The fine art of negotiating press trips

Globe trotting is set to reach record levels, according to recent Mintel research, so you'd expect that the need for travel writing would be even greater, writes Andrea Wren. But we know that no such thing could ever be true.

As one of the most competitive areas of journalism, no matter how much the consumer demands to seek new horizons, there will always be a big long queue of journalists eager to bag that shining chalice - the press trip.

But while getting the commission is the toughest bit, negotiating a press trip is no mean feat either, and those who have been here (and there) will know that sometimes you wonder why you don't just dig deep, spend the measly fee you'll be getting for the feature (before the cheque has arrived) and pay for the damn thing yourself.

In an ideal world, before you pitch your ideas, you check with the PRs looking after the relevant companies that they would be willing to spend their precious budgets accommodating you if you get a juicy commission with the 'right title'. But one PR's 'target title' is another PR's 'no way José'.

So there is an awful lot of going backwards and forwards just to work out who is happy with what, including yourself. And unless you've been lucky enough to land a 'packaged' press trip which includes all your flights, transfers, food and accommodation (you will normally need a commission to go, so you'll be competing with a hundred more journos all trying to clamber into the same titles to get that prize in the first place) then it's you that will have to tie up the finer details.

This can be a minefield.

Have you the coordination techniques of an elephant walking across an abyss on super-strength dental floss? Well get practising. Getting dates to suit you, the editor, the PRs and their clients is the first big hurdle, then getting them all to agree on who is coughing up for what is the next. If another company can foot the bill, why should someone else?

And you're in the middle, knowing that the more time it takes, the less time you've got of managing to get the dates that you need to get your bloody story in. But I think to myself, it is all worth it in the end.

I mean, a press trip is not like really having to work is it? Working abroad is one thing – my dad used to do this. He fitted air conditioning units in Nigeria. Hmmm. The same amount of work in five times as much heat. It's hardly fun.

But for travel journalists, their work is finding out about the place as a destination to visit – and bar making a few notes, doing a couple of interviews and writing up the feature when you're back, it's a very pleasant bit of work indeed.

So bring on the press trips and the endless back and forth negotiation, some of those little numbers can be well worth the hassle it takes to organise.

Andrea Wren has written for a wide variety of newspapers, magazines and websites.

Comments

[Linda]

Thanks so much for the insight Andrea.

I've been on a handful of press trips - two or three while still working as a reporter on an evening paper, as far as I can remember - the best was to a glamorous city on a maiden flight from a UK airport.

I was never invited back as I did a "knocking story" about the fact that "too few" people were using the airline.

How much do you think the fact that the trip is at the expense of a PR company influences what's written, and what do they expect?

As I understand it, Simon Calder from the Independent pays his own way.

How realistic is it to expect other journalists to do the same, do you think?

[ourman]

Thank you. I am glad someone finally wrote about how it all worked. It was starting to feel like a secret no one would tell me.