John McAuliffe, Chief Marketing Officer, VFM Leonardo:

Again, this depends on what your uniqueness is. You want to ensure that what makes you unique and why travelers’ would want to stay at your hotel is the central focus of your video. It may be architecture, so having people in the video would be contrary to your story.

On the other hand, it may be your unique sense of hospitality so a scene showing your front desk, for example, wouldn’t come across well without staff. I have seen excellent videos produced with staff (see Intercontinental’s Conceirge videos) and excellent videos with hired actors – it all depends on the context of your video.