How I discovered I could license my art to luxury hotels

Did you know that you could license your art to hotels? This is where you hand over a hi-res file of your artwork in exchange for a handsome fee and a signed permission slip.

…Yeah, I didn’t either when I started my art business. They don’t teach this stuff in art school.

I became aware of its existence when an art consultant contacted me in 2017 about licensing one of my artworks for the new hotel and training camp for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, called the Omni Frisco.

Here’s how it worked: I would give them a high-resolution copy of my artwork and legal permission to print and frame it for this project.

It sounded like an amazing opportunity (and it was!), and I didn’t want to let it pass me by even though I knew nothing about the process.

I didn’t know anything about rates, hospitality contracts, or timelines.

I went into this project completely blind.

Despite my efforts to find concrete answers on FB groups and artist forums, I couldn’t find any that matched my situation. However, I did see other artists asking somewhat similar questions, just not any answers.

I decided to trust myself to navigate this as best I could and use it as a learning experience.

Was I absolutely terrified of making a mistake, like accidentally signing away my rights? 😅 Yes, absolutely.

Was I equal parts excited? Definitely.

In the end, the project turned out fine, even though I probably undercharged. But hey, you don’t know what you don’t know.

After that experience, more projects started trickling in, like a big project for the Waldorf Astoria and another for the exclusive, famcy-shmancy suite areas of the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

With each new client, I learned something new about this industry. And the more I learned and the more money I made, the more I loved it.

As an introvert, I loved that I only had to work with 1-3 people on each project and that most communication was done over email. As someone who easily gets nervous around new people, being able to take my time to formulate a coherent response is deeply valuable to me. And this is where the bulk of the work is, just answering the consultant’s questions about your art.

I also learned that one project can bring in a large influx of cash if they decide to print multiple copies of a single artwork. Since this is a form of licensing, my only job is to provide the high-resolution file (e.g., dropping it into a shared Dropbox folder). If they decide to print 10 or 1,000, my workload stays the same, but I just get paid more. These large projects help balance out the slower months in my shop, or when I have to take time off to deal with the flares of my chronic condition.

Additionally, I loved that I didn’t need to put myself out there every day and hustle to build a large following and email list. Working with just a handful of art consultants made a difference in my income because many became repeat clients over the past 9 years.

These are just a few of the reasons why I love this industry and why I think it can be a great fit for introverted or chronically ill artists, or for those juggling other time-intensive obligations, like caregiving.

But the problem I see is that not many artists know this incredible opportunity is available to them, and I want to change that.

That’s why I created my guide, How to License Your Art to Hotels, to help you gently but thoroughly explore this path and see if it feels like the right next step for your creative journey (before diving in blindly, like I did!).

get the guide

This guide is made with beginners in mind, so even if you’ve never licensed your art before, you can still start on this path.

The guide is available now, and you can grab a copy here.

Let me know in the comments. Did you know you could license your art for hotels? Or have you done a project or two before?

Warmly,
Patricia Vargas