HOSPITALITY BRAND

A recent study by The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University constitutes one of the first pieces of empirical research on the effect social media has on hotel purchasing decisions by different market segments. The report titled How Travelers use Online and Social Media Channels to Make Hotel-choice Decisions   takes a snapshot of the rapidly changing field of how consumers gather information and make their decisions regarding travel purchases, based on responses of 2,830 recent travelers.   This report is particularly helpful in that it gathered findings based on the guest's market segment and reports how a channels importance varies according to the stage in the decision process.   "Business travelers often use the hotel recommended by their company, although many of them use search engines or online travel agents for their hotel search. Recommendations of friends and colleagues are less important to business travelers than they are ...

Photo by ronocdh   Some rights reserved How much time and money do hotels spend on unnecessary services/amenities that add NO value to a guest experience and produce so much waste? VIP fruit platters / wine that no one eats Printed collateral that no one looks at Corporate contracts that include added benefits that don't get used Keeping outlets open when they are empty Unrequested turn-down treats Flowers that die A welcome gift or souvenir that stays in the room after check-out >>How can we add value and reduce waste? 

After a 3 year hiatus from the blog, I have finally done away with a"conflict-of-interest" and am back to publicly exploring the world of hospitality branding! I've spent the last couple years working in New York City as Marketing Manager at the Jumeirah Essex House , hence the conflict, but I have packed my bags and will be soon--as in 2 days from now--be moving to Siem Reap, Cambodia. So I can now focus back to my blog. In the next couple weeks I will be doing a good amount of updating to the site and its content. Stay Checked-in. The Jumeirah years were an amazing expedition into the world of international branding, of bringing a brand across geographic boundaries while maintaining and honoring local sensibilities . Most importatly I was working on-property; constant market research came from walking down to the lobby and talking directly to the costumer, or from tweeting directly to anyone who dared to mention the Jumeirah Essex House or the restaurant South G...

Following the notion that a business’ marketing strategy is only what the customer sees, I decided to find different airlines’ positioning based on the one thing every airline customer inevitably has to see: that napkin they give you along with your in-flight beverage service. Here’s what I’ve found so far in terms of napkins and other communications a traveler might see: United: Napkin A: Front: United. Thank you for flying United. We’re glad you’re here. Back: Low Fare Guarantee. Find the lowest United fares at http://www.united.com/ , plus no booking fees. Napkin B: Front: United. Thank you for flying United. We’re glad you’re here. Back: More legroom than any other U.S. airline. United Economy Plus. The front always seems to be a thank you message. Very nice of them; however, I don’t believe this is communicating their positioning to me at all. On the back, they try to sell you a somewhat unique benefit, either a better product (Economy plus, which you pay extra for, or ...

In the past couple of days my inbox has been flooded with articles about industry resolutions: Hotel technology resolutions, ad agency resolutions, marketers’ resolutions, and hotel marketing resolutions. But brand differentiation is more important to hotel marketers than any ‘get in shape’ or ‘quit smoking’ resolution. John S. Fareed from Fareed and Zapala Marketing Partners makes a great argument for it. (click here for article) Currently there exists hyper-competition in the hotel market. According to Dr. Chekitan S. Dev, from Cornell University, there are over 200 hotel brands in the U.S. market, and we are seeing a new brand per week. Never has brand differentiation been more important. Never has standing out in your guests’ mind with a unique story to tell been so necessary. How will your brand tell that story?

As I said, the purpose of this blog is to showcase what’s new in hotel and hospitality marketing. So let me begin by saying that, to me, all hotel marketing strategies look the same. It seems that it has become a mouse and cat game, where one company will come up with a promotion or new strategy, only to have it copied by everyone else. What is the effect of this? The danger is that all of these hotel brands will blur together in the consumer’s mind, and we will end up with commoditized brands within each category. Why should I stay at the Hyatt, when the Marriott has just as nice beds? Or why should I stay at the InterContinental and get double loyalty points, when I can stay at the Hilton and get points & miles? Or how will I differentiate an ad from the Ritz or One&Only or The Peninsula when they are all very similar in black and white? Why are all hotel companies telling the same story as everyone in their competitive set? Want to see some examples? Let us look at the p...

So this is the first one. There are two things that I am passionate about Hotels & Marketing; that’s what this blog will be about. I am a senior at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. I have worked in large beach resorts, urban chic hotels, timeshare properties, and small Inns. At those properties I have created promotional material, worked in co-branding projects, implemented standard operating procedures to standardize the brand internally, and managed my own projects. Why talk about hotel brand management and marketing strategy? There’s a lot that can be done to improve it. Once I heard that your only marketing strategy is the one the consumer sees. When it comes to hotel marketing strategies, rarely do you see one that does not look like all the other ones. For a long time, hotel marketing (at the corporate level) has become a cat & mouse game, where one brand will implement a strategy and everyone else will simply copy it (especially at upscale ...