Hotel Brand， the Magic Behind Success

當(dāng)前，全球酒店業(yè)除了熱衷資本市場和爭奪業(yè)主投資，還面臨著很多亟待解決的大小課題： 國際市場的不穩(wěn)定因素，橫行肆虐的寨卡病毒，恐怖主義威脅的影響，Airbnb的弄潮，某些地區(qū)的文化差異等等。然而，有一件事卻是幾乎所有酒店集團CEO都在極為認(rèn)真對待的，那就是樹好、護好自己的品牌。

曾幾何時，酒店并購風(fēng)起云涌，交易規(guī)模動輒數(shù)千萬美元甚或數(shù)十億美元，其實質(zhì)都離不開整合品牌。萬豪收購喜達屋之后旗下?lián)碛辛?0個不同品牌；凱悅于去年宣布推出軟品牌Unbound Collection，將獨立酒店業(yè)務(wù)納入其龐大分銷系統(tǒng)中；溫德姆在全球掀起品牌革新戰(zhàn)役，也忙得風(fēng)生水起；甚至連規(guī)模不大的特朗普酒店集團也推出了新的生活方式品牌Scion。放眼全球酒店業(yè)，似乎都在忙著推出新品牌，整合舊品牌，都在高舉品牌大旗占領(lǐng)市場，爭奪客人。

The global hospitality industry nowadays is making efforts to win the owner's investment from the capital market while facing various problems such as the instability of global market， the threat of Zika virus， the shadow of terrorism， the competition from Airbnb and cultural difference in some areas. There is one thing in common which is carefully taken by every CEO of every hotel group： Establish a brand and maintain it well.

The MA transactions in hospitality industry has been quite frequent and the deal sizes could reach multi million or billion dollars. Basically the purpose of MA is integration of hotel brand. Marriott International owns 30 different brands by acquiring Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide， Hyatt Hotels Corporation launched soft brand Unbound Collection to include individual hotel business in its vast distribution system， Wyndham Hotel group is busy with its global brand innovation campaign， even Trump Hotels has launched Scion， a new lifestyle brand. It seems that every hotel group around the globe is working on the debut of new brand or the integration of old brand， since brand is the weapon to compete for guests and occupy the market.

的確，酒店品牌越來越多了，酒店品牌的作用也越來越大了

Indeed， more and more hotel brands are established for its evergrowing importance.

今天，大部分酒店集團已經(jīng)成為輕資產(chǎn)公司，它們擁有的固定資產(chǎn)越來越少，而推出的融資產(chǎn)品、衍生共享產(chǎn)品和時間租賃產(chǎn)品正越來越多。這些資本需求和營銷產(chǎn)品種類的增加都需要與之相應(yīng)的品牌形象，于是，酒店品牌的攻略魔法便輪番精彩上演。

顯然，未來的酒店管理公司必將逐漸變?yōu)槠放乒芾砉?。如何保持品牌價值，營造品牌體驗，使酒店推出的每個產(chǎn)品每個品牌都與賓客建立良好而穩(wěn)定的情感關(guān)聯(lián)，是酒店管理公司面臨的挑戰(zhàn)。在當(dāng)今全球旅行消費升級的背景下，酒店尤其需要更加新鮮的、目標(biāo)客群更加準(zhǔn)確的不同品牌來瞄準(zhǔn)特定的客源市場。

事實上，只要有不同的人和不同的生活方式存在，就必然有不同的旅行消費需求、不同的酒店業(yè)商機，也就必然要有不同的酒店和度假村品牌與之對應(yīng)，為之服務(wù)，從中獲益。

對酒店集團CEO來說，品牌是決定公司命運的關(guān)鍵，好的品牌總會帶來好的收益。溫德姆酒店集團CEO杰夫·巴洛特說：“看看我們的品牌構(gòu)成了什么？它構(gòu)成了入住率的增長和業(yè)主的加盟，品牌從沒有這么重要過！ ”最佳西方酒店與度假村集團也在近期進行了全球品牌升級，集團CEO江大衛(wèi)表示：“為什么這么多人認(rèn)可和喜歡可口可樂？為什么人們愿意專門去購買可口可樂？這就是品牌的價值所在?！?/p>

