Is it worth it to spend big on bringing one of the world’s best known restaurant brands – Nobu -- on board? And then to continue spending significantly on very expensive ingredients for dishes like yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno?
Crystal Cruises, always ranked at the top in the luxury cruise category, thinks the ROI from its investment in raw fish is already ‘in the bank’ even before the official March 1 launch
The Hotel Arts Barcelona is managed by Ritz-Carlton, but that brand’s name cannot be used in marketing because of copyright issues in Spain. Since its opening in 1994, the hotel has managed to create a brand of its own while subtly making the most of its Ritz-Carlton connection.
How One Luxury Hotel Brand Partnered with a Fragrance Fiend for Fun, Fame and Fortune
Rosewood Hotels, operators of some of the world’s finest lodgings, teamed up with Chandler Burr, perhaps the world’s only – or at least best known – Scent Critic. Burr, a regular contributor to The New York Times and author of “The Emperor of Scent: A Story of Perfume, Obsession and the Last Mystery of the Senses,” to create a series of Scent Dinners at its properties.
Guests who reserve a beach bed will enjoy a five-course dinner that includes foie gras and dishes like green tea soba sushi rolls, spiny lobster with couscous salad and a chocolate “extravaganza – all with a Four Seasons-style “bedside manner.”
According to Putu Indrawati, a resort spokeswoman, the beds can accommodate up to 50 people (25 couples). If there is overflow, the restaurant also sits right on the beach.
Indrawati said there has been growing interest from guests, as well as non-guests as well as “incremental revenue. “Publicity has been local, national and international.
Most of the guests taking advantage of the beach beds, according to Indrawati, are couples “and many of them are honeymooners.”
The program has already been expanded. It started with once a week, and is now twice – every Thursday and Saturday.
Says Indrawati, “They love the experience.”
And sayeth ye editor: “ What ever will they think of next?”
Waldorf-Astoria Takes Advantage of its History to Make Impressions and Sales
With New York’s Plaza Hotel converting to condos (with a much smaller hotel remaining), the Waldorf-Astoria is probably the most iconic hotel in the Big Apple. And Matt Zolbe, the hotel’s director of marketing, has undertaken bold initiatives to take advantage of its position as a tourist attraction. Among them:
Creating five podcasts about the history, design and other elements of the Waldorf that will accompany lavish window displays all along 49th street. The displays feature historic photographs and copy describing them.
Creating a “mini-museum” in the hotel lobby with glass cases containing exhibits on: famous people who stayed or lived oat the hotel, food and beverage, behind the scenes activities, and style and architecture. The museum, complete with curator , is placed in a section of the main lobby.
The cost of all this, including a $100,000 video to run continuously on lobby screens? $200,000. And the payoff?
From a revenue perspective, Zolbe said he is using the exhibits and materials as a tool when dealing with banquet and group planners. As he said, “When a meeting planner walks up the steps for the first time we want them to feel they are entering a very special place.”
Zolbe said that while the Waldorf competes with more commercial hotels because of its extensive meeting space, it wants to distinguish itself by its architecture, history and tradition. “We want to trigger an excitement in these planners by making the hotel feel special.”
The Payoff? There is certainly a public craving to visit the Waldorf’s history. “There is far more demand than supply,” says Zolbe, who is restricting the tours to 10 or 15 a day to insure that they are not disruptive. So far, they are free but he may charge a nominal fee -- “not for revenue generation but just to keep the numbers under control.”
The bigger picture is making a statement for meeting planners and group organizers “who will feel pride when they come here that they don’t feel at other hotels. By bringing the historical significance of the hotel to life, I can define that feeling for them.”
In the end, says Zolbe, “It’s a branding mechanism.”
We began our recent report on ‘Family Travel Rising’ with the following:
“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.
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.”
And last week we caught our favorite global traveler-editor-writer-commentator during a quiet moment at home in England, the home of The Gostelow Report. She shared these thoughts:
• The hotel industry has been very slow to realize that this big expansion in family travel was going to happen. We’ve had “connecting rooms and you can put the kids next door”. They moved on to two swimming pools rather than one. One was kid friendly and one was not. But we really haven’t had anything more than that.
• We are seeing more and more bigger family groups. Operators are having a real challenge coping with such groups because it’s not a group per se, but they form their own groups. They want to be private. They want their own thing. .They tend to do their own excursions. They suddenly want a bus to take them all out. So it’s a real, real challenge. And so far the hotel industry has not realized this is happening. Now, it’s not only families. We’re also seeing more and more groups of friends traveling. And the hotel industry is not incentivizing enough – say a pair of DINKs come- Double-Income-No-Kids. There’s no incentive to them at the moment to bring along two other friends or even four other friends. And there’s big potential on the marketing side there.
Everybody knows her, but her bio is worth repeating.
Mary Gostelow, president of Gostelow Travel: Hottest Hospitality News Worldwide, is an inveterate traveler on the road more than 300 days a year. She owns and publishes the definitive Gostelow Reports, monthly market intelligence briefings to the top levels of the hospitality industry. She is the editor of KIWI's online Wow! Magazine, and also sends out a monthly update to top travel professionals worldwide.
At the same time, she is contributing editor to such publications as Elite Traveler, enRoute, Hotels and Le Magazine.
But Lux 360 Found a Brighter -and we think, Sensible Side-
From Harvey Chipkin’s report in the British online Hotel Report-a paid service from William Reed Business Media- http://www.wr-bi.co.uk/ - Reproduced here with publisher permission
At the first industry wide meeting following the fall financial meltdown and the recent presidential election, the consensus seemed to be that, yes, the industry faces a historically challenging situation that will last for awhile. But there was also a feeling that lodging is in a better position than other industries – and, happily, a few silver linings were perceived as well.
We’ve all heard the bad news over and over: global liquidity drought, drops in rate and occupancy, a dismal outlook for employment, and a possibly extended recession. But some leaders managed to find ways to take – if not a positive view -- at least a more nuanced one. Following are a few comments about why weeping and gnashing may not be the only appropriate attitudes.
Steve Joyce, who recently became CEO of Choice Hotels International, said he has been “the only optimistic person in the room at a number of events over the last few weeks.” I strongly believe,” said Joyce, “that there is a paralysis factor and that you can’t base projections on two weeks of hysteria.”
“Forecasts in this environment,” he continued, “are entertaining but not much use.”
Other ‘smart marketer’ insights from Joyce, Mark Lomanno of Smith Travel Research; Peter Yesawich, CEO of The Y Partnership; Michael Kaufman, Chairman of National Restaurant Association; Patrick Ford, CEO of Lodging Econometrics; and Roger Thomas, Steve Wynn’s design guru for many years.
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.
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