChatGPT and Perplexity, and helps drive more direct enquiries through your own website.
Yes, openings are one of the best moments for PR. We plan the launch coverage, host the right journalists and influencers, handle the event and keep the momentum going with press office support once the doors are open.
With a boutique, senior-led agency, you work directly with experienced consultants rather than being handed to a junior team after the pitch. You tend to get closer attention, quicker responses and people who know your account properly. A larger agency may suit very big budgets and global remits, so it comes down to the fit you want.
Yes. We are based in London, close to the UK travel and lifestyle media, but we work with independent hotels and small groups across the UK and Europe. Being in London helps with media relationships; it does not limit where our clients are.