On locationHotels, restaurants and bars
Hospitality content creator, filming on your premises
Velena Nikolova and Dragos Nistor come to your hotel, restaurant or bar and film it: the kitchen at work, service, the rooms, the view. Both on camera, no crew, no subcontractors. The person who plans the shoot is the person who edits it.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google from 10 reviews
What it costs to book us
Nothing is filmed until the dates and the brief are agreed with you in writing. If a venue is not a fit for us we say so plainly rather than take the booking. Want the account run as well? That is hospitality social media management.
Properties filmed
Examples of properties we have filmed
A selection, not the full list. Named venues rather than a stock photograph of somebody else's hotel. Velena films and edits every booking; Dragos runs the brief and the schedule and appears in couple content.
Leitlhof
San Candido, the Dolomites, Italy
A mountain property filmed across two days: rooms, the spa, the terrace and the view that sells the stay. The Reel from this visit opens the video wall below.
Ibis Edinburgh
Edinburgh, Scotland
A city hotel where the room, the breakfast and the location do the selling rather than the grounds. A different brief from a rural property and a different shot list.
Ibis York
York, England
Filmed to the same specification as Edinburgh, which is what a group needs: two properties that look like the same brand without looking like the same video.
AC Hotel Malaga Palacio
Malaga, Spain
Rooftop pool and sea views, filmed for the moment they are worth filming. Seasonal properties have narrow windows and this is what booking into one looks like.
Purgatory Bar
London, England
A cocktail bar and escape room venue, filmed and run on retainer for three years. One Reel from this account reached three million views organically. The case study.
No Escape London
London, England
An immersive escape room venue, same owner as Purgatory Bar. Copy written for this account was picked up by Conde Nast and TimeOut. The case study.
Two of these are clients of three years under one owner, which is a harder signal than any figure on this page: nobody hands over a second venue out of politeness. Four more accounts are on the case studies page.
The work
What comes off a shoot
Filmed and edited by us on real briefs. Press a thumbnail to play. Nothing loads from YouTube until you do.
Hotel stay, the Dolomites
HotelProperty film, on location
HotelService and the room
RestaurantFood and drink, close up
RestaurantDestination and stay
HotelCouple led, on location
HotelThe full set is on the hotels and restaurants portfolio, and every category is in the UGC portfolio hub.
Who turns up
The two people who would be in your venue
You are not booking a production company and then finding out who they sent. These are the two creators, and there is nobody else. Both are on camera, which is what makes couple led content possible without a second hire.
Films and edits
Velena Nikolova
Creative Director and creator on camera
- Shoots, directs and edits every hospitality booking
- 13,000 on Instagram, consumer and creator audience
- Featured in Women's Health
- Standout creator for Picsart across an eleven month partnership
What she does on the dayRuns the shoot. Decides the shot list against your menu or your property, films it, and cuts it. The person who develops the idea is the person in the edit.
Brief and delivery
Dragos Nistor
Business Strategist and second creator
- Takes the brief, agrees the dates, handles delivery
- LinkedIn Top Entrepreneurship Voice in 2024 with a 25,000 network
- Appears in couple led content, which matters for anything selling a stay
- Runs the monthly performance review on retainers
What he does on the daySecond camera, second person in frame, and the one who makes sure a hotel with a spa and two restaurants gets covered rather than sampled.
The craft
What a hospitality creator does that a videographer does not
A videographer produces a beautiful film. A hospitality content creator produces a month of posts, in the formats the platforms reward, from a venue that is still trading while they work. Those are different jobs and they need different habits.
- We film around service, not instead of itA restaurant that has to close for a shoot has already lost more than the shoot is worth. Sessions are scheduled between services and a full day is filmed around a working shift, including the pass at seven o'clock.
- Diners have seen ten thousand plates and almost no kitchensWhich is exactly why the kitchen is the footage that stops the scroll, and the one thing a competitor cannot buy from a stock library.
- The dishes that sell, not the ones the kitchen is proudest ofA plate that takes twenty minutes and sells four a night is a beautiful Reel and a bad use of a session. Send the menu with the sellers marked and the special that goes on next week.
- A property film is a decision toolTen to fifteen minutes is long enough for somebody comparing three hotels to decide they want to be at yours. That is why it belongs on the website and the booking page, not only in a feed.
- Every Reel is cut in all three ratiosBecause a vertical crop of a landscape frame loses the plate, and that is the shot the whole session was for.
- Two people, so nothing is sampledA property with a restaurant, a pool and a spa needs covering in the time available. One creator on a two night stay covers a hotel; two creators cover a hotel and its restaurant.
How a booking runs
From your enquiry to files you can publish
- Tell us the venueThe property or the menu, what sells, and what you want filmed. We reply within one business day.
- We agree the shapeWhich package fits, the dates, and what the venue provides. Nothing is filmed until that is agreed with you in writing.
- We come to youBetween services at a restaurant, overnight at a hotel. Your team runs the venue; we work around it.
- Files, ready to publishReels, stills, Stories and captions by shared Google Drive within 5 working days of the visit, with the rights stated in the delivery note.
