In the second article in this three-part series exploring luxury hotels and how a 'sense of place' helps differentiate a luxury hotel and build loyalty, Suzanne Godfrey, consultant and lecturer in luxury and luxury hospitality, examines how the brand's identity can elevate the hotel experience and create a unique sense of place.
When new luxury and upper-upscale hotels enter a market, it can serve as a call to action for other hotels to up their game. For these legacy hotels, the challenge is not just to maintain market share but also to reinforce their foothold among new entrants.
'Sense of place' has long been a buzz phrase. Linked to a range of disciplines from urban planning to sociology, nowadays it is increasingly being used in the hospitality industry. It captures the physical aspects, culture and history of a place, as well as its impact on the senses, which can trigger emotions. Over time, it can create feelings of familiarity, comfort and security, as well as a sense of belonging.
From brands like Fendi and Dior to retailers like Saks and The Webster, everyone's setting up shop in fancy hotels this summer.
Guests with plenty of cash have an ardent desire to travel and experience hotels, especially at the luxury end, but revenge trips and pent-up demand will dissipate quickly if hotels fail to tell a story and service and experience do not meet expectations.
Higher leisure travel demand during the pandemic sent hotel rates soaring across all segments of the market, and luxury chains led the pack.
Luxury hotels across Europe have made an about-face and are back to producing profit at the almost same rate as 2019, according to data from HotStats. It’s an extraordinary turn of events for a sector that saw its gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) plummet during the dark days of the global pandemic, hitting a historical low of-€43.21 in May 2020.
At first, I was shocked. Then, oddly flattered. A man I had never met until this day, standing at the bar in a foreign country, fleetingly and mid-conversation, dropped in a fact about me that he could have only known had he read a blog post I wrote in 2015.
Based in Hong Kong, Gordon Oldham is a UK-trained lawyer who has recently created his own hotel group.
What’s in a name? A luxury hotel by any other name is still luxurious, right? No longer, it seems, in today’s hospitality industry.