HOSPITALITY BRAND

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...