實現(xiàn)品牌戰(zhàn)略的方法有很多。當(dāng)下常見的方式之一就是購買品牌，像萬豪收購喜達屋，雅高收購費爾蒙、萊佛士及瑞士酒店；或者，像希爾頓一樣推出系列品牌，實現(xiàn)聚合效應(yīng)。規(guī)模較大的酒店集團，當(dāng)品牌數(shù)量和酒店規(guī)模達到一定量級，就會帶來直接預(yù)訂的增長，這時候的首要任務(wù)是利用品牌的全媒體宣傳引導(dǎo)目標(biāo)客群到自己的官網(wǎng)預(yù)訂客房，而不是到OTA平臺預(yù)訂。因為從直接預(yù)訂中獲得的收益越高，酒店集團為酒店業(yè)主掙到的收益就越多，自身的會員體系就越容易繁衍，越容易增長，形成良性循環(huán)性增長。

也有一些酒店集團，酒店數(shù)量不多不少，卻只擁有單一品牌，品質(zhì)很高，不開放會員系統(tǒng)。他們另辟蹊徑，幾十年不變堅持打造高端差異化的品牌和頂級的人性化服務(wù)體驗，由此獲得成功，比如四季酒店集團。“我們不能和多品牌集團一樣去打造龐大的分銷系統(tǒng)。我們成功的因素是這個品牌全方位的人性化服務(wù)，以及做好一切可以吸引客人關(guān)注和加強業(yè)主信任的事情。”四季酒店集團CEO艾利·史密斯說。

從酒店集團CEO的角度來看，一個酒店品牌成功與否一般需要兩種衡量：不僅要由客人衡量，更重要的是由酒店業(yè)主衡量，業(yè)主才是掛這家酒店集團旗幟的決定者，而業(yè)主的選擇又來自市場的評價，這是相輔相成的。洲際酒店集團美洲區(qū)CEO艾利·馬洛夫說：“業(yè)主的投票才真正體現(xiàn)了品牌的價值”。他認(rèn)為，今天酒店取得成功的門檻要比過去高很多，酒店集團制定品牌的戰(zhàn)略也隨之比過去多了很多，過去的這4年，酒店業(yè)主們對品牌酒店的投資比對非品牌酒店的投資多出75%，這不僅說明品牌是取勝關(guān)鍵，也說明酒店業(yè)主是品牌最終檢驗者。

Nowadays， asset-light strategy has been the choice for most hotel groups which means to own less fixed asset and launch more financing product， shared product and vacation rental product instead. Brand image is required to correspond to the capital demand and increased marketing products.

Obviously， hotel management company in the future will gradually become brand management company. How to maintain the brand's value， build brand experience and establish a good and stable emotional bond between each brand with its guests will be the challenge faced by hotel management company. Under the background of global tourism consumption upgrade， the hotel group especially need more accurately positioned brand to target the specific market segment.

Geoff Ballotti， CEO of Wyndham Hotel group said： \"Our Brand is the reason behind the increase of occupancy rate and why the owners join us. Brand has never been so important.\" Best Western International complete global brand upgrade recently， CEO David Kong said： \"Why Coca-Cola is so popular and people like to buy it？ This is where the brand value lies in.\"

There are several ways to realize brand strategy. One of the common ways at present is to buy a brand directly， such as Marriott International acquired Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide， AccorHotels acquired Fairmont Hotels Resorts， Raffles Hotels Resorts as well as Swissotel. Another way is to launch a series of brands like Hilton Worldwide to benefit from combined effect. When the quantity of brands and hotels reach a certain scale， direct booking will increase and the hotel group shall lead the guests to their official website for direct booking instead of booking via OTA by means of brand marketing on all media. The higher the benefit from direct booking is， the higher earnings the hotel owners could gain. Moreover the hotel membership system will become easier to promote and grow， thus forming a beneficial circle.

On the other hand， some hotel groups only possess one brand with superior quality， moderate quantity of hotels and enclosed membership system. For example， the success of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts owe to the persistence for several decades in cultivating high-end differentiated brand and personalized service experience. Allen Smith， CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts said： \"We cannot make vast distribution system the way multi –brand hotel group do. What we can do is provide all-dimensional personalized service via one brand and make everything right to attract guests and win the owner's trust.\"

A brand's success will be measured by the guests and the owners. From the perspective of a hotel group CEO， the latter is more important since it's the owner who decides whether or not to hang the brand's flag. Elie. Maalouf， CEO of The Americas at InterContinental Hotels Group said： \"The brand's value is truly reflected from the vote of the owner. \" In the past four years， owner's investment in branded hotel is 75% higher than in non-branded hotel， indicating that brand is the key factor for success and the owner is the final judge of the brand.

面對增長與創(chuàng)新的緊迫挑戰(zhàn)，各種酒店品牌或升級或重組，上演魔法真功

Facing the pressing challenge of growth and innovation， hotel groups work on brand upgrade or restruction.

