When Condé Nast Traveler zeroed in on Hanoi for a feature in its December 2018 issue, one Balcony client realized all kinds of exposure. The magazine, which rates as one of the top 2 in the United States, pictured the hotel on a full page of editorial. The editors called out the hotel as the place to stay.

“The Sofitel Legend Metropole is exactly what you came for: a 1901 landmark two blocks from Hoàn Kiếm Lake, with a savvy concierge staff, fantastic breakfasts, and colonial atmosphere to burn,” the editors wrote in a sidebar.

The magazine asked the reporter on the story, Peter Jon Lindberg, for his thoughts on what hotel feels like home, and he called out the Metropole. “Even 117 years in — (the Metropole) just keeps getting lovelier,” Lindberg said.

Lindberg should know. We helped set up a stay for him in 2012, and we helped with his stay again this year.

This is exactly what PR agencies are supposed to do: Get the best writers at the best magazines into client properties. We have no hand in the development of the editorial, of course, but if you rep a good property and they have a good story to tell, you’re going to get good editorial returns.