Hotels sell an experience that hasn't happened yet. Before booking, guests can only imagine the stay through photos and video. Hotel marketing teams rarely lack material: brand footage from the opening, room photography, drone shots, the chef's dishes, clips from each season's events. What is missing is someone to turn it into a consistent set of videos for different platforms. That is post-production, and it's the part Chipscat does. We don't film.
The shots a hotel video needs
- Arrival: exterior, entrance, lobby, from the guest's point of view.
- Rooms: the whole space, the view, the bed, the bathroom, and human touches such as a hand drawing the curtains.
- Facilities: pool, spa, gym, children's areas, bar.
- Dining: breakfast service, the chef's hands, the moment a dish arrives.
- Surroundings: sea, mountains, old streets, sights; the reason to come.
- People: staff with guests, guests at ease. Empty rooms look like a brochure; people make it a trip.
- Time of day: the same scene at dawn, afternoon and night.
Ask the crew to hold each shot a few seconds longer and to film both landscape and vertical. See what B-roll is.
What post-production does
- Grading. Footage from different times and photographers is brought to the brand's tone. Much of a hotel video's quality comes from this; see colour grading explained.
- Pace and music. Slow without dragging, with cuts on the music.
- Sound design. Waves, water and tableware laid quietly under the music bring the place closer.
- Stabilising and tidying. Slight shake corrected, clutter cropped where possible.
- Text. Tagline, room names, offer details and subtitles in other languages.
Versions by platform and season
- Brand film: 60 to 90 seconds, for the homepage and lobby screens.
- Homepage background video: 15 to 30 seconds, silent, looping, small in file size; see compressing a video file that is too large.
- Social clips: vertical, 15 to 30 seconds, one subject each: a room type, a dish, a facility. See one video into ten shorts.
- Ad versions: different lengths and sizes; see ad videos in multiple aspect ratios.
- Seasonal versions: summer, Christmas, Lunar New Year, wedding season. The structure stays; some shots and the closing offer change.
- Banquet and meeting venues: for corporate planners and couples, focused on space, flow, equipment and capacity.
List the year's campaigns first and plan shared openings, closings and text styles once; each campaign then needs only new content.
The picture has to match reality
Guests compare the video with what they find. Over-polishing, such as rooms made far brighter than they are, closed facilities left in, or scenery from elsewhere, turns straight into bad reviews. The better approach is to show the property at its real best and not to create what isn't there. AI-generated shots suit only mood and seasonal atmosphere, and must not be mistaken for the hotel itself; see labelling AI-generated video.
Two further points for your team to confirm: that guests and staff in the footage have agreed to appear, and that the music is licensed for commercial use.
Before you hand it over
Prepare original files of all material (in folders by shoot date or subject), brand guidelines, the text to appear, the version list and the go-live dates. See how to send large video files. Other business video types are in commercial video editing for businesses.
FAQ
The footage is from different years and photographers. Can it be combined?
Yes, that is common. Grading narrows the gap; where quality or style differs too much, it's better to use clips separately or leave them out.
Some spaces were renovated. Can old footage still be used?
Not for spaces that have changed, to avoid a mismatch. Mark what is out of date when you send the material.
We only have photos. Is a video possible?
Yes. High-resolution photos with camera moves and layering make a polished short film; see making a photo video that doesn't look like a slideshow.
