5 Steps to Design a Hotel's Brand Guidelines

Designing a hotel’s brand guidelines to make the hotel business stand apart may be a necessity today. Stay on top of it in 5 simple steps.

MADRID, SPAIN, May 15, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Earlier, hotels simply used to be where one could rest at night while traveling or when in a foreign land. Today, although the fundamentals have not changed much, a lot has evolved with respect to how hotels portray themselves. While hotels might have started evolving to attract new customers, the result is the tonne of amenities and comfort on the offer to defeat the aggressive competition.

What is a Brand Guideline? Why is it Important for a Hotel Business?
The brand is a hotel’s identity in essence. A hotel’s brand guidelines are a set of rules (behavioral, visual, emotional, virtual, or ethical) the hotel should wholly follow to appear as a brand. How the staff at the hotel communicates and interacts with the guests, how the hotel appears, what kind of amenities the guests can definitely expect, and the unique things that set the hotel apart. Adding to these basic elements, there is a lot of detailing that goes into designing brand guidelines.

Branding is a vital part of the marketing of any business. Everything from the name to the feel and experience a hotel offers to its guests comes under the umbrella of branding. It helps the guests identify the hotel and personify it. With proper branding, the guests will always know what they can expect from a hotel, thus building trust and loyalty. Statistics suggest that consistent branding has helped businesses increase revenue by 33%.

Steps to Design a Hotel’s Brand Guidelines
Designing brand guidelines is an intricate process and must be dealt with carefully. Here are the five helpful steps.

1. Create guest personas.
The first and most important step is to create guest personas for the hotel. Who is the business catering to? Who will be attracted to the services the hotel is offering? A guest persona will answer many doubts about how the brand guidelines should be designed.
A typical guest persona may look like the following:

Persona 1*
Age group: 35 to 59
Gender: M/F/O
Occupation: Business officials/salaried professionals/CXOs
Purpose of visit: Business travel
Basic preferences: High-speed internet connectivity, business center, guest stationery (pen/pencil/notepad), 24*7 concierge, airport transfers, express check-in and check-out, fitness center, loyalty membership

Persona 2*
Age group: 18 to 55
Gender: M/F/O
Occupation: Any -
Purpose of visit: Holiday/retreat/leisure/family travel
Basic preferences: Play area/games (like table tennis, etc.), swimming pool, laundry service, spa/sauna, travel desk
* These personas are for illustrative purposes only and will typically have more details and categories.

2. Decide on the brand voice.
Depending on the guest persona, determine how the brand should sound to the guests. Should it sound friendly or professional? Should it be casual or businesslike? Remember, this will also include the name of the brand and its catchphrase, tagline, banner, etc. This will directly impact how the staff and executives interact with the guests, whether verbally or in writing.

3. Create a visual identity and theme.
The visual identity of a brand actually starts from how it looks online and on social media. Deciding on the logo, theme, color schemes, and other visual elements like artifacts, etc. – vibrant or subtle and soft – depending on the theme - comes next. If a hotel, say, thrives on and promotes sustainability and environment-friendliness, one may choose greens and browns, which are earthy and thus relevant. If a hotel is a holiday destination near the beach, one can choose palm trees or sea shells in the logo and shades of blue and beige in the color scheme. Remember, these should be consistent everywhere, starting from the brand’s Instagram page and website to the hotel’s physical aesthetics.

4. Add a unique identifier.
A unique identifier means something the guests will connect with and remember. This may or may not be the hotel’s unique selling point or USP, but it will help further the brand and the customer’s loyalty and recall value. Hotels and resorts nowadays offer welcome drinks at check-in and/or souvenirs at check-out.

However, the unique identifier may not necessarily be materialistic. A hotel can offer unique identifiers in the form of a sensory experience. For example, adding a certain type of music in the lobby or a fragrance unique to the brand — something cool and refreshing or something calming and barely noticeable (yet memorable). In fact, a brand fragrance can help a hotel make a lasting connection with its customers!

Other than that, hotels can provide guests with certain identifiable services, like personal concierge services.

5. Set up a loyalty rewards program.
Statistics say about 84% of consumers were more likely to stick with a brand that offered a loyalty program.

A loyalty program is one of the best ways to create brand loyalty and ensure that guests keep coming back. A loyalty rewards program can solidify guests’ decision to return and even recommend the hotel to their friends and colleagues. Nothing better than having to pay a little lower than other customers every time they visit a hotel brand!

6. Maintain brand consistency by conducting regular mystery audits.
After one has designed the brand guidelines, it is equally important to ensure they are consistently implemented and followed. If not, the hotel runs the risk of compromising brand promise and customer loyalty. A hotel business can successfully do so through mystery shopping audits.

Mystery shopping audits help hotels evaluate the performance of their amenities as well as staff service through the lens of their guests. Mystery shoppers are anonymous and discreetly observant, and their unbiased reports allow top management to draw out the loopholes in their brand guidelines as well as where and when they are not being followed correctly.

Conclusion
Creating a brand that stands out is easier said than done. A lot has to be kept in mind, even more so when it comes to finally executing and establishing it. Nevertheless, it is not unachievable. Brand guidelines, when followed consistently, help a hotel business accomplish a unique identity and personality and appeal to customers, both old and new.

Hospitality Connoisseurs OÜ
GDI
911238638 ext.
andreas.muller@gdiworldwide.com
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