A successful hotel brand begins with a strong foundation. Thought-through positioning, values, tone of voice, promise, and how all this is visually translated into your hotel’s brand identity design are essential to establishing the right image for your brand. Here are some tips on hotel branding that will help you define a strategy that’s going to succeed.

Start with the basics

One of the best ways to ensure that your hotel brand is successful is to start with the basics. Spending time on your brand strategy will give you a solid foundation to identify who you are, what you stand for and why your audience should come to your venue over others. With that foundation, you can look at the often considered more fun part of the visual translation into your logo, copy tone of voice, colours, imagery and all the little details that will make you unique.

While a lot of people think the logo is the most important part of a brand identity, a great logo design is only the first step. A strong brand identity will also include a clear and consistent tone of voice and brand promise or purpose. These three components must work together to create a successful hotel brand in a busy and competitive marketplace.

A strong brand identity also includes consistency in design, colors, and messaging. It’s important that you create a unified look and feel for your hotel brand, so your customers can easily identify it as yours.

This is what will set you apart from the competition and create a memorable experience for hotel guests.

Choose your logo carefully

Your logo is the representation of your company’s identity. It’s what people associate with your brand, and it’s important to take the time to create the perfect logo.

Here are a few tips to help you create the perfect logo for your hotel:

• Make it memorable. Avoid using complicated or hard-to-read fonts, as this will make it harder for people to recognise your brand.

• Make it appropriate for your target audience. For example, if you are targeting families, you might want to have a colorful, playful logo. If you are targeting an older audience, you might want to have a more sophisticated logo. Or if it’s luxury, push the boat out and look at completely new ways to translate your values. It doesn’t just have to be gold or silver to be luxury. It could be a hand crafted font or unique print technique that elevates the logo to exude premium quality.

• Make it an allrounder for all applications. The last thing you want is for people to constantly refer back to you for approval on any materials that use your logo because it might not work in a particular size, colour, finish or on a certain background.

Be consistent

Clear branding is critical to the success of your hotel brand. Your consistency in style will help your guests recognise your hotel when they see it, and will also help you keep your brand identity intact.

There are many different ways to create a consistent style for your hotel. You can use color, typography, or visuals to tie your branding together. Keep in mind that you want to create a solid foundation for your brand. This is why it’s important to establish a strong logo and tone of voice early on.

Brand guides shared with your team, as well as your stakeholders, media and suppliers ensure that your hotel adheres to its core values, which are important for maintaining consistency.

For example, if your hotel is focused on being luxurious, consider all the materials you’re using in your design, the layout of the rooms, interior design, the quality of the amenities you offer and how they are presented in your marketing and brand material. It is also reflected in the style of your menus, the produce you offer and how your tables are set. It’s the details that will make all the difference.

Another one of those details is your hotel’s tone of voice. Key for this is figuring out who your audience is. Once you know who your audience is, you can develop the right tone to speak to them both at the venue and in your hotel marketing.

For example, if your hotel is targeting families, you may want to use a more casual tone of voice. This will help them feel more comfortable and let them know that you’re speaking directly to them.

However, if you’re targeting older adults or business travelers, you may want to use a more professional tone of voice to help set the right tone for your brand.

This might sound like a small detail, but it’s important to get this right. It’s the first thing people will notice about your hotel’s voice. If you don’t have a professional tone of voice, people may think that your hotel doesn’t take its business seriously.

It’s something you should try to get your staff to understand as well. The way they interact with your guests or potential visitors is just as reflective of your reputation as the way you sell your venue online, on social media and in print. Without the staff carrying through the right tone of voice, you are missing a tremendous brand building opportunity. Get them on board and singing from the same hymn sheet.

Know the promise you want to make

There are two types of brands: functional and emotional. Functional brands are straightforward and they sell a product or service. Emotional brands, on the other hand, use their brand identity to make a promise to the customer.

Brands that make a promise are more likely to succeed. This is because your customer is more likely to believe in your product or service if they believe in your brand.

