Hospitality Net has always aimed to be a place where hospitality professionals can exchange ideas that move the industry forward. Thought leadership plays a central role in that mission. It helps our readers make sense of change, test assumptions, learn from peers, and discover fresh perspectives from people working at every level of the sector. As our dashboard has grown into the preferred way for members to publish opinion content, we have also seen a wider range of submissions. Many are exactly what our readers come for: informed viewpoints, practical lessons, and clear arguments built on experience. Others, while well-intentioned, lean too heavily into commercial messaging, sometimes reading more like a product pitch than an industry contribution. That is the reason we are introducing updated editorial guidelines for opinion articles. The core goal is simple: to better separate true thought leadership from content where the commercial message becomes too prominent. Hospitality Net publishes a broad mix of content types. Press releases and commercial announcements have their place. Opinion articles have a different purpose. They are most valuable when they explore a topic with independence, offer insight grounded in expertise, and help readers see an issue from a new angle. When opinion pieces drift into promotional territory, two things happen. Readers lose trust in the format, and strong contributors are put in the same category as content that feels like marketing. Neither outcome serves our community. The updated guidelines are designed to protect the value of the opinion section and to make expectations clearer for everyone submitting via the dashboard. These changes are not about limiting member visibility. They are about strengthening it. Members who publish genuine thought leadership benefit from: Our readers come to Hospitality Net for signal, not noise. They want practical ideas, informed debate, and lessons they can apply. Clear editorial standards help ensure that opinion articles are easier to trust, more useful to a broader audience, and remain focused on the topic rather than the sponsor. When readers know that opinion content is insight first, they read more of it, share more of it, and return for more of it. That benefits the entire platform, including the members contributing to it. To apply these standards consistently, Hospitality Net uses AI to analyse and score submitted content. If the results indicate that an article is too commercial in its primary focus, we will inform you and share the AI generated score, along with a documented explanation and suggestions for how to adjust your article. As an alternative, we will propose to publish your articlein Hospitality Net's overall news feed, where commercial and company-led updates are expected and appreciated by readers in the right context. We use Claude by Anthropic to support this analysis. The system reads and understands context the way a knowledgeable industry editor would, but at scale. It does not rely on simple keyword matching. It evaluates the meaning and emphasis of your article, including what it is fundamentally trying to achieve and what the reader is being guided towards. The aim is not to penalise mentions of brands or products, but to ensure that the opinion format remains insight led. One important additional change is the way we handle hero images for opinion articles. For opinion content, your hero image cannot include commercial elements, including: Why does this matter. Because the hero image is often the first thing readers see in content feeds and social shares. If it looks promotional, the reader expectation shifts immediately, and the article is judged through a commercial lens before they read a single sentence. A strong hero image should support the theme of the article, not the marketing of a brand. The dashboard will continue to guide you through upload and cropping to ensure your image displays well across devices. The key difference is that for opinion content, the image needs to be clean, editorial in feel, and free of promotional elements. You can still reference companies, products, and real-world examples when they support your argument. In many cases, that makes an article stronger. The guideline is not “do not mention brands”, but rather, “do not write an advertisement”. If your submission is primarily about your product, your solution, or your company offering, the best route may be a different content format. If your submission is about an industry challenge, a shift in thinking, or a lesson learned, an opinion article is the right home. These updates are intended to make the dashboard publishing experience clearer and more consistent, and to ensure that Hospitality Net remains a trusted platform for industry insight. We encourage all members publishing thought leadership through the dashboard to review the updated guidelines before submitting. A few small adjustments in framing, tone, and imagery can make a significant difference in how your work is received. Thought leadership is most powerful when it earns attention. These changes are here to help your expertise stand out, for the right reasons.Why are we making these changes
Why is it in the interest of our members
Why is it in the interest of our readers
How AI supports the review process
Hero images must be non-commercial
What does not change
Moving forward
Contact
Henri Roelings
Founder
Email: henri@hospitalitynet.org
Organization
Hospitality Net
https://www.hospitalitynet.org
Boschcour 54
Maastricht, 6221 JR
Netherlands, The
Email: info@hospitalitynet.org
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