還記得2008年，美國W酒店品牌發(fā)現(xiàn)自己已經(jīng)打造十年的時尚形象有些過時，亟待向歐洲和亞洲擴張的計劃受阻，于是下決心做一次全球范圍內(nèi)的品牌新定位。那是一次榜樣行動，讓全球酒店同行看到重塑一個既能滿足老店升級需求又能適用擴張之路的品牌策略，至今令人記憶猶新。

榜樣的力量是無窮的。

近期，老牌酒店喜來登推出了名為“喜來登2020”的品牌復(fù)興計劃，旨在恢復(fù)該品牌在北美地區(qū)一直以來存在的體驗不一致的問題。2016年9月當(dāng)萬豪宣布收購喜達屋時，曾有業(yè)內(nèi)人士以為萬豪最終會拋棄喜達屋旗下的這個喜來登品牌。然而，這件事也許不會發(fā)生了，因為人們清楚地看到，喜來登酒店品牌在亞洲非常成功，它在亞洲營造的品牌體驗非常一致，市場認(rèn)知率很高，已經(jīng)樹立了強大的品牌影響力。看來，喜來登的品牌重組，可能正是來自對亞洲經(jīng)驗的總結(jié)。

還有，溫德姆酒店集團將旗下16個酒店品牌重新升級整合；最佳西方國際酒店集團也變成了最佳西方酒店與度假村；洲際集團最近宣布將投資2億美金重新打造皇冠假日品牌......如果算上經(jīng)濟性連鎖酒店集團這些年的品牌增速和全球各地獨立酒店品牌的就地升級，人們可以看到品牌的魔法力正在脫穎而出。 品牌的足夠差異化目標(biāo)化，不僅已是酒店投資者啟動資本循環(huán)的法寶，而且可以植入消費者的腦海形成清晰印象從而帶來更精準(zhǔn)的客源，最終則成為酒店發(fā)展壯大的利器。這種巧撥千金，以少勝多的策略，就是酒店品牌的魔法真功。

當(dāng)然，無論酒店品牌的升級，重組或重新定位，遠(yuǎn)不是設(shè)計一個新LOGO或改變、新編一個品牌名稱這么簡單，它涉及到酒店品牌所對應(yīng)市場的精準(zhǔn)定位，酒店投資回報的科學(xué)策劃，酒店規(guī)劃與建筑的專業(yè)化設(shè)計，酒店整體風(fēng)格調(diào)性品質(zhì)的確定，以及酒店圍繞品牌在營銷、采購、管理、產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)等方面必須建立的無數(shù)規(guī)則、程序和操作細(xì)節(jié)，還要依靠職業(yè)經(jīng)理人精英以及多部門多層次的統(tǒng)籌協(xié)調(diào)合力而為......

一個優(yōu)秀酒店品牌的核心，是純正性、精致度和耐久力，舍此不能贏得賓客的口碑和信任，舍此不能換來真正的成功。

Early in 2008， W hotels in America came to realize its brand was outdate and caused setbacks to its expansion plans in Europe and in Asia， which determined the group to reposition the brand globally. This was a good example to let the whole industry see brand reposition could meet the need of hotel upgrade and expansion strategy.

Recently， Sheraton launched a brand renaissance campaign called Sheraton 2020， aiming to solve the problem of experience inconsistency in North America region. In September 2016， when Marriott International announced to acquire Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide， it was believed by some insiders that Marriott would give up on Sheraton which turned out not true， since obviously Sheraton is a very successful brand in Asia with consistent brand experience， high recognition and strong influence.

Other example includes Wyndham Hotel group upgrades and integrates its 16 hotel brands， Best Western International Hotel Group is renamed Best Western Hotels and Resorts， InterContinental Hotels Group plans to invest 200 million dollars in rebuild the Crowne Plaza brand. The growing speed of economy chain hotels brand and the upgrade of independent hotel brand around the globe is also worth mentioning. A hotel brand differentiated enough and focused enough will plant vivid image in the brains of the guests which will bring targeted guests to the hotel.

The content of hotel brand upgrade， restruction or reposition is far more complicated from designing a new LOGO or having a new name， it involves accurate position of the brand in the market， scientific calculation of investment and return， professional design of hotel planning and construction， determination of hotel style and quality， and all the procedures， formalities and operational details related to procurement， management， products and services around hotel brand. The work require professional hotel managers and coordination among all departments.

The core of a good hotel brand is authenticity， sophistication and endurance， which are necessary factors to win the reputation and trust to gain success.