Film and Campaign
Hotel content creator shoot: what happens across two nights on your property
The hour by hour breakdown of a Film and Campaign shoot, from arrival and recce through to delivery, plus an estimator that shows what shifting a small share of bookings away from the OTAs is worth against the cost of the package.
Film and Campaign, one fee agreed before we travel
The property provides the stay and travel, nothing else. We work UK wide and take properties across Europe and further afield, so an overseas hotel is as welcome as a British one, and the same team runs hospitality social media management once the library exists. Prices are in pounds sterling and no VAT is added. If you are ordering from outside the UK your card issuer sets the exchange rate, and anything due in your own country is outside our invoice.
Direct booking estimator
What is shifting bookings direct actually worth to you?
Move the sliders to match your property. Everything updates as you go, nothing is gated behind an email, and the working is shown so you can check it against your own numbers.
One per cent is a conservative starting point rather than a limit. The room nights figure beside it is the honest test.
Kept in a year
£0
The working
Why the saving is smaller than the commission. An OTA booking costs you the commission rate. The same booking taken directly still costs roughly 4.5 per cent once payment fees, your booking engine and a share of marketing are counted. Each night you move across saves the difference, not the whole commission, which is why this figure survives being checked.
This is a way of sizing a decision, not a forecast. It uses industry standard assumptions and your own inputs. Results vary by property, market and execution, and no content package moves bookings on its own.
A worked example
The eight blocks of a two night shoot
Exact timing changes with the property and what we are highlighting, but the structure holds. Two nights gives two sunrises, two sunsets, two evenings and three full meal services, which is what it takes to film a property the way a guest experiences it rather than the way a camera visits it.
- Day 1
14:00Arrival, recce and brief alignment
We arrive, check in and walk the property with whoever knows it best, usually the general manager or the marketing lead. We confirm the shot list, identify operational sensitivities and find the angles a phone tour would miss.
Planning and scouting - Day 1
17:30Golden hour, exteriors and terrace
The first proper block. The last hour of natural light goes on exteriors, rooftop, terrace and pool, anything that looks better when the sun is low. This is usually the footage that becomes the hero.
2 Reels - Day 1
19:30Dinner service, restaurant and atmosphere
We film the restaurant during a live service, because the energy of a working dinner is what separates real hospitality content from a sterile food shoot. We coordinate with the kitchen on plating and capture the room as a guest sees it.
2 Reels - Day 2
07:00Sunrise, rooms in morning light
Guest rooms take morning light better than any other hour. A selection of room types with morning light on the bed, the balcony and the bathroom. These are the frames a booking decision is actually made on.
3 Reels - Day 2
10:00Breakfast and lobby life
Breakfast service, lobby activity and the small moments that make a property feel alive. This is where staff at work and front of house character come through, which is what separates one hotel from another.
2 Reels - Day 2
14:00Amenities, spa and wellness
Pool, spa, gym and anything unique to the property. We work around guest schedules and decide which areas need to look populated and which are better empty.
1 Reel - Day 2
17:00Second golden hour and the film
The final block. Anything the first day missed, plus the connecting footage for the property film. That film is the asset that sits on your website and your listing, and the Reels are cut from the same material.
The property film - Day 3
10:00Departure, then post production
Check out, and from there it is editing. Everything arrives together through a shared drive within 10 working days: the film, the Reels in all three ratios, the stills, a Stories pack and the captions.
Delivery in 10 working days
Why not a half day. A property has a morning and an evening and they look nothing alike. Arrival light, dinner service, sunrise in the rooms and breakfast are four different films, and a half day visit gets one of them. Breakfast filmed at breakfast rather than staged at three in the afternoon is the clearest example of what the second night buys.
What arrives, and what the property provides
What comes back
- A 15 to 20 minute property filmFor YouTube, your website and your booking engine. The asset somebody comparing three properties actually watches.
- 10 ReelsCut from the same footage in all three aspect ratios, so one visit covers every placement without a re-edit.
- 15 social stillsFrames from the shoot, formatted for feed and Stories rather than for print. Not architectural photography, and we say so plainly.
- A Stories pack and captionsWritten to the content, so posting is scheduling rather than creating.
- Paid media rightsMeta, TikTok and Google included, alongside organic use on everything you own. No separate licence fee.
What you provide
- Two nights for two, on full boardThat is a production requirement rather than a courtesy, because lunch and dinner service cannot be filmed by creators who are not eating there.
- Travel to the propertyWe are in Buckinghamshire and work UK wide. Anything beyond the usual radius is quoted before booking rather than added afterwards.
- Access, and your policy on peopleWhich areas we can film, whether staff appear and whether guests are avoided entirely. Most properties say staff yes and guests no.
- Nothing elseNo crew, no lighting hire, no location fee, no second unit and no day rates on top.
Hotels are used to production quotes that grow. That list is the whole of it, and it is on this page rather than in a contract you read afterwards.
