The hospitality business is one with fierce competition. There is no end to the number of brands guests have the option of staying with. There are different categories of hotels that decide to cater to couples, families, group vacations, and more. Guests have the option of staying with any number of different hotels and chains. Guests are looking for something functional and unique when they go out of town on vacation, on a business trip, or for any other extended excursion. With so many reasons to be staying at a hotel, it’s only sensible that people are looking for vastly different things in their hotels. It’s incredibly challenging to create the type of environment that feels welcoming to families with small children on vacation, couples on their honeymoon, and businessmen on business trips.
Branding is one way to focus your targets and better cater to your guests. Being the best at everything is unattainable, but being the best at one thing is effective and profitable. To truly focus your marketing efforts and attract your target demographic, a great place to start is branding. Branding your hotel is key to tapping into your ideal guests and building loyalty among your customers. The most prosperous hotels know they owe their success to their brand-loyal guests and their branding strategy. Check out these effective branding strategies for hotels to start your branding adventure.
Rates-based strategy
Rates-based branding means creating a marketing and branding plan completely around your rates. While having lower rates than most hotels will certainly get you more business, it will also affect the perception of your hotel in the eyes of future guests. Rates-based branding is centering your entire brand identity around the price of your rooms. That might mean boasting the low price of your rooms to appeal to the demographic that’s looking for a good deal, or it could mean boasting the high price of your rooms as a status symbol to attract big spenders. Here is a quick breakdown of low-cost, mid-range, and high-end room rate branding.
Low-cost room rates
Low-cost rooms will appeal mostly to students, backpackers, and low-income solo travelers. This demographic will be thrilled with your low rates that fit their tight budgets and won’t expect many services and amenities to come with the room. With this branding strategy, you can focus on providing just the essentials, such as a bed, a room, and a bathroom. In these situations, you may even be able to offer shared rooms and shared bathrooms without alienating your target demographic. Your focus while employing this strategy should be filling as many beds as possible at all times. The goal for this strategy, to be profitable, is to see many guests come through for quick stays.
Mid-range room rates
For mid-range room rates, you can appeal to the largest group of guests there is. With many mid-range room hotels, you will need to still choose which demographic to cater to the most: couples, businessmen, or families. While many larger hotel chains successfully appeal to all three of these demographics, a focused effort will help your branding efforts come to fruition. Guests staying at a hotel with mid-range rates will expect more for their money. You will need to provide stylish and comfortable rooms, each with a private bathroom. These guests may also expect some amenities and a concierge to help them better enjoy their stays. Free breakfast is a huge plus among this crowd as well.
High-end room rates
High-end room rates signify a high-end experience. High-cost room rates will attract big-time businessmen, company owners, high-income families, and high-income couples. These demographics will expect top-of-the-line and name brand linens, amenities, and service. They are not coming just for a bed to rest in—they want style, comfort, and luxury. These rooms will be more of an investment, and your strategy should focus on making each guest’s experience perfect, rather than trying to fill every room for short stays.
Service-based strategy
Service-based branding is developing your brand’s identity and personality around the service your hotel provides. This is a more comprehensive branding strategy that bases prices and target clientele on the hotel’s level of service, as opposed to the rate-based strategy that bases service and clientele on price. For this strategy to work properly, you’ll need to hire employees that embody your brand personality. If you want your hotel to cater to families, then you’ll need employees who are cheery, energetic, and great with children. If you want to cater to businessmen, your staff will need to be naturally professional and mild-mannered. This strategy also affects the types of services your hotel offers. While a hotel for couples may want to provide stellar room service and privacy, a family hotel may benefit more from offering supervised kid’s clubs and kid-friendly dining options. This strategy is all about understanding what your demographic wants and ensuring that they get that service and those amenities from the moment they enter your hotel until the moment they leave it.
Experience-based strategy
An experience-based strategy is branding based on the experience your hotel provides. You must identify what your target demographic wants to experience, meaning their reason for visiting and what they expect to do while there. Identifying this will help you to determine what to provide your guests with and which local excursions, restaurants, and shops to partner with to provide your guests with the best experience possible. For example, a high-end businessman staying at your hotel is most likely there for a business conference. Ensuring that your hotel has free Wi-Fi and access to conference rooms is essential, but to take the experience one step further, provide them with a list of the best restaurants for meetings or the best bars and cigar lounges for after work hours. You can even provide them with a pack of cigar matches in their rooms. These types of experiences and amenities can cost you very little, like if you buy cigar matches wholesale, but adding those little touches will be of great value to your guests.
