Whose brand is it anyway?

The lawsuit filed by Starwood against Hilton for the theft of “massive amounts of proprietary and highly confidential Starwood information”, which has lead to the suspension of Hilton’s Denizen brand with Starwood-turned-Hilton branding gurus Ross Klein and Amar Lalavni being placed on paid leave, has certainly got the industry talking.

While it would not be for Hotelier Middle East to comment on the pending case itself, it does poignantly raise the issue of how precious brands are to the hotel industry. And nowhere is this more important than in Dubai, where five-star, luxury hotels are lined up side-by-side and are highly competitive on price.

Those in the know may be able to explain the difference between The Westin and The Address, or even the Grand Hyatt and the Park Hyatt, but how is the brand perceived by the consumer? What is it about your brand that would make them choose it above another — and even pay more for it?

As Starwood global brand leader for Le Méridien and W, Eva Ziegler, interviewed in the May issue of Hotelier Middle East, explains: “There is one general principle to branding — you have to identify a distinctive positioning for a brand and then find a target audience inside, and then find the emotional connection between the inside and the positioning of the brand. It’s all about the emotional connection that drives loyalty beyond reason and, ultimately, also in price premium due to a stronger brand”.

Ziegler says that for hotels specifically, the opportunities for branding are increased because it is an “experience branding” rather than a “product branding”.

Hotels have a human component as well as a physical product, plus hoteliers have a day, three days, or three weeks to brand the experience. However, Ziegler warns: “Having a lot more touch points to leave memories with the person also means you have a lot more possibilities to fail — it’s an opportunity as well as a challenge”.

What is unique in hotel branding then is the ‘people factor’; there is no point having a great guest check-in concept if the staff employed to execute it are not brand ambassadors.

So it is not just about whether employees give good service, but whether they give good service in the style, manner and tone of your property’s branding experience.

Although the word of the moment is redundancy, what about retention? Keeping your staff motivated and confident is the only way that they will stay loyal to your brand.

Independent surveys by Catererglobal.com and Manpower Middle East have highlighted that retention is still a huge issue for HR managers in the region.

Staff are essential in providing the touch points of your brand and forming the emotional connection with guests.

Perhaps that’s another issue highlighted by the Starwood versus Hilton case — staff loyalty is just as important as customer loyalty to the success of your brand.

Louise Oakley is the editor of Hotelier Middle East.

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