The best surprise is no surprise at all?

Website design By BotEap.comindependent hotel brand

Website design By BotEap.comIn the 1970s, Holiday Inn revolutionized the concept of homogenizing the hospitality experience in the United States. Increasingly, travelers wanted to know exactly where they were going to stay when they got tired. This is how the brand hotel was born as we know it today, the same here as there as everywhere. Holiday Inn created an expected level of value and experience that was solidified in its new 1975 slogan, “The Best Surprise Is No Surprise.” His was a promise of low prices, consistent quality, and convenient locations for a generation of Americans hitting the road for business and pleasure.

Website design By BotEap.comJumping forward 35 years, we can see the relative benefits and challenges that a world of branded hospitality has brought to the world. Hyatt, Hilton, Westin, Doubletree, W, and Holiday Inn have consolidated their own brands and extensions of those brands so everyone knows exactly what they’re getting when they walk into the lobby anywhere in the world. There really is no more surprise to millions of travelers who expect and demand the attributes these brands consistently deliver.

Website design By BotEap.comIt could be concluded that this evolution of branded hotels would have resulted in the absolute destruction of the independent hotel market. Not so. In fact, over the past 15 years, supply growth for the independent segment has lagged the branded segment by only 4-5%. Additionally, what independent hotels may lose to brand name hotels in full occupancy, they generally make up in ADR.

Website design By BotEap.comSo what is the real challenge for the independent hotel in a world dominated by brands? It is imperative that the independent hotel owner take branding as seriously as their brand name competitors. That means developing a brand strategy plan well in advance of hiring the architect, interior designers, food and beverage experts, advertising agency, and hotel staff. The independent hotel must specify exactly who it is going to serve. They must define that audience (person) from a demographic and psychographic perspective. It is essential, because that is exactly what brand hotels do.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen you check into a Westin, you know exactly what type of guest will be there. What you want as an independent may be a very different guest, one looking for a unique hospitality experience, one you can’t get at a brand-name hotel. This is the great opportunity to deliver this new expectation of value and experience that is unique to your offering. To do this otherwise will create an indefinite and adrift hotel property. Marketing becomes enormously expensive and ineffective when you don’t know exactly who you are marketing to. Once the transitional and group goals are defined, you can build a brand strategy around them.

Website design By BotEap.comAn independent boutique hotel that has done a great job of creating a unique experience unmatched by any brand hotel is The Ellis Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Well-defined guest personalities are articulated throughout the branding, marketing, food and beverage, as well as in-room amenities. Hard to get right, and they’ve done it right.

Website design By BotEap.comOnce you’ve created a brand strategy, you can call back the architects, designers, and F&B folks. Now you have a brand, now you can build, now you can fill the rooms with the confidence that you’ve done your homework and you can deliver something that brand name hotels can’t, because sometimes the best surprise is a well thought out and unique surprise.