Deciding on your hotel’s brand image.
Brand image is essentially what identifies a business, product or service. It gives consumers something to look out for as a means of recognition. Upon opening an overnight stay venue, deciding on an overall image is of optimum importance to the message you’d like to portray.
Ahead of making this decision, it’s essential to adopt a target audience. Who do you want to appeal to? Who do you want to visit your hotel? This should be established in your initial handbook. An easy way to select your ideal audience is to consider everything going on around you. By this, we mean the positioning of your hotel. Are you based in the centre of a city? This will mean you’re likely to attract a large amount of business people in between meetings. If you’re located in a more rural setting, it will be more common to have guests come to stay for special occasions and staycations.
“The image of your brand will be a huge contributor to what atmosphere your venue provides.”
Something else you’ll need to factor in is whether you’ll be solely an overnight stay venue or if you’ll offer event packages too. If this is the case, you’ll need to ensure that your setup and space can cater for these functions, keeping it in line with your brand’s values.
The theme of your venue goes hand in hand with the points we’ve previously outlined. By theme, we mean interior design and furnishings and these should work in line with not only your target audience but also the location of the venue. If you’re an establishment keen to capture the attention of the younger generation, something modern and vivacious could work well. This isn’t to say a particular look will only appeal to a set amount of people, but it’s about thinking ahead in regards to what your targeted individuals will enjoy and therefore speak highly of to potential future guests.
The image of your brand will be a huge contributor to what atmosphere your venue provides. By generating an ethos, you will be able to work everything else around this; including marketing collateral, colour theme, staff uniform and so on. All of these features will speak on behalf of your hotel and therefore give off a particular ambience, drawing in the guests which you appeal to.
To conclude, your venue should initially be built around your brand image. This will ensure that there is always a clear direction for your hotel and wires will not be crossed, meaning growth is inevitable in terms of revenue, footfall and client retention rates.
