Knowing where you are and where you are going are two vital aspects of the planning cycle. Never feel that you have a product and that you are stuck with it, whatever the competition does.
What Does Your Hotel Look Like?
I am amazed every day as I travel around just how little attention is paid by some hospitality operators to how their business is portrayed: do these people walk around with their eyes closed?
This is particularly surprising when you consider how much emphasis is put on image. I use image in its widest sense, not to imply glamour or fashion but image as in reflecting what your business is about. Often it’s the small things that count – the badly written A-board, the long forgotten broken sign in a field or just the weeds in the front garden. Talking of A-boards, why is it that white chalk on a blackboard indicates something more
up-market than a mixture of blue, red and green chalk on the same board? There are many tools and techniques available to give your customers a positive impression of your operation.
The influences of design, maintenance, colour, fonts, typography and text are many and various and I will try to clarify some of the most important issues. Although it is easy to dismiss the activities of Nike, Red Bull, Apple, Ford or Virgin as being of no relevance to your operation, there are some fundamentals that apply whatever your business.
Time To Make An Impression
How long do you have to make a first impression? Some research indicates that it is no more than 20 seconds. In that time your prospect has had a chance to view your product and weigh up in his or her mind whether or not it meets their expectations.
Corporate Identity
You might be thinking that a section on corporate identity has little application to an individual hotel. Large companies spend a huge amount of money on identity and although it is sometimes more about a ‘new look’ to paper over cracks in their operation, there is a lot to be learnt about how others do it. You don’t have to follow everything to the letter, but some of the techniques have a universal application.
Once you have set out your vision (see
37), your corporate identity is what translates it into reality. But before you can do this you need to reflect on how you wish to position yourself. You need to determine your position in your customers’ minds, taking into account the needs of your customers, the strengths and weaknesses of your hotel and your position in relation to your competition. You need to agree on the market segments that you wish to serve so that your corporate identity is congruent with their aspirations. For instance, if you had a new, stylish property aiming for the discriminating individual traveller, such as lawyers, designers and architects you would be unwise to use Old English typeface in orange.
Name
The name of your hotel or restaurant is a very important part of how it is seen by your customers. However it is important to not get too hung up on names. The most important issue is not having anything that has negative connotations. Positive associations should flow over time from your quality service. Independent hotels often have names associated with their town, village or some other location and these usually serve very well. However, do consider the actual length of what you choose and the wisdom of including the word ‘the’ at the beginning and ‘hotel’ at the end. Your name needs to be recognisable quickly on signage, so short works better than long.
The difficulty comes when you are looking for a new name that does not have such an association or you are looking for a new name for your restaurant. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find new names that are legally available but whatever you choose, make sure that you check out the possibility of registration and the domain availability.