Hospitality social media management, UK
We run your hotel's social so it never goes quiet
Planning, posting, captions, replies and a monthly report, every week, by two UK creators who film in hospitality for a living. Rolling monthly, two months notice, every price on the page.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google from 10 reviews
Start here
The short answer
What hospitality social media management actually is
It is the ongoing running of your channels by an outside team: a monthly content plan, posts produced and scheduled across the platforms you run, captions written to answer booking questions, replies to comments and direct messages, and a monthly report tied to enquiries rather than follower counts.
It is not a shoot, and it is not the same purchase. A shoot produces material on one day. Management is what turns that material into a channel still publishing in week nine, when the kitchen is short staffed and nobody has opened Instagram since Tuesday.
Our plans run from £149 a month for a content pack where we still do the posting, up to £2,499 a month for a fully managed channel across five platforms. Everything is rolling monthly with two months notice. Most UK hotels and restaurants land in the middle two tiers.
Source: State of Social 2026, published by KAM with Kitch, surveying 68 UK hospitality brands representing more than 1,900 sites. Figures as published January 2026.
Start here
Which of these sounds like your property?
Four situations cover almost every hotel and restaurant that contacts us. Find yours and it tells you what to buy, including when the answer is the cheapest thing on the page.
"We had a shoot last year. There is a folder of good content and nobody has posted any of it."
Common, and the most fixable. You do not need more content, you need somebody to own the calendar. We audit what exists, build a month from it and start publishing. Most properties are sitting on more usable material than they think.
What fits: Seed or Grow
See those two plans"We post most weeks, but it is whatever someone snaps on their phone between covers."
The channel is alive and the content is holding it back. Short form video is where the reach now sits, so this is a management plan for the rhythm plus a monthly visit so there is always something worth posting.
What fits: Grow or Scale, plus a content retainer
See the plans and retainers"There is nothing. The Instagram has not been touched since the refurb and nobody has time."
Starting from zero needs both halves at once: someone producing and someone running it. We come on site monthly to film, then plan, publish, reply and report on top of it. This is what most independent hotels end up on.
What fits: Scale or Elite, plus a content retainer
See the full engine"We just need something going out consistently, nothing more than that."
Then the content pack is enough. Twelve posts a month on one platform, planned, written, scheduled and published by us, with you approving before anything goes live. No community management and no reporting beyond a summary email. If you want the full channel run later, your first month is credited against any management plan.
What fits: Small Business Social Pack
View the content packThe one distinction that decides your budget
Making the content and running the channel are two separate purchases
Almost every property that calls us has bought one and assumed it included the other. They are priced separately because they are staffed separately, and knowing which one you are short of is most of the decision.
Making the content
Somebody comes to the property, films, and hands over finished Reels and social stills. It fills the library. It stops the day the visit ends.
- A shoot, or a monthly content retainer
- Produces the raw material
- Publishes nothing
- Nobody is watching the inbox
Running the channel
Somebody owns the calendar: plans the month, writes the captions, publishes on schedule, answers the comments and reports at month end. It needs content to run on.
- A management plan
- Turns material into a live channel
- Keeps publishing in your busiest weeks
- Somebody answers the direct messages
Why the rhythm matters more than the budget
Consistency beats volume, and it beats polish. A property publishing three considered pieces every week for a year will out perform a property that publishes twenty in March and nothing until September, even when the March content is better. Platforms reward reliability because reliability is what keeps people on the platform.
That is the whole case for management over another shoot. Not that our content is better than a freelancer's, but that it arrives every week whether or not you are fully booked, short staffed or mid refurbishment.
The plans
Four management plans, one content pack
Management means we run the whole channel. The content pack still means we plan, write, schedule and publish, it just stops short of community management, ads and full reporting. It is stated on the card rather than buried, because buying the wrong one is the most common mistake in this category.
Content packSmall Business Social Pack
£149 a month
- 12 static posts a month
- 1 platform, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn
- We schedule and publish, you approve first
- No community management on this pack
- First month credited against any plan
Seed Plan
£399 a month
- 16 posts a month, static and carousels
- 2 platforms, Meta cross-post
- We plan, produce and publish
- Community monitoring, we flag what needs you
- Monthly snapshot plus a quarterly deep dive
- Most chosen
Grow Plan
£799 a month
- 16 posts a month, 8 Reels and 8 static
- 3 platforms
- Short form video becomes the core
- Community monitoring, we flag what needs you
- Monthly report and optional strategy call
Scale Plan
£1,499 a month
- 16 posts a month, 12 Reels and 4 static
- 3 platforms
- Stories 3 times a week
- Full community management, Monday to Saturday
- 1 in house UGC video a month
- Full engine
Elite Plan
£2,499 a month
- 20 posts a month, one per working day
- Up to 5 platforms
- Full community management, 7 days
- 3 UGC videos a month plus product filming
- 1 on site content day per quarter included
What is true of every plan. Rolling monthly with two months notice. No minimum term and no setup fee. Direct WhatsApp and email access with replies within one business day, and an optional monthly strategy call on every management plan.
