HOSPITALITY BRAND

More and more hotel companies have realized that if I could get free WiFi in a $10 a night guesthouse in Cambodia in 2009, I must be able to get it for free in a hotel 10 or 20 times that price.   All of the major hotel companies have been saying that it has been in the works for quite some time; but “coincidentally” many have begun offering some sort of free WiFi in the past months.    We can’t get too excited yet, in some cases free wifi comes with some restrictions.   According to HotelChatter’s 2014 WiFi report, Marriott, Starwood, Hilton, Hyatt, Intercontinental, and Wyndham did not offer free in-room internet as of the report’s April 2014 publication.   http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2014/4/22/11951/4765/hotels/The_2014_HotelChatter_WiFi_Report%3A_Who_is_Still_Charging_for_WiFi_and_Why%3F_ WHERE ARE WE NOW? IHG :   You didn’t see this one coming from Intercon, but they were the first to announce in March 2013 that they would ...

Four Seasons, Hilton and Marriott Top L2′s Second annual Digital IQ Index®: Hotels.  In its second edition, this report is now the benchmark on hotel online brand management+ execution; and serves as a compendium of what different hotel brands have done over the year.  The study reveals that differentiated content on site and mobile bookings drive traffic and high margin revenue. The research demonstrates a clear relationship between hotel brands’ Digital IQ® and shareholder value. “In this year’s report, an overwhelming 38 percent of brands registered an Average ranking, versus just 10 percent in 2011. The standard deviation across the Index tightened from 38 in 2011 to 21 in 2012, suggesting differentiation in digital has become increasingly difficult.”   —Scott Galloway, L2 Digital IQ Index: Hotels Author, NYU Stern A must read for all hotel executives. Download the Full Report from L2ThinkTank.com >> 

New Zealand targets youth in latest “Stories Beat Stuff” campaign, entirely in Social Media Wyndham Will Trade You Two Million Points for Your Horrible Holiday Gift New Research Points to Significant Growth In Multigenerational Travel  Mandarin Oriental Bets on Rich Content to Increase Conversion Hotel lobbies become multi-use spaces HOSPIALITYBRAND.COM ANALYSIS: The Hotel “Social Lobby” Trend Goes Mainstream + Ceases to be a Competitive Advantage Design Hotels Transforms an Existing Budget Hotel + Launches the 99 Cabaña Pop-up Camp with Papaya Playa in Tulum, Mexico

A decade ago, hotels began differentiating themselves from their competition by reinventing their lobbies as social spaces, introducing unique f&b concepts, promoting lively lounge bars, and even reducing the size of the front desk to increase guest interaction.   These properties began to define their brands by their hotels' social lobby design; however, today's USA TODAY article Hotel lobbies become multi-use spaces details how every major brand now features "social lobbies".  Any hotel defining their brand by their "social lobbies" is no longer differentiated.  The "social lobby", just like the specialty beds of last decade, has gone from being a point of differentiation to being a point of parity. The predecessor of the modern hotel were the Inns & Public Houses of years back--a place of social gathering for locals and travelers alike.  When Atlanta's Hyatt Regency Hotel opened in 1967, it was the first atrium hotel to be...

Fashion School Students Dress Rooms as a Designer Would Dress Model in New 1-5 Star Single Hotel Retro Hotel Brand, The Postcard Inn, Opens Second Property Hotels Start to Enter Into Airline-Like Alliances: Jin Jiang Inn and Campanile Form Brand Alliance HOSPITALITYBRAND.COM ANALYSIS:  THE POWER OF THE LOYALTY PROGRAM New Hotel Brand: The Saguaro New Startup InBed.me Allows You to Book your Hostel and Connect with Other People Staying There Starwood Preferred Guest Announces Partnership With Jiepang—the Chinese Equivalent of Foursquare

Image  courtesy of American Airlines Today's chapter 11 announcement by American Airlines is a strong reminder of the power of customer loyalty and most importantly, of the contemporary significance of the frequent flyer program. To provide a little bit of background, American's AAdvantage program is credited as being the first loyalty program in the world, having launched in 1981. Currently, it is one of the largest (if not the largest) of such programs with 67 million members. Fast forward to today:  American Airline's parent company AMR has filled for Chapter 11 , and AA sent an email to all it's AAdvantage members . What is immediately clear from that email is that AA wants everyone to know that (a) their miles are safe and (b) the program will not be altered as part of these reorganization procedures. See the  entire letter Here Airlines enter into Bankruptcy through what seems to be a never-ending revolving door. The real news is that their frequ...

If every encounter a customer has with the brand either helps or hurts the brand value, then everything in a business comes back to brand management. And if the goal is to maximize revenues, then brand management is revenue management. This is why these two roles should be moved into the same department to enhance collaboration. As the recent HotelNewsNow.com article, Reputation management is Revenue management , hotel industry is starting to see the power of this relationship between Branding and Revenue Mgt... just starting. But even five years ago the people in charge of brand management (at the corporate or property level rarely ever talked to the Revenue managers. They were secluded to opposite sides of the building, the brand and marketing people seen as 'those people who have their heads in the clouds while everyone else does the work' and the revenue folks on the other side were 'those people who crunch the numbers while everyone else does the work'. Unf...