Good branding is an essential asset for luxury hotels, as it allows potential guests to better understand the essence, values and identity of your premium establishment. Luxury hospitality is a competitive industry, and it’s crucial to reflect and communicate what your hotel stands for. This is where good branding and design come in, ensuring all elements of your luxury hotel’s brand truly and consistently reflect who you are.
When considering a brand or rebrand for your hotel, it can be easy to be put off by the financial cost involved. However, branding is a vital investment that will set your hotel up well for all your marketing activities. Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room - good branding helps you to own that narrative; to communicate effectively with your audiences and to know what to say and how to say it for best effect.
However, the undeniable value of well-executed branding sometimes gets muddled by the costs. Bespoke creation of brand identity and design is not cheap, however, it’s important to understand that this essential part of your hotel should not be viewed as a cost, but a long-term investment, that allows people to truly understand your luxury hotel, its values and history, transcending the mere aesthetics and allowing you to build an emotional connection with potential guests.
In this article, we will delve deeper into why good branding is not cheap and why it’s well worth the investment.
First impressions matter - if your branding does not represent the services you provide and the values you uphold at your luxury hotel, many guests will not give you a second chance. Especially in the modern day, with people having limited time and endless choices for luxury stays, it’s crucial that potential guests connect and relate your luxury hotel with positive feelings. Standing out from the competition in the luxury hospitality industry, as well as making sure your branding encapsulates your values, heritage and identity, will ensure that potential guests, even those who don’t end up booking, will remember and recognise your brand for a long time.
Both the branding and design of luxury hotels extend above and beyond surface-level aesthetics. By combining everything the hotel stands for with beautiful design, luxury hotels can offer potential guests the aspirational lifestyle they are looking for. One that guests strive to be a part of, even if it’s just for a few nights, to get away from their daily routines. It’s about captivating potential visitors with the idea of indulgence, relaxation and the pursuit of a unique stay in a hotel that proudly showcases its values and heritage.
For luxury hotels, brand identity showcases a commitment to excellence, quality, and consistency. A strong brand conveys reliability and trustworthiness, assuring potential guests that their experience will exceed their expectations. Without good branding and design, hotels are not able to truly represent the quality standards they uphold, as potential guests, who may have encountered your hotel for the very first time rely on the first impression your brand gives them. The majority of travellers will choose a hotel they feel can be trusted to uphold the highest standards and truly represent luxury.
In the competitive landscape of luxury hospitality, branding becomes a beacon that attracts travellers who are looking for exactly what your hotel has to offer. Whether they are looking for a luxurious city stay or a weekend break at a hotel filled with heritage and history, your branding should make it very clear what unique features you have to offer. This helps guests understand your brand and whether or not it suits what they are looking for. Being genuine with your branding also helps manage clients expectations - it means they know exactly what to expect upon arrival at your hotel, leaving you to concentrate on exceeding those expectations once they’re there.
Investing in high-quality branding and design that truly reflects your luxury hotel will repay you in many ways. It will help make a great first impression, build an aura of aspirational lifestyle, build brand recognition and trust, as well as attracting the right audience who want to stay at your hotel. On top of that, it will also help you stay consistent across all marketing channels, be it your messaging and visuals, overall online presence or all the details at your hotel like menus and brochures. Keeping consistent with your brand identity and messaging will help potential guests understand, recognise and remember you while reiterating the aura of luxury and outstanding service of your hotel. Keeping things consistent with a good brand identity and guidelines will also save you time when creating new content that represents your luxury hotel. This will free up your team to spend their time developing new services and concentrating on the details that will really elevate the experience of your guests.
At Big Bear, we understand the importance of branding that truly represents the values, mission, goals and approach of your luxury hotel. By combining all of these elements with aesthetically pleasing and refined designs, we help luxury hotels elevate their brand identity to the next level.
