NEW YORK CITY-Asked to define what independent hotels can be counted upon, with all joking aside, Glenn Colarossi, chief Business Development Officer, WTS International noted, “Intimacy and size.” The panel, “The Branding of Independent Hotels” rounded out the final day of the 33rd Annual New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference held at the Marriott Marquis here. The discussion was moderated by Hotel Management’s executive director Stacy Silver and zeroed in on the benefits and detractions of not linking up with brands. The panel consisted of Colarossi; Dennis McCarty, vice president design and construction – America, Intercontinental Hotel Group; George Scammel, vice president, Global Design, Wyndham Worldwide; Adam Tihany, president, Tihany Design; Christopher Tompkins, corporate vice president, Brand Marketing, B Hotels and Resorts; and Kip Vreeland, vice president, Autograph Collection, Marriot International, Inc.
“Independent hotels can command price,” noted McCarty. “But when the economy goes down, independents cannot compete like brands.” Simply put, they cannot be as flexible with their price in a down market. It can be beneficial to link up with a brand if there is an economic need, since independents are not as buttressed for the low valleys of a down cycle. The panel also pointed to the necessity to expand. At a certain point, to go global, independents will need the reservation access and management capabilities of the bigger brands to manage the jump in scale and saturation.
Tompkins pointed out that many brands, as a safety to the brand name, need to steer clear of certain independents and vice-versa to keep a consistent identity. “When you take on a brand, for example a Westin, it needs to exude a Westin.” He added, an independent needs to deliver the strength of that brand, if you’re going to tie to a brand. The panelists concurred noting that it is wise for an independent to know the brand standards of a particular organization before getting into any kind of arrangement to make sure the changes will not be drastic and that it fits with the style of your hotel. It will be beneficial to both the independent and the brand in the long term.
Vreeland explaind that there is less control with when you go to a hard brand, but great distribution. Whereas, Scammel noted that a company like Wyndham offers “flexible standards” to keep consistency, but offers design packages to help the adjustment, but does not force joining independents into these. It lets them choose, if they want them.
There are other brand collections, such as Starwood, which collected vastly disparate hotels with the intention of making the differences part of the brand standard. “Independents resist sameness,” Tihany said. “It was smart of Starwood not to kill the personality of those hotels.” Tompkins pointed to the Autograph Collection as another example of creating a variety of flavor within a brand, while still keeping a standard.
Tihany, however, resisted the notion of a need to join brands. He related that when he was recently in Lexington, KY, he was not ready to stay in the little independent hotel there. He looked for a larger brand name, a Hilton in this case, but conversely queried the audience, “Who wants to stay in a Hilton in Paris? You want the hotel with the quirky stairs, where you can hear your neighbors making love in the next room.” This was the power of independent hotels, the panel agreed, variety.
Colarossi agreed saying for most travelers it is necessary for hotels to differentiate. “Experience is why people pick a hotel.” Tihany said, “The home away from home is dead. Hotels can’t compete with our homes today.” The difference now was for hotels to give you a choice, and independents did that for you.
To succeed as an independent, the panel agreed that a focused marketing plan was essential. Tompkins added, “Know your concept. Hire a dynamic sales and marketing person. Leverage the hell of out of public relations And take 50 cents off the bottom line if it’s going to provide that little extra something to your customer. Because you’ll make that 50 cents back in repeat customers.”
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