Independent hotel? Then think more about brand strategy

Of course, every hotel entrepreneur wonders daily how to grow hotel revenue. According to Tamarind Houghton, co-founder of and creative brand strategist at Everbetter in Tilburg, many hotel owners too often shoot straight into action mode in doing so. Like: what should a room look like? "Of course it should be in order," she says. "However, for the guest it is about more than just the room or the bed. We see it as our mission to take the hotel entrepreneur out of the tangible and create a vision for the intangible. In other words: how do you build a brand?"

"Because when that succeeds, it provides inspiration for 'the tangible'," continues the visibly inspired Tamarind. "We then talk about your own distinctive values. In what are you essentially different from other hotels? What is your identity? What do you stand for? What type of guest do you want to bind?"

"Especially for independent hotels - rather than big chain hotels with their own marketing departments - this is important. If you know who you are and what you stand for, you can hang everything you do on that. You have created a guiding principle, which makes you more valuable to guests."

The ideal guest?

Tamarind refers to a recent case that landed on her desk in Tilburg. "Through Thomas Dieben, director of Becurious, we were approached by entrepreneur Gary Hirasing. He wanted to open a hotel in Leiden and asked us to develop a logo and corporate identity. We don't do that just like that. We first organise a number of workshops where we go firmly into depth."  

On the collaboration between Becurious and Everbetter
'Guests are not looking for a bed, but for experience'. Thomas Dieben, director/owner of Becurious, the Amsterdam-based agency that develops digital marketing strategies for the hotel industry, has been working with Everbetter for over eight years. "We believe hoteliers should be able to get everything out of their online marketing. We are able to facilitate that technically: from building an effective and appropriate website to achieving optimal online findability and high conversion rates. If specific expertise is needed, for example to get the story right first, we refer you to Everbetter. Then we know it will be done right. They are nice people who inspire, have an eye for detail and show a lot of spirit. Above all, they understand better than anyone that hotel guests are not looking for a bed, but for an experience. To offer that, you need a story."

"The first session is mainly about the hotel owner himself: what is his dream? What does he want to achieve? How does he stand in life? The second session is mainly about the guest. It strikes me that in these conversations, hoteliers often don't know what their ideal guest looks like. But if you want to 'touch' the guest, you will have to be able to at least describe the ideal guest. What is it like in life? What is the (potential) guest really looking for?"

Right away, Tamarind says these workshops generate robust and fun discussions. "We trigger," she says. "For instance, we 'force' clients to be more daring and make choices. This is sometimes difficult because entrepreneurs often want quick results. There is, oddly enough, often no time or space for developing a brand strategy. That vision is often present, by the way, but it is important for the hotelier-entrepreneur to be able to put it well into words himself." 

In Leiden, for Gary Hirasing, this led to the hotel concept including visual identity under the name Breathe Boutique Hotel. The grand opening was in early July. "What we are happy about is that even before the opening we saw a high conversion rate on the website developed by Becurious. Of course it was technically sound, but - just as important - the hotel's story appeared to be in order. With that, Gary appealed to the right potential guests." 

Hotelier-entrepreneur Gary Hirasing on developing a brand strategy
"Sometimes we think we are on the right course as entrepreneurs. We are decisive, we want to keep up the speed. Everbetter has taught me to take a step back and oversee things then, allowing you to make better decisions at helicopter level. The agency made us think further and deeper. This allowed us to formulate and refine our story."

Maintenance

According to Tamarind, you do then need to maintain the chosen brand strategy. She explains this with a telling metaphor: "As a parent, you have an idea about how you want to raise your child. But in practice, things always go differently because children develop. It's the same with guests. You therefore have to constantly adapt to the circumstances and dare to add new knowledge. At the same time, you have to be able to fall back on the basics: knowing what you stand for. That's in the details."

Tamarind concludes, "The brand is the real foundation of the hotel. Knowing who you are and what you stand for gives direction to the business. Hotels that invest in this and think about these intangibles are more likely to discover their brand power and experience more entrepreneurial flow: within the hotel, a clear view of what needs to be done emerges!"  

3 tips from Tamarind Houghton for hoteliers who want to start working on their own brand story tomorrow:

1. Take time to think carefully about who you are yourself. Don't immediately shoot into action mode and dare to let go of the delusion of the day.

2. Look at it from the guest's point of view. Don't reason only what you yourself want. Use the power of empathy. 

3. Dare to define your own distinctiveness.