A full hotel content shoot
What actually happens across two nights on your property
The hour by hour breakdown of a Film and Campaign shoot, from arrival and recce to delivery. Plus a calculator that shows what a one percent shift from OTA to direct is worth against the cost of the package.
★★★★★ 5.0 on Google from 10 reviews
Start here
This page describes Film and Campaign at £3,200. All four hotel packages are on the packages page.
Content ROI estimator
What is shifting bookings direct actually worth to you?
Move the sliders to match your property. Everything updates instantly, nothing is gated behind an email, and the working is shown below so you can check it.
Why the shift slider is yours to set. A one percent shift is the conservative starting point, not a limit. Two to three percent is plausible for a property that goes from no content to a proper library, and five is achievable but takes more than content alone. Whatever you set, the room nights figure beside it is the honest test: ten percent sounds easy until you read it as 126 nights a month moved off the OTAs.
How the last step works. An OTA booking costs you the commission rate. The same booking taken directly costs roughly 4.5 percent once payment fees, your booking engine and a share of marketing are counted. So each night you move across saves the difference, not the whole commission. That is why step 4 is smaller than you might expect, and why the number survives being checked.
Estimates use industry standard assumptions. Results vary by property, market and execution, and this is a way of sizing the decision rather than a forecast.
A worked example
The eight blocks of a two night shoot
The 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, 14:00
Arrival, 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 any operational sensitivities and find the unobvious angles a phone tour would miss.
Planning and scoutingDay 1, 17:30
Golden hour: exteriors and terrace
The first proper shoot block. We use the last hour of natural light for exteriors, rooftop, terrace and pool, anything that looks better when the sun is low. This is usually the footage that becomes your hero.
2 ReelsDay 1, 19:30
Dinner service: restaurant and atmosphere
We film the restaurant during a live service. 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 experiences it.
2 ReelsDay 2, 07:00
Sunrise: rooms in morning light
The best light of the day for guest rooms. 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 ReelsDay 2, 10:00
Breakfast and lobby life
Breakfast service, lobby activity and the small moments that make a property feel alive. This is where we capture staff at work and the front of house character that separates one hotel from another.
2 ReelsDay 2, 14:00
Amenities, spa and wellness
Pool, spa, gym and any unique amenities. We work around guest schedules and prioritise which areas need to look populated against which benefit from being empty.
1 ReelDay 2, 17:00
Second golden hour and the film
The final block. We capture anything the first day missed and shoot 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 filmDay 3, 10:00
Departure, then post production
Check out, and from here it is all editing. Everything is delivered together through a shared Google Drive: the 15 to 20 minute film, 10 Reels in all three ratios, 15 social stills, a Stories pack and captions.
DeliveryThe output
What comes back from a visit like this
Six short cuts from real hospitality shoots. The 15 to 20 minute property film they are cut from goes to the client rather than being published here. Click any thumbnail to play.
Want to watch a full property film before booking? Ask us and we will send one where the client is happy for us to share it. The full portfolio is here.
What arrives
Everything from those eight blocks, in one delivery
Ten working days after the visit, through a shared Google Drive. Nothing arrives in instalments and nothing is charged afterwards.
- 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 at no extra charge and with no separate licence fee.
What you provide
A stay, travel, and nothing else
Hotels are used to production quotes that grow. This is the whole list, and it is on the page rather than in a contract you read afterwards.
- Two nights for two, full boardFull board is a production requirement rather than a courtesy: 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 outside 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.
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.
Who arrives
Both of us, on every hospitality shoot
Velena Nikolova
Co-Founder and Creative Director
Velena films and edits every video. Three years of brand content, 13,000 Instagram followers and a direct feature in Women's Health. More on the about page.
Dragos Nistor
Co-Founder and Business Strategist
Dragos handles scheduling, the shot plan and delivery, and appears on camera for couple and dining content. Named a LinkedIn Top Entrepreneurship Voice in 2024. See the case studies.
Questions
Before you book a shoot
Two, on Film and Campaign, which is the package this page describes. One night is The Property Film and three is the Seasonal Campaign. Two is the point where a property with a restaurant, a pool or a spa gets covered rather than sampled.
Because 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 gets one of them. Breakfast filmed at breakfast rather than staged at three in the afternoon is the clearest example.
No. We film around your operation rather than through it. Tell us your policy on staff and guests appearing on camera before we arrive and we work to it. Most properties say staff yes and guests avoided entirely.
A two night stay for two on a full board basis, and travel to the property. Full board is a production requirement rather than a courtesy, because lunch and dinner service cannot be filmed by creators who are not eating there. Nothing else is charged.
Your website, your booking engine, your OTA listing and YouTube. Long form is what somebody comparing three properties actually watches, and it keeps working long after a Reel has stopped being served. It goes to you rather than being published on our site.
Yes, included at no extra charge on this package, covering Meta, TikTok and Google. The entry package is organic only, so if any of this is destined for an ad account, start here.
Ten working days from the visit, delivered together through a shared Google Drive. We confirm the exact date when the booking is agreed.
Often. Four quarterly visits across a year cost more than twelve monthly ones on the retainer and leave three month gaps where the content ages. Most properties take one larger package first for the film, then move to the rhythm.
Why it works
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 you far more usable material per hour than a product shoot ever does. What it does not give you 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 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. Filming across two days means being present when each of them actually happens.
Where the calculator fits
The estimator above is deliberately conservative. It nets off what a direct booking still costs rather than crediting the whole commission, because a general manager will check it against their own numbers and a flattering figure that does not survive scrutiny is worth less than a plain one that does. The full argument, with the commission arithmetic set out properly, is on the hospitality hub, and the sector benchmark data is in our UK hospitality report.
Ready to talk dates? Tell us about the property, or compare all four packages on the hotel packages page. Restaurants are here.
Two nights, one film, a month of Reels
Fixed price, published. Nothing is booked until dates are agreed in writing, and both of us are there for all eight blocks.