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Hotels have suffered significant losses due to the coronavirus. However, there are signs of recovery. A travel industry report produced by McKinsey & Co., the global consulting firm, includes airlines, hotels, vacation rentals, tours and activities, online travel agencies (OTAs), rental cars, and carpooling and cruises. According to this report, there are “… signs of latent demand for travel: customers are interested and willing to travel again if they are allowed to travel before a large-scale vaccine is available.”

The hotel section of the report examines the guest’s customer journey from finding options to returning. Every stage of the guest’s journey has weak points. With Covid-19, however, there are now additional vulnerabilities that hotels also need to address.

There are three overarching problems in synthesizing these guest pain points: worry, fear, and insecurity.

• Concern is the state of fear of actual or potential problems.
• Fear is the uncomfortable, scary emotion caused by the thought that something dangerous is about to happen.
• The uncertainty relates to the lack of services related to known amenities such as use of the gym, cleaning and disinfection, housekeeping and staff health, availability of meals and beverages, and other expected amenities that may be limited or no longer available.

To address these problems of worry, fear, and insecurity, hotels should follow suit The four rules of FACE: focus, alignment, collaboration, and excellent execution with empathyand.

The focus rule

Focus on core customers and get better insight into loyal guests and potentially loyal guests. Learn more about who the loyal guest is, why that guest chooses your brand (s), and on what occasions the guest uses each brand.

According to McKinsey, price is now seen as a minor driver of brand choice due to the coronavirus. Many hotels use Smith Travel’s rate-based system to categorize the hotel industry. You use the “average daily rate of the room” to create these price-based groupings: Luxury, Upper Upscale, Upscale, Upper Midscale, Midscale, Economy, and Independent.

For example, Hilton Hotels with 18 brands in their global portfolio use the Smith Travel structure with no economy but including timeshare.

• Luxury: Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts, LXR Hotels and Resorts, Conrad Hotels and Resorts
• Upper class: Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Canopy by Hilton, Curio Collection by Hilton, Signia by Hilton, Embassy Suites by Hilton
• Upscale: DoubleTree by Hilton, Tapestry Collection by Hilton, Tempo by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Homewood Suites by Hilton
• Upper middle class: Hampton by Hilton, Motto by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton
• Middle class: Tru by Hilton
• Timeshare: Hilton Grand Vacations

This classification is not customer-oriented. It’s an arbitrary industry classification. It is doubtful that a potential guest would call the Hilton reservation system and request a room at an Upper Midscale hotel. Instead, marketers should redefine their competitive sets using event-based performance segmentation.

Focus means knowing your customers inside out.

The alignment rule

Alignment is fundamental to building and marketing strong brands. Alignment means that all members of the brand organization work together towards the same goal. Without alignment, the changes that need to be made to re-attract guests and to attract new guests will not be or will not be accidental.

In an interview with The Future of Everything by the Wall Street Journal, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson (pictured above) spoke about a video he created in March 2020 to give all employees an equal understanding of the impact the pandemic had on the Broker business. He talked about the impending layoffs; He talked about his fight against cancer. He was open, transparent and honest. Mr Sorenson said he needs to be the one talking to the staff because when there is bad news or a crisis, the message should be delivered personally from above so that the entire Marriott community knows that nothing is hidden and that the leadership aligned and involved.

The collaboration rule

Working together means sharing what we know. We need to maximize the return on global learning. With Covid-19, global collaboration is essential.

French hotel company Accor’s CEO Sebastien Bazin recently said chain hotels need to work together to help independent hotels and restaurants. Otherwise there will be no tourism industry. The places where hotels are located attract guests. Without the draw for “the place”, hotels, especially high-end hotels, will suffer. He believes the big hotel chains will need to think about taking a financial blow in order to revive local tourism.

He said: “Let’s be honest, anyone who stays with me for four days in a Novatel or Fairmont in Bangkok wants to get to know the culture of Bangkok and explore the small restaurants or bars in this destination. This is what Bangkok is all about. The same in London, the same in Paris, the same in Sao Paulo. We need to help these people because they make this goal more valuable and sexy. “

Monsieur Bazin added that this could mean taking guests to local food and beverage establishments rather than the hotel. “We have to direct traffic to them and make sure they are known. Give them access to your procurement. Since you have the scales and are likely to buy cheaper, why can’t they access the same sourcing and best prices? “

The Executional Excellence With Empathy Rule

Operational excellence is an important factor regardless of crises. Marketing can bring guests to the door, but excellent execution with empathy will keep them coming back to accomplish more.

The worries and fears of guests and employees must be recognized and addressed. People’s priorities have been changed by the coronavirus. All interactions must come from the perspective of empathy. As Mr Sorenson said, employees want protection too.

The Hotel Indigo at Albany Airport, New York, has remapped rooms and made changes to accommodate customer concerns, fears and services. The new rooms have only one item of upholstery, a chair: everything else is easy to clean. There are no wall hangings or fabric headboards, no carpets, only two bed pillows, no bed throws, hygienic TV remote controls in plastic bags and a small fridge for guests’ food and drinks. Meals can be ordered in the restaurant and picked up in the room for meals.

Now is a time for hotels to act. There’s a great opportunity for brands to get out of this pandemic crisis bigger and more powerful, with more guests, more frequent visits, more loyal, and more sales and profits. To be successful, new rules are required: the rules of FACE.

Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature

The Blake Project Can Help: Ask us about our branding research and branding strategy working with Marriott and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.

Brand Strategy Insider is a service from The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in brand research, brand strategy, brand growth and branding

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