Why You Should Never Accept a 1-Night Stay Collaboration
Almost every travel creator dreams of working with hotels. But one of the hardest lessons I learned was that saying yes to every opportunity isn't always the smartest business decision.
While a complimentary hotel stay may sound exciting, one-night collaborations often require just as much work as multi-night stays while providing far less value—for both the creator and the hotel. Here's why I now decline most one-night hosted stays.
📌 My Recommendation at a Glance
I generally decline one-night hotel collaborations unless:
It's a local partnership.
It's part of a larger campaign.
The deliverables are limited.
There's additional compensation.
It’s a location I was going to visit anyway.
Table of Contents
3 Reasons to Politely Say "No"
With only one night, there just simply is not enough time to create quality content or meaningfully immerse yourself in a location – you will be rushing.
By the time you check in (often in the late afternoon), you barely have time to do anything except shoot, sleep, shoot again, and check out with little room for anything else.
With that pace, you won’t have time to naturally experience the property or its amenities. Quality content requires time to slow down, relax, try things out firsthand, and truly experience the small details.
When you’re rushed, you’re going to be forced to stage moments instead of genuinely experiencing them. That sort of lack of authenticity is easy to spot. Audiences can always tell when content isn’t genuine. It will come across forced or overly promotional. As a result, you’re simply setting yourself up for failure.
Creating strong, visually compelling content requires capturing a property in different lighting conditions and from multiple angles.
This also takes time. Rushing the process results in subpar content that doesn’t reflect your true standards.
Audiences rely on influencers to offer thoughtful recommendations, promote brands they genuinely believe in, and provide them with itineraries and travel tips that are actually useful and work.
A one-night stay doesn’t give you the insight you need to tell your audience that this place is worth the time and money to visit.
To create truly valuable content, you need time not only to experience the property you’re promoting, but the surrounding area too. You need time to immerse yourself in the location and experience it firsthand. Doing so allows you to provide valuable insights like what to do nearby, what to skip, and helpful insider tips.
Rushing a stay will undoubtedly result in content underperforming – a reflection on you, not the brand. Creators are judged by the quality of their work, and it is not worth jeopardizing your reputation on a one-night stay.
📈 The Amount of Work for Deliverables Does Not Match the Value of the Stay
Most one-night collaborations still expect creators to deliver quality reels, stories, blog posts, and UGC for the brand’s own use.
However, the value of a single night stay does not come close to fairly and adequately compensating you for all that hard work, especially when you consider travel costs, meals and time. In some cases, properties even expect creators to pay cleaning fees on top of it.
Undervaluing creators is unfortunately common in this industry, and accepting one-night stays only reinforces this.
It teaches brands to expect high-quality content for minimal investment, leading to unrealistic expectations and standards that make it harder for you and other creators to negotiate fair terms. Saying no to this kind of exchange helps raise standards for all creators and the community as a whole.
✨ Pro Tip: I'd rather create one outstanding piece of content that genuinely helps a destination than rush through three hotel check-ins in three days.
How to Politely Decline
Two nights should be considered the minimum for meaningful storytelling.
This allows time to arrive and get settled then have a full day to explore at a natural pace.
It gives you the opportunity to create content in different lighting conditions and notice the smaller details worth sharing. The result is strong, authentic content and a more successful collaboration for both you and the brand. A true win-win.
If a brand is only offering a one-night stay, it’s best to either politely decline or propose a paid collaboration instead. Be transparent about your reasoning and the standards you maintain for your work.
Example Response: Declining a Collaboration
Dear [Name].
Thank you for your offer.
After giving this some thought, I don’t think it’s the right fit for me at this time.
As a general rule, I don’t take on collaborations for fewer than two nights. I’ve found that shorter stays don’t allow me the time needed to fully immerse myself in a location, explore it thoughtfully, or capture the images and details I need to create meaningful content. My audience relies on recommendations based on firsthand experience, and a one-night stay simply doesn’t allow me to create the level of content they expect.
I trust that you understand and I appreciate your offer.
Thanks,
[Creator Name]
Your time, credibility, and audience’s trust are worth much more than a rushed free stay.
Final Note:
While I decline most one-night hotel collaborations, there are exceptions. If the partnership is local, part of a larger campaign, or the deliverables are limited, a one-night stay can absolutely make sense. The key is making sure the collaboration benefits both you and your partner.
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