A Bestselling – Positive – Non-Vanity -- Book About Your Company
Ritz-Carlton teams up with well known author and speaker to produce a business book about the hotel company’s service culture – selling 15,000 copies in first couple of months.
It sounds like a marketer’s dream come true. A best-selling business author comes to you and offers to write a book about your company’s service culture. No money changes hands and the book takes off.
That’s what happened at Ritz-Carlton, according to Vivian Deuschl, vice president for public relations, who worked closely with Joseph Michelli in producing the book, called – take a breath -- “The New Gold Standard: Five Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience Courtesy Of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.”
The book deals with: engaging customer loyalty, measuring results and retaining the best talent.
Deuschl says many authors have come to her in the past but, “We always rejected them because we didn’t think they would get into depth on our company. Michelli went to a number of hotel openings; he also spoke to travel agents and groups like The Gallup Organization.”
Deuschl was open to Michelli because he had written a previous bestseller about Starbucks called “The Starbucks Experience.” I called my counterpart at Starbucks,” says Deuschl, “and she said he would be respectful. But it turned out that our biggest challenge was getting our people to be candid with him.”
Once Ritz-Carlton got on board with Michelli, says Deuschl, they gave him unprecedented access to the company’s hotels, sessions at the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center and access to employees from general managers to housekeepers. In fact, says Deuschl, Ritz-Carlton President Simon Cooper told employees, by voice and memo, “not to sugar coat anything because then the book wouldn’t be credible.” While Deuschl says that the book is “generally laudatory,” she says Michelli does take a look at a number of mistakes.
Ritz-Carlton Chicago Seeks To Take the Hassle Out of Travel with Storage, and Providing 100 Essentials - Including Contact Lens Cases and Yarmulkes
Ritz-Carlton-Chicago, a Four Seasons Hotel (because of long ago branding legacy) is always voted one of the top luxury hotels in the country (It was recently named “Best Hotel in the U.S. by Conde Nast Traveler for a seventh year) – and is always seeking to outdo itself, has introduced a ”Stay As Long As You Like” program that seeks to make the hotel an all-purpose hassle and stress easer.
While elements of the program had been in place, according to general Michele Grosso, the hotel decided to put a name on it and formalize it because of the growing chorus of guest demand when it came to the annoyance of travel as far as carrying luggage and dealing with air travel in general.
The program includes complimentary travel essentials (always changing as need arises), guest luggage storage, and unpacking and laundering of guest garments.
Guests can leave their bags behind and the hotel’s special services manager, Jennifer McVicker, will store them. She has secured entire wardrobes, golf clubs, children’s’ toys – and – yes - that Christmas tree for a woman who celebrates the holiday at the hotel every year.
When guests return, McVicker will have laundered their clothing and have it waiting in their rooms. She can also ship items home – as she did for a guest who wanted 90 pounds of clothing waiting for her back in her native Australia.
A Jean Georges Private Cooking Lesson With a Stay at Trump New York
For Just $8,999
Jean Georges Vongerichten, one of the world’s most renowned chefs, has
a restaurant in the Trump International Hotel in New York – called Jean
Georges --which the hotel claims is the only hotel restaurant in town
boasting a chef of such acclaim. In addition, the restaurant handles
room service and catering. To make the most of that connection the
hotel put together an $8,999 Jean-Georges Culinary Master Course that
includes:
* A two-hour private cooking lesson with Jean Georges
* Three nights in an Executive Park View Suite
(there is a three-night minimum)
* A three-course dinner with a bottle of champagne
* Breakfast for two daily at Nougatine
* A signed copy of Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges, a cookbook
The package is available for a maximum of four people; if there are two couples, they would each be required to book a room.
It’s nothing new for a luxury hotel to create a lavish package as a
positioning tool and to generate publicity, but this one seems to have
touched a media nerve.
June 4 (Bloomberg) – by Jason H Harper. ``Cool shirt,'' says the receptionist by way of a hello, noting my T-shirt with a print by artist Jean- Michel Basquiat. With a prime Tribeca location on Greenwich Street and a co-owner in Robert De Niro, New York City's Greenwich Hotel.
Harper says the Greenwich is a study in measured cool. So, no geeks in bad suits behind the desk, nor Times-Square-seeking tourists in front of it.
Oh, yes-Prices? $475 to $1400—and some promised amenities still in a state of Coming Soon.
Lots of Buzz about Travelzoo, of course. And their newish President
C.J. Kettler, too. Have a look at this appealing promotion copy on the
Travelzoo site:
Enjoy the beautiful spring weather and treat yourself to an upscale
weekend in Manhattan. The luxurious Jumeirah Essex House hotel has
just released a special rate of $329 per night for Friday-Sunday stays
through June 1. Plus, a FREE daily breakfast for 2 (a $66 value) is
included for your stay. Here's where the deal gets even hotter: Stay
both Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday is 50% OFF, effectively
bringing the rate down to an incredible $274 per night. We rarely see
this upscale hotel running for less than $500 per night, so even if you
can only take advantage of the Friday- and Saturday-night rate, you'll
still rack up terrific savings.