Prices, deliverables and what each package includes are on the hospitality content packages page, from £650 for a restaurant session to £4,800 for a three night hotel campaign. Prices are in pounds sterling and no VAT is added.
The alternatives
Creator, freelancer, agency or stock
Four ways a venue gets content, and each is right for somebody. This is the honest version rather than the one that always ends with us.
| Option | Right when | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Stock library | You need a filler image this afternoon and nothing depends on it | It is somebody else's hotel, and a guest who notices never trusts the rest of the page |
| A local videographer | You want one beautiful film and you have a marketer to cut it up | You get a film, not a month of posts, and rarely in the ratios the platforms reward |
| A full service agency | You have several sites and an internal marketing lead to brief them. Our own management plans sit here | A strategist writes it, a junior schedules it, a freelancer shoots it, and the standard drops at each handover |
| A hospitality content creator | You want a month of publishable content from one visit, filmed by the person who plans it | Two people can only hold so many venues, so we take a limited number and sometimes say we are full |
Why on location
The footage a competitor cannot buy
- Diners have seen ten thousand plates and almost no kitchensWhich is exactly why a pass at seven o'clock stops the scroll. It is also the only footage a competitor cannot buy from a stock library.
- Film the dishes that sellNot the ones the kitchen is proudest of. A plate that takes twenty minutes and sells four a night is a beautiful Reel and a bad use of the session. Send the menu with the sellers marked.
- A property film is a decision tool, not a mood pieceTen to fifteen minutes is long enough for somebody comparing three properties to decide they want to be at yours. That is why it sits on the website and the booking page rather than only in a feed.
- Both of us are on cameraWhich makes couple led content possible without hiring a second creator, and matters for anything selling a stay rather than a plate.
Questions
Before you book
Comes to your venue and films it, then edits and delivers the content ready to publish. At Velena Lifestyle that means two creators on site producing a venue or property film, Reels, social stills, a Stories pack and captions, with the rights stated on each package. It is production rather than account management: running the channel is hospitality social media management.
Restaurant packages run from £650 for a three hour Menu Spotlight to £1,450 for a full shift Content Day, with a monthly retainer at £950. Hotel packages run from £1,950 for one night to £4,800 for a three night seasonal campaign, with a monthly retainer at £1,800. Every figure here comes straight from the shop, so it cannot drift.
A restaurant provides access, the dishes and drinks being filmed, and a meal for each creator during the session. A hotel provides the stay for two plus travel: bed and breakfast on The Property Film, full board on everything above it. Full board is a production requirement rather than a courtesy, because lunch and dinner service cannot be filmed without it.
On the Content Day, both retainers, Film and Campaign and the Seasonal Campaign, yes: paid media on Meta, TikTok and Google is included with no separate licence fee, and the Seasonal Campaign adds creator whitelisting on request so adverts can run from a creator handle. The Menu Spotlight and The Property Film are organic use only, and organic use on everything you own has no end date.
On the restaurant range, yes, on all three packages, including both visits each month on the retainer. On the hotel range The Property Film includes a B-roll pack. Raw footage is the row people get wrong most often, so it is listed on every card rather than assumed.
Yes. Properties have been filmed in the UK and in Italy, including Leitlhof in San Candido in the Dolomites and AC Hotel Malaga Palacio. Travel to the property is part of what the property provides on the hotel range. For a venue outside our normal reach, ask first and we will say plainly what travel adds.
A one off is right for a relaunch, a new menu or a website rebuild, where you need a burst of content and then nothing for a while. A retainer is right when the feed goes quiet between shoots, because a property photographed in July is selling a summer that does not exist in November. Both retainers run rolling monthly on 2 months notice with no setup fee, so starting with one is not a commitment.
Client reviews
What clients say, word for word
“Fantastic service. Been a client for 3 years now and have seen fantastic results, increased viewers, followers and viral videos. Copywriting was on point and has been used in magazines like Conde Nast, Timeout and more.”
Darrell Johnston, Owner, No Escape London and Purgatory Bar. Google review, 5.0.“Velena Lifestyle have been a breath of fresh air for our social media accounts. Their professionalism and knowledge have supported us massively.”
Sean Thompson, Head of Marketing, Snaptrip Group. Google review, 5.0.“If you want a self-starter with the ability to think strategically and minimize the time between ideation and creation, Velena is your go-to. She has done a phenomenal job with managing our UGC portfolio, curating and creating our content.”
Naila Abbasova, Enara Wellness. Google review, 5.0.Every review is reproduced word for word. Read them all on the reviews page.
Who you work with
One team, from the first brief to the last hand off
Velena Nikolova
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Velena leads the filming and the edit, so the idea and the execution never pass between strangers. A lifestyle creator with 13,000 Instagram followers, featured in Women's Health. More on the about page.
Dragos Nistor
Co-Founder and Business Strategist
Dragos runs the brief, the schedule and the delivery, and is on camera for couple and male led work. Named a LinkedIn Top Entrepreneurship Voice in 2024. More on the case studies.
Tell us about the venue
Send the property or the menu and what you want filmed. We reply within one business day with the package we would actually book you on, including when that is the cheapest one here.