It’s important to know what your brand’s promise is. It must be true to the essence of your company and it must be something you can deliver on day in and day out.

For example, a hotel’s promise may be to provide a comfortable stay with a high level of service. By keeping that promise, you will create loyal customers who come back time and time again. Creating a level of comfort and trust will ultimately pay off in customer loyalty. We are all creatures of habit and not everyone wants to each time go out on a limb if they want to stay somewhere. Most will want to know it will be what they expect – or more. This is your chance to shine.

If you promise a level of quality, once again, make sure your staff will act accordingly and your restaurant or spa is looked after with the same level of care. There’s nothing worse than expecting a lovely night out only to be disappointed by mediocre service or how your amenities are presented. Think about the details here – from table cloths and serviettes to how the bathrooms are equipped, how payment is taken, what’s presented in the rooms to enhance the experience.

You can really make a difference to someone’s stay of you plan carefully and with your audience in mind.

Build partnerships

Establishing partnerships is one of the most important aspects of hotel branding. Partnerships can be with specific vendors or with other hotel brands.

Partnerships are mutually beneficial arrangements that provide you with increased exposure, increased credibility, increased revenue, and more.

For example, if you partner with a catering company, that catering company may provide catering services to your hotel and other hotel brands in your area. Similarly, if you partner with a coworking company, that company may provide collaborative workspaces to your hotel and other hotel brands in your area.

These partnerships can be very fruitful for both parties, as they provide exposure to new audiences and opportunities that may have otherwise been missed.

Offer VIP amenities and services

Consider the type of experience you want your guests to have when they stay with your hotel. Is your hotel in the business district? Is it a boutique hotel in a trendy neighborhood?

Brand your hotel based on the type of guests you expect to attract. This will help you create the right experience for your customers.

One good way to achieve this is by offering VIP amenities and services. You can offer exclusive privileges, like early check-in, late check-out, room upgrades, food and beverage credits, and more.

Offering VIP benefits ensures that customers feel their stay at your hotel is worth the price they are paying. It also invites customers to return to your hotel in the future.

Create an emotional connection with customers

To do that, you need to know who they are. When you start up a new brand, that may be a bit difficult to start with, but with a good strategy and research into the market position you are looking to take, you should be able to create a brand persona to tailor your service to.

Solving guests’ travel niggles with little thoughtful extras is a great way to create a connection, to show you understand them and you care about them.

Use photography and copywriting to create a dialogue with potential customers which continues when they arrive at your hotel. Make it easy for them to feedback and refer. And don’t forget to embrace new technology to enhance the experience.

Keep in mind that your hotel brand isn’t just about the hotel itself. It’s also about the service, amenities, and experience that your guests will have. What does it mean to provide “warm hospitality”? When you think of it this way, you can better determine what factors are important to your target audience.

Consider location

One of the first things you should do is consider where you want to open your hotel. Do some research on the location and find out if your location will work for the type of hotel you want to open. You also want to make sure your location is a safe and desirable place for people to visit.

After you’ve found a suitable location, research the market. Find out what people in the area need and what they want from your type of hotel. You want to be able to answer these questions:

• -What are the advantages / disadvantages of my location?

• What expectations do my location have from my hotel?

• What is my competition?

• How am I going to stand out from my competition?
• What value will I add to the local area?
• What can I do to engage with the local community

Hire people who are passionate about the brand

The first step in branding is determining what kind of branding you want. After you define the branding, you’ll need to hire people who are passionate about the brand. This will create a strong team with the same vision.

They might work front of house, or in the kitchen, they might be your sales team or the maintenance crew. All the way to accounts and supply management, your staff have an enormous impact on your brand reputation.

What’s next?

Hotel branding is clearly a complex process that takes time and resources to perfect. The good news is that it pays off in spades. A well-branded hotel will attract more customers, increase customer satisfaction, and increase revenue at the same time.

Let us know if you want to chat about your venue, challenges and your ambitions.