Luxury interior & fancy social image are NOT enough. What really DIFFERENTIATES your boutique hotel

You may CONVINCED yourself to think luxury interior and fancy social media brand image are enough. But it's NOT EVEN CLOSE!

Those will not differentiate your boutique hotel. In fact, it will bring you HUSTLE and DRAMA and CHAOS. Why? Well, because you are seeking attention from people who also don't know want they want, perhaps just being in trend. And those guests will make your job really difficult.

You need SOLID foundation. The one you can really on long term.

The one to bring you STABLE SUCCESS with ideal guests who are EASY TO SERVE and HAPPY TO PAY what you ask for an authentic stay in your hotel.

It's urgent to start creating your own unique hospitality approach, concept that is authentic to you. You'll NEED this considering how the future of hospitality unfolds.

Start right now. PLEASE. For your own good.

WATCH VIDEO BELOW.

Schedule a free discovery call HERE

Tell us YOUR story & get REAL feedback.

ELEVATE your hospitality business.

Master consistent excellence DELIVERED in practice.

Be WORTH EVERY PENNY & every second of your guests.

---

Video Transcript:

Hello everyone. Welcome to Remarkable Boutique Hotels where we talk about outstanding experiences and everything that leads to them.

Today, we’ll talk about the importance of having one clear concept and how it helps you differentiate significantly on the market. We’ll cover it from different perspectives to really help you define yours and come up with ideas on how to apply it. Let’s dive in.

So, what is hotel concept really? It’s not just about having nicely designed interior or fancy social image or even your guest policy stating you are for specific guests like families or adults only for example. All these things can be part of your concept but are far from its core, they’re just a fraction of it. Concept is usually discussed in the early stage of hotel development but it just doesn’t get enough attention, because, on one level, a concept is just an abstract idea but you want to get to the point of developing it and implementing it which many never come to, and that’s the whole point – well rounded sustainable differentiation and execution.

So once you have that seed idea, the point is to reflect it in many ways in your hotel. Think about it as inventing and innovating that commodity like accommodation and as a result, that will help you market your hotel better. Maybe you’ve heard of disturbing innovation which changes the way whole market functions like Airbnb for example. But this doesn’t mean you have to invent something revolutionary. It’s enough to have innovative storyline and implement it accordingly, for example, let’s say you believe in the benefits of natural resources for human body and you find a way to use thermal water for food preparation and arranging special baths in your hotel, hm? Sounds good. That would be an example for starting to build a great concept.

So, in hospitality, concept is the first part of an answer to why someone chooses you instead of any other hotel. It helps you market your hotel, build a brand, develop all services aligned to it, achieve consistency in your services easier, know what you promise, how you deliver it, why that and not something else and to whom exactly.

In remarkable boutique hotels, we call this company’s distinctive footprint. It consists of one main promise and many practical applications of it. So, what does it really mean and how can you create this in practice?

First you need to do, is to understand your company’s values. State your mission clearly without thinking it’s overrated. Such things are overlooked because they are used as decoration for walls or unnecessary documents employees should read but have no idea what to do with them. So, think about words you want your hotel to be synonym for, then describe an ideal guest, not with age and gender but their interests, values and lifestyle, think about your passion for some community matters and public attitudes in general. The real purpose of all these is to serve you as an owner to think about what is it that you especially care about, what change in the world do you want to be part of, why are you in this business and why your presence matters. Okay.

Second, intentionally create your business personality and build its character. What does it mean? Hotel’s personality is all about image creation, public relation, guest expectations and experience while hotel’s character is about integrity, responsibility, contribution, consistency, and so on. So, your hotel’s personality shows up in what you say you stand for, while your hotel’s character makes sure you really do what you say, meaning a hotel’s personality is directly visible to your guests, but it has to be enabled by backend systems. I’ve talked more about this in my other video on how backend systems are connected to guest experience so definitely watch that one.

So, to develop irresistible hotel’s personality, think about what is it that you really care about, maybe art, culinary, spirituality, flowers, themed bathing rituals, books, fitness, painting as a therapy, pets, ice baths, water mattresses, walking barefoot, anything. The thing is it’s important to be specific, the craziest it sounds the better but still remember it’s not about throwing random ideas but the ones which are good fit for your mission and values and this was discussed in the step before.

Third, imagine your hotel as a ship in the sea of market and competition, so your concept would serve as a compass which directs you. By committing to your concept, you decide which ideas to implement and that is exactly how your guests recognize you and find you among others and choose you over and over again. Bingo!

So, in that sense, marketing is just a tool and someone can do a great job creating amazing expectations prior your guests actually experience your hotel but if you fail to deliver once they come, if you fail to fulfill and even exceed these expectations, it’s all for nothing. You had a great hot lead as it’s called in marketing but you end up with a first-time guest never coming again. And this is actually why hotels struggle with direct bookings. Instead of searching for technical solutions let’s first fix basics. And guess what, it’s not just marketing and sales, same goes with anything. For example, interior designer can do an amazing job but if not given detailed description of a concept, your hotel can be turned to soulless space that may be breathtaking, sure, but fails to resonate with real people and you loose opportunity for connection and eventually their loyalty. So, it’s never about being the best looking hotel on the internet or the most fancy or provocative or anything, it’s about being the right one for your guests, the one your guests can’t wait to come back to, they recommend to everyone and feel like they belong there.

And the fourth perspective, the liveliest of them all, can I say liveliest, liveliest… imagine your hotel is a place. What place on earth would it be? For example, busy modern city, by the way in which continent, or maybe it’s a finely arranged garden, what was the name – Zen garden, or wild rainforest, evergreen forest, DESIDJUAS forest with all of its colors each season, calm small village, seaside town, volcano, space shuttle ready to leave the earth, anything?! What are the colors, sounds, smells and tastes in that place? What exactly inspires you about that place? And then, think about how can you bring these elements in your brand, for example in architecture, interior, decorations, paintings, colors, music, smells and tastes even textures? And eventually, extremely important, how do you want all these elements to make your guests feel? Moreover, what emotion do you want to stay with them once they leave?

It's also perfect moment to choose your signature elements out of all these and then use them wisely, like in specific places of your hotel or in specific times of a day, connecting specific connotations like let’s say family time with fire place outside after dinner. This will create a very strong narrative in your guests heads without them even realizing, right, unintentionally, and this segment is of a great importance in creating boutique experiences, since the number of repeated visits is increased when senses are engaged.

Hmmm, so, consequentially after all this, you will also conclude on things like suitable color palette, tagline, imagery style, type of materials, scants, and all those known branding elements. But the thing where average hotels make mistake is that they start with determining those elements first and that’s wrong. You start with concept and storytelling and then those come naturally contributing to the whole picture.

So, I think that’s it for today. It takes time and effort to shape your concept, but it’s absolutely worth it. Until next occasion, have a beautiful experiences my friends.

Thank you for listening. Here at Remarkable Boutique Hotels, we want your hotel to be worth every penny and every second of your guests. Schedule a discovery call to find more about our remarkable methodology which is unique in the whole hospitality industry. I would love to hear your hotel story. See you there.