Advertising budget is always separate. Where a plan includes managed ads, the spend goes to the platform directly and is never bundled invisibly into the fee. Elite includes managed ads with 500 pounds of spend covered, and anything above that is charged at 15 percent of total monthly spend.
Every number on those cards is a real count. You will not find a vague volume promise anywhere on this page, because those are never true. If your property needs something outside these tiers, we scope it individually rather than pushing you into the nearest one. Compare the plans across every sector on the social media management page, or read what the market charges in our UK cost guide.
The process
What happens after you say yes
Two weeks of setup, then the same loop every month. No discovery call series and no strategy deck you never open again.
Days 1 to 14, before anything is published
- Days 1 to 3Audit and accessEvery channel you run: what has performed, what has not, and what four or five comparable properties near you are publishing. We take editor access rather than passwords. You keep the audit whether or not you continue.
- Days 4 to 9Pillars and booking questionsWe agree four or five recurring themes built from the questions reservations answers most: parking, dogs, breakfast times, accessibility, what is walkable. Those are your highest performing posts and almost nobody publishes them.
- Days 10 to 14First month signed offThe first calendar arrives fully drafted, with hook, format, caption and call to action on every post. You approve, edit or reject in one pass. Nothing goes live unapproved, then or ever.
Then the same four steps, every month
- Week 1Plan and sign offNext month's calendar, drafted in full and sent for one round of approval.
- Week 2Produce and editReels cut, carousels built and Stories written, from your library, from the month's filming where your plan includes it, and from anything your team captured on the floor.
- Weeks 2 to 4Publish and replyScheduled to the times your audience is actually active, then monitored. Anything needing the property reaches you the same day.
- Month endReport and adjustReach, saves, shares, direct message sends and taps through to your booking link, plus what changes next month and why.
You are involved twice a month: one approval pass and one report. That is the whole commitment on your side.
Deliverables
What actually lands in your inbox
Management is an abstract word, so here is the physical output of a month on a Grow plan or above. Everything below arrives whether or not anyone chases us for it.
- A drafted content calendarEvery post for the coming month with its hook, format, caption, hashtags and call to action, ready to approve in one pass.
- The finished postsReels edited and captioned, carousels built, Stories sequenced, sized correctly for each platform you run.
- A published schedulePosts going out at the times your audience is active, not whenever somebody remembered.
- Community handlingComments and direct messages monitored, and on Scale and Elite, answered. Anything needing the property comes to you the same day.
- A monthly reportWhat earned reach, what got saved and forwarded, how many people tapped through to book, and a plain read on what to change.
- A content bank that growsEverything produced stays yours and stays usable, so month twelve is not starting from the same place as month one.
How we work
Four things we do differently, and why
Every agency says strategy, content and reporting. These are the four decisions that actually change what your account looks like in six months.
A direct message send is somebody forwarding your property to the person they would travel with. That is a booking conversation starting. Follower count is a number no revenue manager has ever been able to spend, and it is the first thing a weak report leads with.
"Golden hour on the terrace" tells a potential guest nothing they cannot see. "Terrace serves until nine, dogs welcome, and parking is free for residents" answers three objections and gets saved, which is the signal the platform actually rewards.
Where your plan includes filming, a single visit is cut into vertical Reels, Stories, carousels and social stills that carry a channel for weeks. Properties that spend a shoot in one fortnight are paying for the same footage several times a year.
Every plan on this page carries its real monthly fee, read live from our shop rather than typed into the copy. You will not find a contact form where the number should be, and you will not get a different figure to the property down the road.
Two different jobs
Hotels and restaurants are not the same account
Both are hospitality and the plans are the same, but the content, the platforms and the thing you are measuring are different. We run them differently, and it is worth knowing which conversation you are about to have.
- Longer decision window. Somebody books a hotel weeks or months out, comparing three properties. Content has to answer what it is actually like to stay there, not just look attractive.
- Rooms, grounds and the setting. Suite reveals, the view from the window, breakfast, the walk into town. The property and its location sell together.
- Instagram and Facebook lead, with TikTok where the property has personality to show. LinkedIn earns its place for conference and corporate properties.
- Measured on saves, sends and taps through to the booking engine, because those are the actions that precede a direct booking.
- Short decision window. People decide where to eat the same week, often the same day. Content works closer to the moment and posting rhythm matters more.
- Dishes, service and the room at night. Food filmed properly is the highest saving content in hospitality, and specials and menu changes give you a reason to post that hotels do not have.
