There’s one school of thought that is set on brand specifications which offers a set of assurances to the traveller upon check-in. The other point of view is that travellers today are looking for experiences that give them a thorough sense of ‘immersion’ in a sense of the destination that they are visiting. Moreover, the second isn’t restricted to the leisure travel but also business travel.
The questions brands are asking themselves today include: are our tediously developed brand specs still relevant? Should we differentiate the way our hotels look in different countries or will that confuse our loyal guests? Do business travellers want predictability or should we give them a sense of the destination? Would today’s leisure guests choose more independently or locally styled hotels over ours? Will striking some sort of balance
half-way, work?
In testimony to this growing debate is Marriott’s new brand Edition, which has been designed with Ian Schrager who is associated strongly with the creation of boutique hotels. While design is at the heart of the new brand, what stands out about them is their very individual nature. “Each property will be designed differently,” Schrager had said at the launch of the brand. Of the 30 odd properties planned, the Waikiki and Istanbul Editions are ready and look completely different from
each other.
Not everyone is of the opinion that individualised hotels have come of age. “I have a strong opinion about brand specifications. From extensive talks with business travellers, I strongly believe that the traveller – especially the business traveller, wants a certain level of predictability in terms of accommodation,” explains Vasant Prabhu, Starwood’s global vice chairman and chief financial officer.
On the other hand, most of the hotel marketing companies share the belief that the key to attracting good occupancy and standing out amidst any market’s inventory, lies in being individual – while ensuring a certain level of service. In his interview with Hotelier India, Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLHW) CEO Paul Kerr told us that being individual and locally connected are seen as the key criteria to becoming a member of SLHW. In his opinion there is a huge market for those locally steeped hotel experiences.
It is not just the hotel marketing companies. Neemrana has properties that look completely distinct from each other. With such diametrically different views doing the rounds, does opinion slant when put in context of a hotel’s target audience? Neemrana’s founders appear to think not. They find that the individual style of their different properties give them access to more than one target segment. For instance, when asked whether the target market for Neemrana is the leisure market, Francis Wacziarg said, “The atmosphere and the ambience (of the hotel and its guest rooms) play a very important role. The same service in an ambience more in keeping with the true India is another experience altogether. We don’t want to call ourselves leisure hotels.” He went on to explain that their hotels in business locations attract business as well as leisure travellers.
The new Hilton Mumbai International Airport’s general manager Manish Bhatia speaking weeks after the property’s opening said that it attracts both the business and leisure travellers. “I think we have a good shot at the leisure market in addition to the business travel market, as staying in our 19th century style property is an experience,” he says.
Many hoteliers also say that there is too much confusion between heritage hotels, boutique hotels and unique hotels, all creating blurred concepts. “We really call ourselves heritage hotels. We are not boutique hotels either.
“Boutique is more contemporary, minimalistic and Zen. The Park hotels are typically boutique hotels. Devi Garh is also boutique because they have built something very contemporary in an old structure,” explains Wacziarg.
Worldhotels managing director Robert Hornman underlines that theirs is a collection of unique hotels and goes on to explain the other two concepts, “Generally, people, when they talk about a boutique hotel are referring to a smaller room inventory than what is typical in that market. In the past it (the term boutique) used to refer to heritage hotels, but now there are a lot of newly built boutique hotels.”
So when the concept is stripped down to its basics, it’s about maintaining brand DNA on some levels, mainly the service level, while individualising properties at other levels like their design. Schrager explained with regards to Edition, “Marriott wants its life safety standards and back-of-the-house requirements implemented, but they don’t want to use their book of standards.”
Similarly Kerr makes a good point of the fact that while SLHW makes no cookie cutter demands in terms of how their members’ product looks; it’s on the service level that there exists a common DNA. So “butler level service” is a key consideration for him as against “having a doorman as in some countries, there are no doors”.
A less dramatic view to making hotels unique to their location of course is what most hotels today already do – throw in local cuisine, local art in the guest rooms and a little local entertainment.
Outside of the hospitality-only opinions, Cathay Pacific general manager for India, Middle East and Africa Tom Wright speaks about this debate from a tourism standpoint. “Not only in terms of inbound tourists but also in terms of what friends and associates in the UK and Hong Kong say – India has now become much more appealing as a destination. This is especially for the leisure market because of the interesting hotel options coming in now that I would say have not existed before,” he says. He defines ‘interesting hotel options’ as the new hotels that are individual in their style and also the hotels in Rajasthan and Goa that give the Indian heritage experience.
From what the experts say, there remains the need to have that all essential branding for hotels but like many visionary hoteliers and also our cover figure say, “You shouldn’t have to step out of the hotel and squint at the hotel sign to figure out which city you are staying in.” The question is where to draw the line. Perhaps just a little localising will cut it or maybe the trick is in having one brand in your bouquet that breaks away from the rule which could also be the secret of hotel marketing companies’ success. In the meanwhile, all eyes on the Ws, Editions and Neemranas of the world.
