The utter gall of some people is astounding. Back when I was somebody in meeja I'd get offered comped trips, all expenses covered, but these were always OFFERED and paid for by the government/tourist board that wanted coverage well-heeled F1 fans were likely to read. And they were effective -- I've since spent thousands of my own money exploring Mexico after a paid trip whetted my appetite for all the country has to offer, and I am a one-woman pr campaign to visit the country and not its resorts. But I could never imagine ASKING a business to comp me, and certainly not a mom n' pop shop. The Fairmont can afford it, Joe Blogs can't. Why are some people so awful? 🤬
Wait until AI starts doing the outreach, negotiation/extortion tactics and then generating on-location travel videos, all while the influencer stays at home. Some things were better in the old days.
100% what Stuart says here. We're so grateful that Substack lets us write about what we want to write about without having to worry about a quid pro quo. That let's us honestly write about what we want to write about. We've heard travel writers who get things for free claim that getting things for free in no way influences what they have to say about said activity/lodging/product.
But that seems highly unlikely.
In the interest of full disclosure, we get a fair few offers to do or get something for free in exchange for writing about it. Over three years we have accepted three of those offers but only with the understanding that we would write what we really thought. The fact that we make our money from subscriptions let's us have that freedom, but even then it feels like a conflict of interest and not something we're likely to do again in the future.
Somehow all these posts by influencers seem to pass me by and I am more than happy about that. When you read this article about these approaches you have to wonder just how influential these influencers are.
I get the math, and I’ve had many a travel writer friend justify it on account of if they or their publisher had to pay, nobody would, so they’d be no coverage, and tbh I see no problem whatsoever with these joints getting zero coverage.
The utter gall of some people is astounding. Back when I was somebody in meeja I'd get offered comped trips, all expenses covered, but these were always OFFERED and paid for by the government/tourist board that wanted coverage well-heeled F1 fans were likely to read. And they were effective -- I've since spent thousands of my own money exploring Mexico after a paid trip whetted my appetite for all the country has to offer, and I am a one-woman pr campaign to visit the country and not its resorts. But I could never imagine ASKING a business to comp me, and certainly not a mom n' pop shop. The Fairmont can afford it, Joe Blogs can't. Why are some people so awful? 🤬
Wait until AI starts doing the outreach, negotiation/extortion tactics and then generating on-location travel videos, all while the influencer stays at home. Some things were better in the old days.
100% what Stuart says here. We're so grateful that Substack lets us write about what we want to write about without having to worry about a quid pro quo. That let's us honestly write about what we want to write about. We've heard travel writers who get things for free claim that getting things for free in no way influences what they have to say about said activity/lodging/product.
But that seems highly unlikely.
In the interest of full disclosure, we get a fair few offers to do or get something for free in exchange for writing about it. Over three years we have accepted three of those offers but only with the understanding that we would write what we really thought. The fact that we make our money from subscriptions let's us have that freedom, but even then it feels like a conflict of interest and not something we're likely to do again in the future.
Thought-provoking and insightful. Thank you. FYI I was directed your way by Naked Capitalism.
Somehow all these posts by influencers seem to pass me by and I am more than happy about that. When you read this article about these approaches you have to wonder just how influential these influencers are.
I get the math, and I’ve had many a travel writer friend justify it on account of if they or their publisher had to pay, nobody would, so they’d be no coverage, and tbh I see no problem whatsoever with these joints getting zero coverage.
Yep , Word of mouth was all we had in the sixties and early seventies