The importance of brand in hotel marketing and medieval fantasy
Game of Thrones fans will recognize the infamous coffee cup scene in the image above. Some poor production staffer left what appeared to be a Starbucks cup on the set and it made it through editing. But, the catch is it wasn’t a Starbucks cup. Brand recognition is powerful and in an information vacuum, people latched onto what they knew: a coffee cup means Starbucks. That’s the power of brand.
In an industry like hospitality, where everything is measured and analyzed, it’s no surprise that hospitality’s best brands are finding themselves ranked and graded according to the power of their brand. Brand Finance is the company behind the ranking and CEO, David Haigh says The Hotels 50 report, published in February, is “a first step to understanding more about brands, how to value them and how to use that information to benefit the business.”
The algorithm used to assess the brands in the report is based on Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. According to the report, Marketing Investment looks at how the brand drives loyalty and market share. Stakeholder Equity examines perceptions of the brand among different stakeholder groups, with customers being the most important. Business Performance is the quantitative market and financial measures representing the success of the brand in achieving price and volume premium.
Brand Finance looks at more than just the hospitality industry so the company is able to compare it against other industries. On average, brands in the hotel and leisure industry scored highest for overall reputation. Scores were also the highest for trust and emotional loyalty (intent to use again), with strong performance in major markets including China, USA, UK, Germany, among many, with India a notable exception.
We aren’t surprised that hospitality ranks highest for reputation, trust and emotional loyalty. Unlike other industries, hospitality is primarily about using service as a differentiator and making personal connections, which is why hotels are full of happy, smiling staff. When you care about the customer experience, which is what hospitality is about, guests will share their experience with others and want to return.
Somewhat surprisingly, in many markets accessible brands such as Hilton and Sheraton are the highest rated despite the presence of luxury brands, which shows that brand isn’t necessarily related to price or amenities. Among the bigger brands, there are hardly any with a really poor reputation. According to the report, “TripAdvisor reviews and the ease of switching brands means that every brand in the category cannot survive if standards slip – whereas in banking or telecoms many customers are (or feel they are) forced to continue using brands they neither love nor respect.”
What is exciting to us about this report is the way that Revinate can impact all three metrics that comprise the score. As our customers already know, Revinate Reputation helps brands measure, benchmark and improve their public and private guest feedback in order to improve their brand and drive bookings and financial performance. Revinate Marketing helps hotels drive loyalty and market share through highly personalized and targeted marketing that is proven to improve conversion. When used together, the solution gives hoteliers the power to build a strong brand and use it effectively.
If you are looking to understand the power of your brand and use it to drive business results, we would love to show how we can help. Schedule a demo today.
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