Time for Hotels to Stop Cheating on Their Branding
Skift Take
Hotels use a branding model that is, for the most part, broken. That reality leaves a gap for savvy marketers to exploit. Here's a refresher on tactics to use according to the professor who literally wrote the book on hospitality branding.
Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.Hotel executives talk a lot about branding. But many hotel companies fail to do branding well. Perplexed, I turned to Chekitan Dev, the person who literally wrote the book on Hospitality Branding.
He's a distinguished professor at Cornell University's Nolan School of Hotel Administration in the SC Johnson College of Business. Our conversation covered some of the key ingredients behind a successful brand strategy. It also touched on some things to watch out for, such as "brand cheating" by franchisees.Conceptually, branding is easy. It's about giving travelers shorthand reasons for picking your property over others. Dev said an effective brand is:
Bold. "Brands should take a stand and have a strong point of view," Dev said. Relevant. "Brands should be really tuned into the needs and problems of their target market and evolve with their core customers." Authentic. "Be true to, and stay connected with, your origin story." Novel. "People like the new and innovative. Have something meaningful to say when a returning guest asks: 'Wh