How can branding help the hotel?

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Branding for hotels is part of good marketing. The eye also books - when searching for a hotel, guests have clear ideas. These relate not only to the location of the hotel, but also to its values, offers and reputation. With the branding of your hotel brand, you have a major influence on booking decisions. 

How can branding help the hotel? Branding for hotels stands for your positioning as a brand in the hotel market. Good branding increases inquiries, retains guests and ensures an excellent image. It helps you to communicate your values to the outside world.

Strong brands have a major influence in business. Whether it's clothing, technology or even the hotel industry - if you want to make a name for yourself, you need a strong brand. An excellent example in this category is the Hotel Sacher. The name stands for tradition, luxury and an incomparable vacation experience. As the external marketing department of the Hotel Sacher, we emphasize this image with professional tools. 

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At the same time, we bring extensive experience to your hotel branding. Building and strengthening a brand is all about market knowledge, timing and using the right tools. 

Your brand is built with these components

Brand building is versatile and multifaceted, but there are three pillars that are seen as the basis - also in branding for hotels: 

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1. The brand identity

Brand identity refers to all the features of your brand that are visible, such as font and logo, design and colors. Experience, message and visuals should be accommodated here. 

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2. The brand strategy

With your brand strategy, you communicate the essence of your hotel to potential guests. This means that your strategy should always be structured in such a way that it reflects your values and sets you apart from the competition. 

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3. Brand marketing

How do you want to get the branding for your hotel out to the public? This is where brand marketing comes in. Growth, awareness and image building are the key words. Advertising and content marketing, social media and website - the options are varied, but should always fit your brand. 

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With professional support from MORE as your external marketing department, the branding strategy is built on these pillars. 

Defining the values of your hotel as the most important basis

Probably the most important basis for branding your hotel is to define the values for your brand. What values do you want to stand for in the long term? Clear messages are the secret of good brand marketing. These are conveyed to the outside world via your employees, communication media and your partners. 

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We recommend finding a core value and differentiating the other values around it. In the hotel industry, core values include 

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• urban

• modern

• luxurious

• favorable

• relaxing

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What feeling do you want to convey to your potential guests when they look at your hotel or get to know your hotel brand? 

Finding values in different ways 

It is not always easy to find the values that your hotel should show externally and live internally. In our experience, it is therefore helpful to use various methods and carry out the evaluations on the basis of these. 

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Take your time to do this. We have put together an overview of some of the most popular methods to show you how versatile the search for the right values for your hotel's branding can be: 

Questionnaire and survey

You can ask both your employees and guests to fill out questionnaires that deal with the values of the hotel. This will give you an insight into how your hotel has performed so far and what values it stands for among guests and employees. 

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Rating portals

Especially if you have been active on the market as a hotel for some time, there may be reviews from guests on review portals about your hotel or chain. Find out about the reviews. Read the wording and see which aspects are repeated in the various reviews. 

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Conduct interviews

Both personal interviews and video interviews are a popular tool for finding out what values are ascribed to your company. 

Never forget that your guests act as your brand ambassadors. Of course, surveys and interviews with employees are also important - preferably anonymous, so that you get an honest picture - but the opinion of your guests is what tips the scales. 

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Find out what your guests associate the hotel with. Is it the lifestyle? Is it the open and friendly staff? Is it the exceptional food? The more clearly you can define your values and characteristics, the more authentic you can brand your hotel.  

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Seth Godin (entrepreneur) already knew: 

‍"A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that together make up a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another."

Define the appearance of your brand

A brand benefits not only from its image, but also from its appearance. It should always match the message you want to convey. The image is used in various areas, such as social media, advertisements, on your website, but also on brochures and flyers. 

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Color scheme, logo and maybe even slogan are an important part of hotel branding. If you decide on an image, you should be sure of it. Of course, this can also be adapted later. But keep in mind that your image and the positioning of your brand will be directly linked to the logo. 

Why you shouldn't do without branding for hotels 

Perhaps you have the feeling that your marketing concept is working reasonably well. You have bookings and inquiries and your guests are mostly positive. So why should you still spend time and money on hotel branding? We'll tell you the reasons here: 

#1 Your reputation precedes you 

If you build a brand, your reputation precedes you. As soon as someone hears the name of your hotel, they know exactly what it stands for and what they can expect here. Your brand is immediately associated with certain amenities. You may also decide to set up a loyalty program. This can also support the power of your brand and become irrevocably linked to it. 

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The stronger the positioning of your hotel brand on the market, the more effective your reputation will be and the more likely it is that guests will take notice of you when they are looking for accommodation for business trips or vacations. 

#2 You create a brand umbrella 

We have already mentioned that there is a basic value around which you can then build further values. This is a brand umbrella. With branding, you are able to make various features and offers of your hotel brand your characteristics. They are brought together under one roof. For example, your hotel stands for luxury, relaxation, wellness, health and recreation. Your umbrella brand may also combine the values of business, high event standards and upscale catering. You decide which values you want to convey to your brand. 

#3 Creating customer loyalty with stories 

There are several examples of success in the history of corporate branding that show how the brand is inextricably linked to a story. If you build a story around your brand and integrate shared experiences of the guests, this creates an emotional bond. "Here the chef still cooks himself" - family-run hotels often use this slogan to show the close relationship between the owners and the business. In combination with guest emotions, which you can glean from reviews, for example, you give your brand a personality. As an experienced external marketing department, we at MORE know exactly how experience-oriented and emotional marketing works and are happy to use it for the branding of your hotel. 

#4 Emerges from the crowd 

The hotel industry is highly competitive. There is always strong competition, which you can avoid in many areas with good hotel branding. A look at the market shows that many hoteliers are engaged in price wars. Favorable prices or special promotions should lead to guests deciding to book with them. However, with good branding, your values and image will already set you apart from the competition. 

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By the way: good branding for your hotel will save you marketing costs. Once your brand has established itself on the market, you can concentrate on using the channels that are most important for your target group and work with the awareness of your brand. 

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It is generally a good idea to look at the competition when searching for your own values and unique selling points. Competitor criteria that may be relevant for you when selecting your values are 

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• Target group

• Service quality

• Ratings by the guests

• Pricing

• Marketing

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This will give you a good picture of your direct competitors and show you which niche they occupy and how you can position yourself differently. 

Conclusion: Branding for the hotel takes your image to a new level

Brand marketing is also an important part of the marketing strategy for hotels. Building your own brand offers you numerous opportunities. You define your values and the image of your hotels under an umbrella brand. Guests build more trust in you. Marketing in general also benefits. With a strong brand, you have unique selling points and distinguishing features that set you apart from the competition. These characteristics are directly associated with your brand and you can focus on even more effective target group marketing. Our experienced experts at MORE will be happy to assist you with your hotel branding. 

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