With travel slowed nearly to a halt in most places, it’s a tough world right now for travel PR. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been saddened to learn about many agency layoffs, as well as independent publicists struggling to hold onto clients. The future is uncertain, but there are ways to navigate through this crisis and help to keep travel clients you do still have top-of-mind for their target audiences even as those groups are confined to their homes.

As Dory says in “Finding Nemo,” just keep swimming. Here are six tips for making your travel clients relevant during this challenging time.

Consider what else your hotel does, besides offer a place to stay.

What sorts of activities, especially tied to the spring and upcoming summer season, does your hotel normally offer for guests? Think about things like gardening, foraging or bird watching. Who is the expert leading these activities, and how can you position him or her as an expert for people to learn from while they’re at home? The thirst for knowledge is at an all-time high as people find themselves with more time than usual on their hands.  

Pitch F&B publications.

Chefs, beverage directors, bakers, baristas—these hotel positions are a wealth of information, and they’ve likely never had more free time on their hands to share that with the world. Talk with them about clever techniques they implement in their kitchens, bars or workstations and how that can translate to home chefs; their favorite tools and various uses for them; or their takes on quarantine trends (such as the now-ubiquitous Dalgona coffee).

Consider the wellness component.

When spas are closed, people are looking for ways to create relaxing moments in the comfort of their own home. What tips and tricks can your spa director offer up to help with this? Perhaps it’s sharing a recipe for a spa treatment you can make using ingredients from your kitchen, essential oil blends that can create a sense of calm or ways to rearrange your bedroom to help it feel more Zen. Consider any hotel staff that work with an on-site fitness studio or gym, as well. How can you come up with original story ideas beyond “how to work out at home” that will showcase their expertise and provide value?

Don’t forget about other departments.

Keeping a safe environment for our families is more important than ever. Think about utilizing hotel teams that specialize in cleaning and organization to share their advice. For example, ask your hotel’s head of housekeeping about the best methods for cleaning a bedroom or bathroom, or his/her favorite products for sanitizing surfaces.

Pitch the trades.

An often-overlooked area for publicists is pitching meetings and events publications. The meetings and events industry is among those that have been hardest hit, with virtually every event planned for March, April and beyond forced to cancel. Publications that cover this industry are hungry for positive news to share with their readers to provide them with hope for the future—so ask your hotel teams about what they’re doing to secure future business and when they’re opening up bookings again. Interviews with directors of sales or marketing teams are especially timely to pitch.

Look for your heroes.

The hotel industry attracts a lot of larger-than-life, highly personable individuals. Think about who on your team would make a great interview; they may be someone in leadership, or someone who works in a hotel coffee shop, but if they have the personality and knowledge to talk about something they’re passionate about, it can make for an excellent story. For example, in this piece I did for Conde Nast Traveler, the master distiller made the article with his excellent quotes and understanding of the situation that he so eloquently translated into words during our phone interview.

So tell me—what techniques are you using to help your travel clients stay relevant in the media now, so they’ll be in travelers’ minds down the road when the skies open back up again? I’d love to hear your ideas and your success stories!