the project.
Q Communications was appointed to handle the PR for Relais & Châteaux, one of the largest association of individually owned and operated luxury hotels and restaurants across the world. The two-year project consisted of a tenacious media outreach programme, targeting the discerning traveller across the UK and Ireland; with the aim of asserting Relais & Châteaux’s values and commitment for a better world by offering exclusive experiences to the press, and in turn showcasing Relais & Châteaux’s unique hospitality and cuisine. Our brief was to support the Relais & Châteaux brand, as well as the portfolio of 580 properties within the association, working closely with head office, as well as the individual properties within each market to create interesting and engaging stories.
The press office function included feature placement, competitions, content creation, press briefings, travel round ups, trade and industry media relations, interviews, trend led commentary, individual press visits and group press trips, as well as campaign events designed to provide rich topical content for travel and food journalists in the UK. Over the course of the two year project, numerous pieces of brand and property level coverage were achieved in high end media publications for the UK & Ireland properties, as well as the international ones, including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, Financial Time, The Independent, Evening Standard, The Metro, GQ, Conde Nast Traveller, Bazaar, Red, Country & Townhouse, Robb Report.
Our work helped to move Relais & Châteaux away from some historic preconceptions of being a brand for the older, traditional traveller. By working with lifestyle publications on angles and topics which followed the trends, we were able to challenge these views and drive interest and bookings from an audience which provided a much wider opportunity for the brand to grow. Brand partnerships were also explored as another route in which to do this.