- TikTok and Instagram lead. In 2026, 58 percent of TikTok users said they had visited or ordered from a restaurant after seeing it there, up from 38 percent in 2022.
- Measured on reach into your local area, saves, and enquiries about bookings and private hire.
Restaurant figures from Joli, Social Media Statistics for Restaurants and Hospitality Brands, updated 15 May 2026.
The other half
Where the content comes from
A management plan needs fuel. If your library is strong, our plans run on it. If it is not, and most are not, a monthly content retainer puts us on the property on a repeating schedule so the channel never runs on stock imagery or material from two summers ago.
Hotel Content Monthly Retainer
£1,800 a month
- 1 visit a month, with a stay
- 8 Reels
- 10 social stills, shot on the same visit and formatted for feed and Stories
- Paid media rights included
Restaurant Content Monthly Retainer
£950 a month
- 2 visits a month
- 6 Reels
- 10 social stills, shot on the same visit and formatted for feed and Stories
- Paid media rights included
Social stills are shot on the same visit and formatted for feed and Stories rather than for print. A property that needs architectural interiors for a brochure should commission that separately and we will say so. One off shoots are on the hotel packages page and the restaurant packages page, and both retainers are explained in full in the hotel retainer guide and the restaurant retainer guide.
Proof
What a management plan produced across seven travel brands
We have run organic social for the Snaptrip Group travel portfolio since September 2025. No shoot produced these numbers. The work was planning, producing, publishing and replying, every week, on a rolling plan.
Source: Velena Lifestyle reporting on the Snaptrip Group portfolio, growth against the prior period since the September 2025 handover. Organic only, no paid campaign or revenue data. Two further brands in the portfolio are excluded because their prior period carried heavy paid spend, which would distort an organic comparison.
Worth saying plainly: these are percentages from a low base, which is true of most accounts left to tick over, and they are organic, which is the harder half. Paid reach can be bought in an afternoon. This could not.
Expectations
What moves, and when
Social compounds, so the order things improve in is predictable even though the pace is not. This is what we tell every property before they sign, and it is the same thing we will tell you on the call.
Audit, setup and the first calendar going live. The visible change is that the account starts publishing properly and looks staffed. Nobody should be reading anything into the numbers yet.
Saves, shares and direct message sends usually shift within four to eight weeks, because those respond to content quality faster than reach does. This is where you judge whether the approach is right.
Reach compounds as the platform learns who the account is for, and profile taps and enquiries start to move. Month six is where the content bank you have built starts doing work on its own.
Two months notice exists precisely so this timeline is honest. A twelve month contract would let us hide a slow start. Two months means we have to be worth keeping by the time you could leave.
The alternatives, honestly
Four ways to get this done, with the real numbers
There are only four, and an agency is not automatically the right one. Here is what each actually costs in the UK in 2026, so you are comparing against something rather than nothing.
| Route | Realistic cost | What you get | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leave it with a manager | Nothing directly | A duty added to somebody's existing job | It stops in your busiest weeks, which are the weeks worth showing |
| Freelancer | Roughly 150 to 800 pounds a month | Usually scheduling and basic posting rather than strategy or original video | One person and no cover. Illness or a bigger client and the channel goes quiet |
| In house hire | About 3,280 pounds a month in direct cost | Full attention and deep knowledge of the property | Cost, recruitment time, and one person's ceiling across filming, editing, copy and reporting |
| Specialist plan | UK agency retainers commonly 500 to 3,000 pounds a month | A team, a rhythm, cover when somebody is away, published reporting | A generalist agency that has never worked a service business will not understand your week |
The in house figure is the one properties underestimate. Published UK salary surveys through 2026 put a social media manager between roughly 29,000 and 36,000 pounds. Take 34,000. Employer National Insurance at 15 percent above the 5,000 pound secondary threshold adds about 4,350. Auto enrolment pension at the 3 percent minimum adds about 1,020. That is roughly 39,370 a year, near enough 3,280 a month, before software, recruitment, holiday cover and the time of whoever manages them. See Deloitte on the employer NIC rate and threshold. Our own guide to hiring a social media manager in the UK covers the full comparison.
What goes out
The format a plan publishes, week after week
Vertical, native, hook first, filmed on the property rather than licensed. Click any thumbnail to play. Nothing loads from YouTube until you do.
The full portfolio, including the long form property films, is on the hotels and restaurants portfolio. The wider market picture is in our 2026 UK hospitality social media report, and the commission argument for commissioning content at all sits on the hospitality content creator page.
Before you buy
Three things we will not tell you
These claims are common in this category and we do not make any of them, because each is either untrue or unmeasurable. If an agency has told you otherwise, ask them to show you the working.
It will not, and anyone promising a booking number from an organic plan is guessing. Social builds the demand that makes your direct channel worth having. Rate, availability, your website and your reviews close it. We report what can actually be attributed and leave the rest alone.
