What travel UGC actually costs for a hotel or villa
Same brief, quotes from $200 to $2,000. The gap isn't the video. It's usage, production and who's holding the camera.
You ask three creators for the same thing. One quotes $200. One quotes $700. One quotes $2,400. Nobody explains why, and now you're guessing.
The gap is real and it's explainable. Here's what you're actually paying for.
The market rate for a plain UGC video
Collabstr's 2026 report puts the average UGC creator rate at $195 per video, with the average collaboration at $154 and 80% of brand engagements coming in under $300. That's the commodity end of the market and it's worth knowing before anyone quotes you.
What that price usually buys is one creator, filming at home or somewhere generic, with a product you shipped them. It's a talking head and a phone. For a lot of e-commerce brands that's exactly right.
It is not what a property shoot costs, and here's why.
Why property content costs more than product UGC
Somebody has to physically come to you. That's the whole difference.
- Travel to the property, and time on site instead of at a desk
- Filming your actual rooms, pool, restaurant and grounds, which takes hours and good light
- Drone, if the location and the rules allow it
- Editing that has to make a real place look like the version guests imagine
- Enough coverage that you get more than one video out of the day
A product UGC video is one person and one object. A property shoot is a small production. You're paying for the day, not the file.
The three things that move a quote the most
1. Usage rights
This is the one most properties don't ask about and then get stuck on later.
Standard for most creators is organic use on your own channels for a set window. The moment you want to put money behind it as a paid ad, run it from your account as a partnership ad, keep it forever, or stop the creator working with the resort next door, that's extra and it should be priced separately.
Ask what's included before you compare two quotes. A $400 video with 90 days organic and a $400 video with unlimited paid use are not the same product, and the second creator either mispriced it or didn't read the brief.
2. How much you get out of the day
The expensive part is getting a creator to your property. Once they're there, the marginal cost of more footage is small.
One video from a shoot day is the worst value you can buy. Three to five videos, plus photos, plus organised B-roll you can cut yourself later, is where the money starts working. Same travel, same setup, far more to post.
3. Whether they're on camera
A cinematic property reel and a creator saying "I stayed here and this is what it's actually like" are different jobs. The second one needs someone who can hold a camera and perform, and it converts differently. Plenty of people can do one and not the other.
What I charge
My prices are on the site because hiding them wastes everyone's time.
| Package | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | 1 fully edited video, up to 30 seconds | $225 |
| Content Pack | 2 fully edited videos, up to 45 seconds each | $425 |
| Full Campaign | 4 fully edited videos, up to 45 seconds each | $725 |
All three include concept and script, cinematic B-roll, captions, colour and sound. Drone and raw footage are add-ons because not every project needs them. Anything bigger, multi-day, multi-property or ongoing, I quote after we talk about scope.
Travel and on-location costs are quoted separately when a shoot needs them. I'd rather tell you that up front than surprise you on the invoice.
How to compare two quotes properly
Line them up on these five and the cheap one usually stops looking cheap.
- How many finished videos, and how long is each one
- How long can you use them, and does that include paid ads
- Photos and raw footage in or out
- How many revisions, and what counts as a revision
- Who pays for travel, access and permits
If a quote doesn't answer those, it isn't a quote yet. Ask.
The honest version
If you've never bought this before, don't start with a big package. Buy one video, put it out, see what it does. Then decide whether to do a proper content day.
Any creator worth hiring will be fine with that. The ones who push you straight into a retainer before you've seen anything are selling, not producing.
Tell me about your property and what you want the content to do. I'll come back with a scope and a real number.
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