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New Workflow for Hotel Titles

If you write about travel for Demand Studios, you've seen your fair share of titles like "Hotels in Appleton, Wisconsin" and "Hotels in Los Angeles," and puzzled over how to best write them according to DS guidelines. Trust me, I've felt your pain. As editor of Travels.com, I'm the go-to person for Studio Editors as they field your questions about travel in the Title Clarification forum, and I've seen firsthand the volume of questions these particular titles have raised. What kinds of hotels should be included on these lists? Can the list include motels, inns or bed & breakfasts? What if there are only two hotels within the town limits, but more in the next town over?

I knew that I needed to create guidelines, but your questions were so varied, and the answers were often so subjective, that I didn't see how we could create one set of rules to address everything we'd answered on a case-by-case basis. But, as Demand Studios EVP Steven Kydd once told in his infinite wisdom, it's sometimes necessary to live with an issue for a while until you understand the best and simplest solution for it. So I took notes on your feedback, and as patterns began to emerge, the answer eventually became clear: a visual Hotel Title Workflow of the thought process you should follow when faced with a title like this. (The full version lives in the Resource Center. Print it out and pin it up next to your computer if you write a lot of these titles.)

I'll be honest: Making this flowchart was not easy. First, I had to work with other editors to define every accommodation type, and decide how strictly we would stick to those definitions. What was a "hotel" anyway? Was it materially different from a "lodge" or an "inn" or even a "motel"? Where did "hostels" and "bed & breakfasts" fit in?

As a group, we eventually determined that a reader searching for a list of "hotels in Anytown, USA" is actually looking for a list of "accommodations in Anytown, USA." These accommodations can include, in order of editorial preference: hotels, resorts (not all-inclusives), motels, inns, lodges, bed & breakfasts, cabins, vacation rental and hostels. The list should never include campgrounds or all-inclusive resorts, because they are very specific experiences outside of the realm of "general lodging."

Always make sure it is clear from your description of the location what kind of accommodation it is.

The problem with creating hard-and-fast rules like these, however, is that they leave little room for nuance and subjectivity. So here's my caveat: Use your best judgment as a professional travel writer when it comes to following this hierarchy. If the title is "Hotels in Appleton," and Appleton offers two hotels, one super-sleazy motel by the highway, and a gorgeous and renowned bed & breakfast in the town center, you should choose the bed & breakfast over the motel. I know not every judgment call will be so cut-and-dry. If you do have questions, please write to the Title Clarification Forums for Trails and Travels if you want feedback from specific site editors, or the Demand Studios Title Clarification Forum if you need general feedback from Studio Editors.

Finally, I know that it can be hard to choose three or five locations out of hundreds for a title like "Hotels in Los Angeles," without your choices sounding totally arbitrary. Set up the criteria you used to choose your hotels in the Overview (I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago about What Makes a Good Overview), and then choose locations that best capture the experience of Los Angeles for a range of personalities, budgets and experiences. So, I might pick a kid-friendly hotel by the beach in Santa Monica, a trendy boutique hotel on the Sunset Strip, a history-drenched grande dame hotel downtown, a cheap hostel in Venice, and a romantic hideaway somewhere in the Hollywood Hills. The key for big markets is to pick locations that tell a story about the city. See "Tips for Writing a Good List" for more helpful hints.

If you have feedback on the Hotel Title Workflow, please leave comments here, or PM me directly if you have private concerns. And stay tuned for more travel-related posts in the near future, including a post about how to do research for travel articles, which will include tips and tricks on how to find the best hotels in a location.

8 Comments

Anna,

Thanks for this tool. Because so many people are visual learners, I think that using a concept map/flow chart makes a lot of sense.

Regards,

Cheryl

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Thanks for the info. It's nice to know we don't have to wait for title clarification if we just need to go more into the "area." The one thing I see here that I've never seen before was not to include all-inclusives in hotel stories. That's something I have done, but when I was short on area hotels or when the majority of the hotels in the area are all-inclusives.

Marcia

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Awesome. I have a title that totally qualifies for a title change and I'm getting grief over it.

Title: Hotels in Zillah, WA

There's 1 hotel and 1 family that rents their guest houses. I need one more to complete the article. The first time I asked for a title change, the editor told me there was a Best western (there is not) and the second time I was referred to this flowchart (which is awesome)

Perhaps there are some new qualifications on title changes. Maybe higher-ups are telling them to be stingy with title changes, I don't know. This is getting ridiculous. Most recent thread...

http://www.demandstudios.com/community/forum.html?plckForumPage=ForumDiscussion&plckDiscussionId=Cat:bba1ba83-cbdf-46d0-b00b-774ea8d4c2a0Forum:1949a5ac-ee89-4505-acfe-d304280e9173Discussion:52ba1dae-6c67-4757-9d58-f8c62faf780f

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Thanks for your feedback, everyone. I really appreciate it.

Marcia, I think a case like that would fall under the "use your best judgment" clause. In general, since all-inclusives offer such a specific experience then general accommodations, we don't think they should be lumped in with general "hotels." That said, if it's a resort area where there are ONLY all-inclusives, or only one "normal" hotel, it would be okay to include the all-inclusive resorts because a reader should understand that they are the only accommodations available in that area. I hope that makes sense. Whenever you have case-specific questions like those, please direct them to the Title Clarification forum.

Thanks again!

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Does this apply for restaurants too?

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Hi Anna - Thank you for the flow chart and clarification about titles. Very helpful! And yes - regarding restaurants, I came across a title "German restaurants in Lansing, Michigan" (there are none)so we'll wait to hear if the same applies.

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We're working on a similar workflow for restaurants. It would actually be a big help if you had a minute to email me some of your recent questions or general areas of concern about restaurants (anna.roth AT demandmedia.com) -- just so I know what we're up against. Thanks!

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Wow- no response and no title change, STILL.
*Are there hotels?
yes, there is 1
*Can you round out w/ alternatives
no, but I can add the rinky dink little guest houses at hawk haven
*Are there other accommodations nearby, within 30 min?
Yes
Then send a note asking for title change (denied twice)
Hotels in Zillah, Washington
articleid=1082937

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New Workflow for Hotel Titles

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