Month one is audit, setup and the first content going live. A fair read on whether the approach is working is month three, and compounding shows around month six. That is exactly why the notice period is two months rather than a twelve month commitment.
We do not shoot architectural interiors for print, we do not do PR, and we do not run your booking engine or your OTA listings. Where you need those, we will say so and point you elsewhere. Selling you something adjacent that we are not strong at is how agencies lose clients in month four.
Client reviews
What clients say, word for word
"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."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."Its reeally easy to work with Velena and team - happy to recommend. Its been so great to have my business social accounts managed and hands free for me to spend time on other activites"
Alex Jordan, Founder and Owner, Bearded Colonel. Google review, 5.0.Every review is reproduced word for word, typos included. Read them all on the reviews page.
Who runs your account
The two people who do the work
Velena Nikolova
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Velena plans and films the content and directs the look of every account. Lifestyle and travel creator, 13,000 Instagram followers, featured in Women's Health. More on the about page.
Dragos Nistor
Co-Founder and Business Strategist
Dragos runs strategy, reporting and the commercial side, and is who you deal with on scope and anything contractual. LinkedIn Top Entrepreneurship Voice 2024. See the case studies.
Velena Lifestyle is a UK social media, UGC and web agency based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, working with hospitality, travel and lifestyle brands across the UK and Europe. Your account is run by the two of us, not handed to a junior after the pitch.
Questions
What hotels and restaurants ask first
It is the ongoing running of a hotel or restaurant's social channels by an outside team: a monthly content plan, producing and scheduling the posts, writing the captions, handling comments and direct messages, and reporting each month. It is a separate purchase from a content shoot, which produces material on one day but publishes and manages nothing afterwards.
Published UK agency retainers commonly run between 500 and 3,000 pounds a month, tracking how many platforms are covered and how much original video is produced rather than a fixed menu. Our four management plans and the content pack are all priced on this page and read live from our shop, so the figure you see is the figure you pay. There are no setup fees and no minimum term.
A content retainer puts us on your property on a repeating schedule to produce Reels and social stills. A management plan runs the channel: planning, publishing, captions, community and reporting. They solve different problems. A property with a strong existing library often needs only management. A property starting from nothing needs both, which is why they sit on this page together.
Only if your library will not carry a month. Part of the first fourteen days is auditing what you already have, and if there is enough we will say so rather than sell you a visit you do not need. The usable material is usually there, especially in footage staff have shot on the floor and never used.
Two touchpoints a month: one approval pass on the calendar in week one, and the report at month end. Beyond that we need editor access to the channels and a named person we can reach when something needs the property to answer. We take editor access rather than passwords, so nothing is ever locked away from you.
Month one is audit, setup and the first content going live. Engagement signals such as saves, shares and direct message sends usually move first, often within four to eight weeks. Reach and enquiries follow around months four to six. Judge the approach fairly at month three. Anyone quoting you a booking figure for month one is guessing.
It depends on the plan and it is stated on each card rather than implied. The content pack includes publishing but no community management at all. Seed and Grow include monitoring, where we watch the channels and flag anything that needs the property. Scale covers full community management Monday to Saturday, and Elite covers all seven days.
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and LinkedIn, with the number covered set by your plan: one on the content pack, two on Seed, three on Grow and Scale, and up to five on Elite. We will tell you if we think a platform is not worth your time. TikTok carries strong reach for food and character led properties and is a weaker fit for a conference focused hotel.
All plans are rolling monthly with two months notice. No minimum term, no setup fee and no annual lock in. Many UK agencies require three to six months minimum. The two months is deliberate: long enough for the work to be judged fairly, short enough to be a real exit.
No, and it never should be. The management fee pays for our time and the ad budget goes to the platform. Elite includes managed advertising with 500 pounds of monthly spend covered, and spend above that is charged at 15 percent of the total. On every other plan, advertising is not included and we will say so rather than quietly spending your fee on boosts.
Bespoke
A group, an opening, or something not on this list?
Some briefs do not fit a plan. A group with several properties on one calendar, an opening with a fixed press date, or a property that needs more platforms than Elite covers. When that is the shape of it we scope the work rather than pushing you into the nearest tier.
Quotes are prepared individually. Send us the property, the platforms and what you have already tried, and we come back with scope and a fixed monthly figure. Quotes can also be requested at [email protected].
- Multi property groups on one calendar
- Openings with a fixed press date
- More than five platforms
- Seasonal or events led venues
- Properties outside the UK
Tell us about the property and we will tell you which plan fits
No pitch deck and no discovery call series. Send us the property, the platforms you run and what you have already tried. We come back with the plan we would actually put you on, and if that is the cheapest one, we will say so.