Independent Hoteliers Seek Every Edge Against the Big Brands
Photo Caption: Artist William DeSena decorates a room at the Line Hotel in Los Angeles. Source: The Line Hotels.
Skift Take
Many consumers are eating up experience-led storylines in travel. That gives an opening to independent hoteliers to compete with the global hotel groups on everything from hiring to word-of-mouth marketing.
Talent retention, digital marketing tactics, partnerships with local brands, and sustainability strategies were among the topics that independent hoteliers discussed the most at last week's Independent Lodging Congress 2023 event in Austin, Texas.
The event — part of a series founded by Andrew Benioff — came when many giant corporations were racing to copy or absorb many independent hotels, often through soft-branded collections. In November, Hyatt Hotel Corp. said it would acquire Dream Hotel Group’s dozen open lifestyle hotels. Last month, Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, debuted a global “soft” brand, Handwritten Collection, to gather up lifestyle hotels that had formerly been unaffiliated with global chains. Interest-rate uncertainty also has complicated hotel development by independent owners.
“Chains keep buying smaller brands to add to their offerings, so there’s continually space for creativity, meaning the creation of new boutique
