Studio Blog
Welcome to the Demand Studios Blog – a resource for writers, contributors and freelancers alike! Come here for answers to your questions, Studio news, writing tips and more.
MYTHBUSTERS! Hotel Article Edition
Travel writing is notoriously subjective, and lately the forums and groups have been abuzz with rumors about Demand Media Studios hotel articles. I’ve been the on-staff travel editor at DMS for nearly two years, and I want to address some of the more persistent rumors and give the definitive answer.
Q: Can I use the hotel’s website as a reference?
A: Of course. A hotel’s website is often a goldmine of information, especially if it has an online press kit, and can be more accurate than a guidebook in many situations. All we’re saying is this: take the website’s information with a grain of salt. The site is a marketing play. It’s your job to sift through and curate the marketing jargon and look into what the hotels’ website is not saying.
Q: Am I allowed to list amenities?
A: Please do. The trick is to think about the notable elements when you’re researching a hotel online. We don’t want a standard laundry list of amenities. (I’ve seen hotel articles that boast a room has “queen beds, televisions, phones and coffeemakers”—what about four walls and a locking door?) I want to know what sets this particular hotel apart from the pack.
Copy Editor PhyllisG summed it up well in a forum post:
If the swimming pool has a 100-ft circular slide, don't just say there's a pool; if the on-site restaurant serves French bistro food, discuss a few of the mouthwatering menu items. If suites have cooking facilities, that might be important to families; if there's a nearby attraction for kids, discuss that; if there's a lake for fishing, discuss that; if the town has interesting historical meaning, discuss that. Give the reader a picture of the particular property and surrounding area without the usual cliches.
Bottom line: Listed amenities need to enhance the article as a whole. I think Where to Stay in Chicago with Kids is a great example of using amenities to enhance the title.
To quote the great Richard Lally, one of our copy curators: “In other words, tell readers where they can comfortably bed down for the night, but don’t put them to sleep.”
Q: What adjectives am I allowed to use?
A: All of them – provided you use them wisely and well. Hemingway once wrote that Ezra Pound taught him to “distrust certain adjectives as [he] would later learn to distrust certain people in certain situations.”
All the talk about “empty adjectives” or “marketing copy” is really a result of using adjectives without proper details or context to back them up. The word “exotic,” for instance, means something different to a lifelong world traveler and someone who has never left the Midwest. As C.S. Lewis said, “Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”
Q: Can I write about a location if I haven’t been there personally?
A: Yes, provided you’ve done enough contextual research to present an authoritative take on the subject. Your writing will always be richer if you’re describing a place you’ve been in person—all the Internet and phone research in the world can’t make up for firsthand experience—but we do know the realities of writing travel articles for DMS.
Regardless of your experience, it’s important to present yourself as an insider or concierge. Give the reader a reason to trust you. Convey the idea that the person writing the story knows the reality on the ground, or at least has done some homework that enables him to aggregate the right resources and present them.
Have more questions? Ask in the comments, and we’ll compile them into Volume Two.
Mary AnneS
Oct 11, 5:38 PM
Report Abuse
KerriM
Oct 11, 5:51 PM
Report Abuse
DruS
Oct 11, 6:29 PM
Report Abuse
RLMJ
Oct 12, 12:05 AM
Report Abuse
MobyWho
Oct 12, 8:12 AM
Report Abuse
Eric Jay Toll
Oct 14, 2:27 PM
Report Abuse
AFR
Oct 14, 3:50 PM
Report Abuse