Why New York Times Travel Writers Flip Down Press Perks and Freebies

When Sarah Lyall got down to expertise Air France’s new ultra-premium trans-Atlantic service for the New York Times Travel part, she obtained a chauffeured limousine to the airport and a private compartment spanning 4 home windows on the airplane. And a invoice for $11,000.

The Times paid.

The Travel desk has a longstanding coverage that its writers don’t settle for free journey packages or complimentary press journeys, to keep away from conflicts of curiosity and different ethics considerations about who foots the invoice. Instead, The Times covers the related bills when its journalists report on a vacation spot, chronicle a journey or evaluation a resort, even with sky-high gasoline prices pushing up the value of journey. (The Times additionally tries to keep away from hiring freelance writers who up to now three years have participated in freebie journeys for different publications.)

Amy Virshup, who has been the Travel editor since 2018, mentioned she wished her writers to attempt to have the identical expertise that the majority readers can anticipate.

Press journeys, she mentioned, include curated itineraries and sponsor-focused priorities, taking away the sense of journey that’s inherent in setting out on one’s personal — and the independence in masking it as a journalist.

“The vision of the place that you get is a very specific one that’s tailored for you to write a story about,” Ms. Virshup mentioned. “We want writers who are going to go and forge their own path, rather than walking one that has been determined for them by a hotel owner or a destination marketer.”

She receives dozens of emails every month providing her or a reporter free journeys to unique locations. She turns all of them down, and even books motels below her husband’s identify in an effort to keep away from particular remedy.

It’s a part of a broader purpose on the desk: To attempt to journey undetected as journalists.

“The minute they know you’re covering it, the whole dynamic changes,” mentioned Ms. Lyall, a author at giant. “It’s like a restaurant critic going into your restaurant; when they know the critic is there, they’ll start bringing you better food and better service.”

Trips like Ms. Lyall’s flight present a glimpse of the acute excessive finish of the market, however more often than not, Ms. Virshup mentioned, Times writers purpose to journey like the common particular person.

That means they e-book normal resort rooms and financial system seats on planes — premium financial system is often solely allowed on coast-to-coast flights and a few worldwide flights.

“I’m in the same squished seat on the airplane, probably just more frequently than everybody else,” mentioned Elaine Glusac, a contract contributor who for the previous six years has written the Frugal Traveler column, which is targeted on touring on a price range.

Most of the time, Times writers e-book motels and pay for meals utilizing their private bank cards and are later reimbursed. The Times permits them to accrue airline miles and factors for resort stays. They are additionally allowed to simply accept meal or vouchers if a flight is canceled, as an illustration, or to take part in free choices at a resort — suppose a bunch yoga class — as long as the actions can be found to all company.

Those guidelines might sound fairly unambiguous, however some conditions are extra nuanced.

While Ms. Lyall was visiting the Caribbean island of Barbuda in 2024, writing about Robert De Niro’s new luxurious inn, she was invited to lunch at an all-inclusive resort the place meals had been usually included within the nightly charge.

“I had to insist that they charge me for the meal,” she mentioned. “And they were like, ‘We don’t know how much the meal cost.’”

Though it may be awkward to show down a free drink by citing institutional ethics coverage, each Ms. Glusac and Ms. Lyall mentioned that paying their very own approach has helped them to jot down truthfully concerning the locations and experiences they’ve coated.

“People can believe it when I say, ‘I think this is worth it,’” Ms. Glusac mentioned. “We can make evaluations, and people can find them credible because we’re not being paid to say something on a sponsor’s behalf.”

Ms. Lyall added: “It’s nice to be able to say, quite proudly, ‘Our organization doesn’t accept things like this because we want to maintain journalistic neutrality.’”