The output
Three cuts from real hospitality shoots
Filmed on working stays for properties including Leitlhof San Candido and for No Escape London. The 15 to 20 minute property film these are cut from goes to the client rather than being published here. If you want to watch a full one before booking, ask and we will send one where the client is happy for us to share it. Click any to play, nothing loads until you do.
A room reveal
Filmed on a working stay
HotelsA five star Alpine stay
Property and grounds
HotelsA London restaurant
Dining and service
RestaurantsAll three were filmed and edited by the two of us. The full hospitality library is in the hotels and restaurants portfolio, and the wider UGC portfolio covers every category we film.
Before you book a shoot
Two nights on the property, for two creators, across eight shoot blocks. Two nights is what covers a property with a restaurant, a pool or a spa rather than sampling it, because it gives two sunrises, two sunsets and three full meal services.
Light is the constraint rather than material. Arrival light, dinner service, sunrise in the rooms and breakfast are four different films, each happening once a day, and a half day visit captures one of them. Breakfast filmed at breakfast rather than staged in the afternoon is the clearest example of what the second night buys.
No. The whole point of filming across two days is being present when service actually happens, so nothing is closed and nothing is staged. We work around guest schedules and agree in advance which areas need to look busy and which are better empty.
Two nights for two on a full board basis, travel to the property, and access with a stated policy on whether staff and guests appear. Nothing beyond that. No crew, no lighting hire, no location fee and no day rates on top.
Because lunch and dinner service cannot be filmed by creators who are not eating there. Sitting in a working service is how the footage gets the atmosphere that separates real hospitality content from a food shoot, and it is a production requirement in the same way access is.
Your website, your booking engine and YouTube. It is the asset somebody comparing three properties watches before deciding, and it is the one thing a social feed cannot do, because a feed is built for seconds and a booking decision takes minutes.
Yes, on Meta, TikTok and Google, included at no extra charge and with no separate licence fee, alongside organic use on everything you own. Paid rights are the item most often charged for separately in this industry and it is included here.
Everything arrives 10 working days after the visit, through a shared drive, all together. Nothing arrives in instalments and nothing is charged afterwards.
The answer depends on whether the property changes. A hotel with strong seasons benefits from shoots timed to them; a hotel that looks the same year round is usually better served by one strong library and a retainer that keeps posting it. Both are on the packages page and we will say plainly which suits your property.
The estimator is deliberately conservative and shows its working so you can check it. It nets off what a direct booking still costs rather than crediting the whole commission, because a general manager will test it against their own numbers and a flattering figure that does not survive scrutiny is worth less than a plain one that does.
What two nights buys that a visit cannot
Light is the constraint, not material. A room, a corridor, a breakfast service and a bar are four locations without leaving the building, so a property gives far more usable material per hour than a product shoot ever does. What it does not give is control over light. Arrival, dusk and sunrise happen once each per day, which is why the shoot is measured in nights rather than hours.
Service cannot be staged. A restaurant at half past seven, a lobby at check in, a breakfast room at nine. None of these can be recreated at a convenient moment, and an audience can tell within a second whether they are watching a working property or an arranged one.
Where this sits in the range. Film and Campaign is the middle of four hotel packages. The Property Film is a shorter visit for a property that mainly needs the hero asset, and the Seasonal Campaign covers a property whose seasons look genuinely different. All four, with what each includes, are on the hotel packages page.
The wider argument. The commission arithmetic behind the estimator is set out properly on the hospitality hub, and the sector benchmarks are in our UK hospitality report. Restaurants are covered on the restaurant packages page, and the case studies show what the work looks like for a named property.
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.“Velena was a pleasure to work with, she worked solely with the brief provided and was even ahead of her deadline. The content produced was clean, professional and on brand. We would love to work with Velena again in the very near future.”
Lauryn Middleton, Social Media Manager, Smirk. Client testimonial, October 2023.Every review is reproduced word for word. Read them all on the reviews page.
Both of us
Who arrives, on every hospitality shoot
Velena Nikolova
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Velena Nikolova films and edits every video. A lifestyle creator featured in Women's Health, she is on camera for the property, the rooms and the dining content. More on the about page.
Dragos Nistor
Co-Founder and Business Strategist
Dragos Nistor handles scheduling, the shot plan and delivery, and appears on camera for couple and dining content. Named a LinkedIn Top Entrepreneurship Voice in 2024. More on the case studies.
Our channels
If you would rather watch than read
Velena and Dragos
Travel, food and influencer content from the two of us, and the channel where the long form work lives.
Open the channelVelena Lifestyle
The agency channel. UGC examples, client work and finished campaign videos.
Open the channel
Two nights, one film, a month of Reels
One fee, agreed before we travel. Nothing is booked until dates are agreed in writing, and both of us are there for all eight blocks. We have worked with 100+ brands since 2022 and reply within one business day.