What factors drive Travelzoo’s success with such discounts? “A
combination of how much the trip has cost in the past, how much
individual components would cost, and more,” Kettler says. “We don’t
break out luxury as a segment because we see it as aspirational. If you
can afford it you will buy it.”
Travelzoo, which claims 11 million registered users, works with
suppliers to come up with good deals—and then charges them to appear on
the site.
Melissa Bradley’s On My Mind message in the Sept-Oct issue of Indagare—family focused travel--just happened to be what was on my mind as I reviewed some of the most recent surveys on consumer travel behavior in a struggling economy.
All the evidence—whether you are looking at the Amex-Harrison Group study we reviewed in our last issue, or the Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluence Report completed in September,--shows Family First when it comes to disposable dollars.
For travel in particular, Bradley says, ” More than just being inspired by reading about beautiful places, Indagare’s members have expressed a desire for guidance, especially when it comes to life’s most cherished journeys: those with their families”
“ What’s important on such trips,” she adds, “ is spending uninterrupted quality time with loved ones.”
We believe family focus is going to be front of mind for a long time to come, long after the punishing economic climate has subsided. Provider brands will be hard pressed to provide much more than kiddie or junior, or young adult activities. Smart travel agents will have to rise to higher levels of creativity and performance on the family front to sustain customer loyalty and earn the benefits of word of mouth in the neighborhood.
At the American Express Publishing –HarrisonGroup presentation last month Cara David, co-director of the study and Senior Vice-President, Strategic Insights, Marketing and Sales, American Express Publishing said, ”We will see significant reductions in intended spending for jewelry, fashion, accessories and other personal items.”
At the same time, spending for the family – automobiles, travel, children’s clothing and home décor – are trending up, even over June numbers, according to David.
We’ll be tracking the trend carefully, and we are seeing evidence of some smart marketing in that direction—including Indagare, of course—that will be featured in upcoming hospitality brand interviews Hershel Sarbin
Our lead story in this issue, covering the Latest Quarterly Survey from American Express Publishing/Harrison Group on Affluence and Wealth in America, is a most informative visit to spending in a troubled economy.
One thing that struck us, as we listened to the October 2 presentation, was how the term affluent covered so much territory - There is “ Bedrocks” Affluent, “Upper Middle Class” Affluent, “Pinnacle” Affluent, “Super” Affluent and finally, just plain Wealthy – all together, some 20 million households.
Karen Weiner Escalera, a veteran luxury marketing and public relations executive who heads up KWE Group in Coral Gables, recently took a look at the current economic situation and offered her outlook and advice; here’s a summary:
AVOID DISCOUNTING:
• As former Ritz-Carlton executive Joseph Freni, famously said in a previous downturn, “When times are tough, raise your rates.” Instead, highlight ways to save by traveling smart (off- season and midweek for resorts; weekend and holidays for urban hotels).
• A recent survey of millionaires by the authors of the book, “Middle Class Millionaire” revealed that close to 90% of U.S. millionaires with household incomes of $1 million to $10 million say they would increase their spending if offered a special value add.
UP THE SERVICE ANTE:
• Seek to elicit the “wow factor” among consumers. According to an Accenture study, more than half of consumers reported their expectations for better service increased over the past five years. One third said they were higher than a year ago. Guests require their every desire – expressed or unspoken – be met.
• Gather all the information you can about guests’ likes and dislikes and add to the database – down to packets of gum for the gum chewer and up to a crib from Neiman Marcus to the loyal guest/expectant mother. But beware of overly attentive service, which can become obtrusive or overbearing – a “no-no” for younger travelers in particular.
A new report, The NEXT gen Traveler—co-authored by PhoCusWright and Ypartnership—declares that "next generation" travelers, heavy users of the latest technology, are highly educated, affluent, and are equally likely to be Echo Boomers (18-28) as Baby Boomers (43 to 61), thereby debunking the belief that the usage of new technology is concentrated among younger travelers. They have a zest for travel and spend, on average, over 50% more on travel services annually than their less tech-savvy.
Nat Ives, in Ad Age Online Sept 6, cites new data from Ipsos MMR which assures that well-off readers read print publications just as much now as they did 5 years ago.
Also, survey respondents making more than $100,000 annually said their average hours online had grown to 22.1 each week from 10.7, while the time they said they spent watching TV sunk to 18.6 hours from 23.7 in the 2003 survey. Read the full Ives story at http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=130685. Lux 360 attended the client briefing this week and will provide additional perspective in our Sept. 30 issue, interviewing Ipsos MMR President Bob Shullman.
Resource Center 
uch discounts? “A
combination of how much the trip has cost in the past, how much
individual components would cost, and more,” Kettler says. “We don’t
break out luxury as a segment because we see it as aspirational. If you
can afford it you will buy it.”
