Instagram’s New Edits App: A Game Changer for Hotel Social Media
Instagram has just launched a brand-new standalone editing app called Edits, and the social media world is abuzz. Edits is a free video-editing app designed to compete directly with TikTok’s popular CapCut tool. In fact, Meta (Instagram’s parent company) rolled it out this week specifically to help lure video creators back from TikTok. In other words, Edits is essentially Instagram’s version of CapCut – an all-in-one creative studio for making polished videos on your phone. Instagram’s chief, Adam Mosseri, describes it as a tool “for those of you who are passionate about making videos on your phone,” emphasising that it’s Instagram’s job to provide “the best possible tools for creators”.
Warm, friendly, and packed with creative features, Edits has big implications for anyone creating social content, especially in the hospitality and travel industry. Below, we highlight the most exciting new features of Edits (at least five!), explain how they elevate social media content quality, and explore why hoteliers in particular should be paying attention.
Key Features of Edits That Elevate Your Hotel’s Content
Edits isn’t just a minor add-on to Instagram – it’s a full suite of creative tools in a separate app. Here are some of the standout features making content creators (and marketers like us at Huckleberry) excited:
One-Stop Creative Workspace: Edits combines everything creators need under one roof. It includes a dedicated inspiration feed for trending Reels and audio, plus built-in project organisation tools (like a Projects tab to manage multiple videos and in-app notes to jot down ideas). No more juggling multiple apps or notebooks – you can brainstorm, plan, and create content seamlessly in one place. (For a hotel social media team, this means your content ideas, shooting, and editing workflow can all live in a single app, streamlining your process.)
Extended Recording Time: For the first time, Instagram creators can record longer clips up to 10 minutes directly in-app. (That’s a big upgrade from the ~3-minute limit inside the main Instagram app.) This extra time is a boon for storytelling – you can capture a comprehensive hotel tour, an entire guest experience, or a behind-the-scenes event in one continuous take. Viewers get a fuller story without you having to chop it into multiple parts, elevating the narrative flow of your content.
Advanced Video Effects & Editing: Edits packs pro-level effects that used to require desktop software. Creators can apply cinematic features like green-screen backdrops and other AI-powered background effects to transport themselves (or their subject) into any setting. It also offers automatic cutouts to isolate people or objects and fun animated overlays and filters to bring videos to life. Imagine a hotel overlaying a stunning sunset beach behind their mixologist during a cocktail-making Reel – with Edits’ effects, these little “movie magic” touches are easy and look professional.
AI-Powered Tools (Captions & More): Edits harnesses artificial intelligence to make content creation easier. For example, it can automatically generate captions for your videos – a huge time-saver that also makes your content more accessible (hello, sound-off viewers!). The app even includes AI tools that can turn static images into dynamic video clips. That means a hotel could quickly transform a set of gorgeous property photos into an engaging video slideshow with music and movement, all within Edits.
No Watermarks & Seamless Instagram Integration: Unlike some third-party editors, videos exported from Edits come out watermark-free, even though it’s a free app. Your hotel’s branding stays front-and-centre, with no distracting logos from editing tools. You can also post directly to Instagram from Edits (no downloading and re-uploading needed), then immediately check how the content is performing via built-in analytics and insights.
Why Hoteliers Should Pay Attention
In the hospitality industry, eye-catching social media content isn’t just nice-to-have – it’s essential. A single viral Reel of a gorgeous infinity pool or a well-edited hotel tour can spark a surge in bookings. With Instagram raising the bar on content creation through Edits, hotels and resorts have an opportunity to elevate their storytelling and stand out in feeds.
Here’s why Edits matters for hoteliers:
Elevated Quality, Even In-House: The professional-grade tools in Edits mean that even small boutique hotels (with modest marketing teams) can create videos that look like they were produced by a creative agency. When your social posts look more polished and immersive, viewers perceive your property as more polished and appealing, too.
More Engaging Stories: Longer video capacity and richer editing features translate to more engaging storytelling. Hotels can move beyond the basic slideshow of photos or shaky live videos. With Edits, you might produce a 5-minute mini-tour of the local neighbourhood attractions around your hotel, complete with voiceover captions and beautiful scene cuts, all shot on a smartphone.
Staying Competitive & Trend-Aware: Edits is part of Instagram’s strategy to keep creators (and their audiences) within the Instagram ecosystem. In practical terms, Instagram will likely continue pushing Reels and videos made with its own tools. By adopting Edits early, hoteliers can ride that wave – benefiting from any algorithmic boosts and trending features Instagram rolls out. It shows that your brand is tech-savvy and trend-aware, which appeals to modern travellers.
How Huckleberry Is Using Edits for Our Hotel Clients
At Huckleberry, we’re especially excited about Edits. As a creative agency working with hotel and travel clients, we plan to leverage this new app to supercharge our social media campaigns. Here are a few ways we’ll be putting Edits to work:
Creating Sharper, More Engaging Reels: We’ll use Edits’ advanced toolkit to produce high-definition, visually stunning Instagram Reels for our hotel clients. From the high-quality camera and extended recording time to the suite of effects, Edits lets us craft videos that truly wow. For example, we can utilise the green screen feature to place a hotel’s spokesperson in front of a dramatic destination backdrop, or tap into the built-in trending audio library to pair a luxury suite tour with the perfect soundtrack. The result? Scroll-stopping Reels that captivate potential guests and showcase each property in the best light.
Improving Storytelling & Collaboration: With Edits, we can tell more comprehensive stories and collaborate in real-time. The ability to record longer videos means we can capture a narrative from start to finish – say, a day-in-the-life at a resort, from morning lattes to evening jazz at the lounge – and edit it into one cohesive story. The in-app notes and project tabs are perfect for planning these storyboards and keeping our ideas organised.
Enhancing Campaign Performance: Better content yields better results. By using Edits to polish every piece of video content, we anticipate stronger engagement across our hotel campaigns – more views, likes, shares, and comments from travellers and guests. The integrated analytics in Edits will allow us to immediately gauge how a Reel is performing and understand audience behaviour. Those insights help us tweak our content strategy on the fly – maybe we’ll discover that viewers love the drone footage of the hotel exterior more than the lobby shots, and we can adjust the next video accordingly. Over time, this data-driven refinement leads to higher reach and conversion. Essentially, Edits will not only save us time creating content, but also help make each post more effective for our clients’ goals.
Conclusion: A New Era of Creative Hotel Content
At Huckleberry, we’re embracing Instagram Edits as a fresh tool in our arsenal to tell compelling brand stories for our hotel partners. We believe it will help us continue to push the envelope with innovative, trend-setting content that inspires travellers to pack their bags.
In the ever-evolving world of travel inspiration and digital storytelling, staying ahead of the curve is key. Instagram Edits is the latest curve – and we’re thrilled to see how it helps hotels like yours shine online.
