Travel Gone Wrong: Press Trip Edition

My last Travel Gone Wrong post was about my expensive mistake in Taiwan. I take ownership for that one.  Seriously, who forgets their passport at the hotel?  This edition of Travel Gone Wrong is about a recent trip being cut short… due to a personality conflict.

Many get into the whole travel blogging business for the “free travel”.  There are still plenty of bloggers that promote their blog posts with catchy, clickable headings such as “Become a Travel Blogger, Travel for Free”.  To me, sponsored travel not that much different from business travel of my government employee days. I create content, write articles, and network during these trips.  Whether you’re at an IT conference or exploring a new destination, there’s still a product rendered at the end.  In the case of a press trip, it’s called content for which said public relations firm or the destination that invited you in the first place.

I recently participated in a two-person press trip with an unknown journalist and myself.  I will not mention names because the purpose of this post is not to put people on blast but rather share my experience of those in the travel media business whether you are a content creator or on the public relations side. This person didn’t clearly articulate for which publication he writes for, does not have a social media presence, and no current website.  Although I don’t work in public relations directly, I do organize events for which I have to curate a media list for clients.  Two essential things that I look for on the list I am curating on behalf of my client:  a social media presence and a concrete outlet, whether it is a blog or other media they contribute to.  Lesson Learned: if someone tells you “I write for so and so” and their email is not from that publication domain, check with the editor of the publication to confirm.

The press trip soon went sour when the person used the word “wetback” to refer to Latinos, referred to Latinos in the United States as “people who don’t want to learn how to speak English”, and refer to other Latin American countries as “dumps” or “undesirable” locations.  Needless to say, as a Latina, I felt that I was in an uncomfortable situation.  After another 48 hours in this environment, I can no longer take the sexist and borderline racist comments. That means that I will have to spend the next four days with this man.  As the Marine that I am, I evaluated the courses of action.  I thought of confronting him but given that my comebacks to his comments were clearly inefficient, that was not an option.  I decided to bring this to the attention to the destination public relations representative.  I gave the examples of what he had said and told them that I cannot travel with this person any longer as it is difficult to capture the experience.

I was under the impression that racist comments, especially the use of the word “wetback” would not be tolerated.  Not the case. They did not contact the other party until the following day, although the guide supported my statements about his inappropriate behavior.  The guide we provided by the tourism board decided that perhaps the best course of action was divide the activities of the day to alleviate the tension.  Apparently that was a no-go for the higher-ups.  Just like that, I get a phone call that the trip has been cut and I have to leave the country in less than 24 hours.  The worst part is that the PR tells me he can’t send someone home based on “hearsay” so we both have to go home.  I stood up for what I believe in and got punished.

For those thinking to themselves that it is ok to bash Latinos:  If you love to travel and eat in the United States, I’m here to tell you that is more than likely a Latino cooking your $35 dish “created” by a celebrity chef, running the farm where those grapes of your Pinot are being produced, and behind the scenes at many luxury properties ensuring that your stay is flawless. There’s a generation of Latinos who don’t even speak Spanish because their parents felt that it would be detrimental to their upward mobility.  I am puzzled that a so-called travel writer does not recognize this.

My interpretation of the whole debacle: this PR rep must think I am making this up.  I am here to tell you, although a writer, I suck at fiction. That’s why I write about my travel experiences.  Sounds cheesy but I felt heartbroken and humiliated on my way to the airport.  There’s nothing worse than a person doubting you, even when you tell them there’s plenty of destination marketing folks who can vouch for you. I guess that I can add “been kicked out of a press trip” to my resume.

As I write this, I am on a plane home.  Not only my trip has been cut short, but now I lost money because I had already pitched content to other publications I cannot longer provide.  Here’s my takeaway from the experience:

For bloggers:  If you don’t feel you can unbiasedly write about a destination, don’t go.  Remember that everything is on Google. If you have a reputation of writing nasty vitriol, someone is going to find it.  Sad part is that the person on this trip had a nasty article written about another destination and an unfavorable article about his personality.  Be positive.  I try my best not to write negatively.  I thought about this article for four days before publishing it.  I don’t want to burn bridges, however, my principles are not worth a free plane ticket.  I chose to write this because I was asked by other travel bloggers to share the story as a lesson learned.  If there is something negative about your experience, be constructive about it.  Ensure to take it up with the hosts before you write about it.  Perhaps the situation can be rectified.

For travel public relations professionals: research!  Does the person fit your brand?  Have you read other articles that person has published?  Will the blogger share the experience on real-time with their followers? Is the person an influencer? If planning a group trip: do these journalists/bloggers have similar interests? Perhaps do an e-intro for participants to start following one another beforehand and communicating via email.  On this particular trip, I didn’t even know who I was traveling with until 2 days before departing.  No email or contact information was provided.  I’ve been knee deep on my Kickstarter campaign, so I didn’t do much digging on Google.  I only checked the name and was wondering why I couldn’t find any articles or social media on this person.

When Lacy from the expâté, Kristen from Border Free Travels, and Amy of Creatrice Mondial organized the #CaptureAnguilla trip I attended in August, they handpicked a group of content creators they knew had many things in common.  They encouraged attendees to follow one another on social media and engage with one another beforehand.  I truly felt like I knew everyone there prior to arrival.  The experience was like no other I have experienced.

So those are my thoughts on Travel Gone Wrong: Press Trip Edition.  Have you had a press trip gone wrong story? How did you make it better?