TO BRAND OR NOT TO BRAND ?
By CHLOE RILEY , ASSOCIATE EDITOR
That is the question . Whether ’ tis nobler in the mind to go the route of Best Western ( which debuted some 10 brands in the past six years alone ) or blaze the trail of the independent hotelier ( see Ian Schrager ’ s latest iteration of Public or Cyril Aouizerate ’ s highly communal Mob Hotels )? Here ’ s a look at the perks and perils of both paths .
The Wequassett Resort & Golf Club in Harwich , Massachusetts : The property achieved a Forbes 5-star rating in 2014 , which it uses as part of its marketing strategy .
NOT TO BRAND
( Differentiation , wherefore art thou ?)
Mark Novota is managing partner at the Wequassett Resort & Golf Club in Harwich , Massachusetts . Five years ago , he upped the training game at his resort and by 2014 , he had a 5-star Forbes resort , a fact the property now touts in its marketing . It ’ s that ability to change and push forward bolder ideas that sets independents apart , he says .
Take the minibar . Novota had been receiving feedback from guests that the offering was unfairly priced , with some going as far to call it a gouge . The solution ? Wequassett began to offer the minibar at cost .
“ Our guests loved it ,” Novota says . And this is just something we could do because of our independence and the flexibility that we have . So , you can really take advantage of that kind of scale .”
It isn ’ t just flexibility , but also authenticity that keeps guests hungry for independent properties , according to Mark Grenoble , president of Enchantment Group , a collection of independents that includes Wequassett .
“ Everybody ’ s talking about experiential travel , but very few people are doing it well ,” he says . “ The bigger brands are talking about it , but it ’ s hard to turn that big ship very quickly .”
“ It ’ s about targeting really well ,” says Pablo Carrington of Marugal Distinctive Hotel Management , a Spain-based collection of luxury boutique properties . “ Hotel standards say you should be spending 4 % of income on marketing , but we don ’ t do it that way ,” says Carrington ,
who says working with the press and travel agencies have been highly effective tactics .
“ Our strategy is much more : OK , what market do we want to open ? OK , let ’ s go into the Russian market , the Brazilian market ,” he continues . “ We work a lot with the press , we don ’ t have huge marketing campaigns , we spend no money on ads .” The biggest issue facing independents ? “ The challenge for us is you have less money to spend , so you have to spend it a lot more wisely ,” Carrington says . “ It ’ s really about keeping pace with the global brands with a tenth or a millionth of the resources . Really squeezing as much out of every dollar in your sales trips and in your marketing is the only way we have to counter that potential challenge .”
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