The Brand Man Speaks

Marketing #101: Under promise and over deliver. Why Gaylord Palms Resort Orlando fails

One of the first mantra's one learns studying marketing is the most successful entities/products/services are ones that under promise and over deliver to the delight of the consumer.

It doesn't take a genius to understand that if you promise something you can't deliver, you not only disappoint your audience but also you likely will lose them and they will spread negative information about your brand.

Saying and delivering outstanding customer service are too very different things. Words are fine but actions speak far louder than words.

Case in point.

I recently stayed at the Gaylord Palms Resort in the Orlando area to attend an event held in their convention center. The hotel is huge with over 1400 rooms including an indoor activity atrium and numerous themed restaurants. It is kind of Disney-like but not Disney.

Virtually all touch points from recordings on the phone to the in-person dealings with staff include efforts to communicate a commitment to extraordinary guest experiences. I like this idea especially the fact that they try to carry this brand message throughout the facility in any and every way they can.

Problem is the execution falls flat and greatly disappoints.

Examples.

I called housekeeping for extra towels and was assured they would be up to my room in a jiffy. Four hours later still no towels. Two calls to the "can do it/get it done" hotline later and the towels finally showed up along with apologies that they dropped the ball "somewhere".

I stayed two nights with different room rates for each night based on what was being offered. This required getting new keys which were delivered under our door during night one. The keys worked in the room lock but failed to allow me access to my car in the self-park. Although wanting to be very helpful, front desk staff were not consistent in their approach to solving the problem requiring a few, "let me check how this can be done", quips.

The room rate change (but still in the same room) also caused us to lose access to the internet service which never seemed to work again for us. The system did not recognize me and my room number as legitimate guests. I didn't have time to waste trying to get this fixed so I just used my cellular data plan instead.

Special meals for the fitness event I attended were supposed to be available in the sports bar restaurant. Again, the staff was not prepared and had to scramble to try to meet the expectation. The same restaurant the next day was quite busy and this seemed to completely overwhelm many waitstaff members leaving diners unhappy because of delayed food and incorrect delivery of orders. Apologies notwithstanding the problem seemed significant for a place that promises extraordinary service.

There were serveral other service delivery issues but the most insulting two occurred upon check out. I did not get the bill under my door as usual with most hotels, so I called the front desk to get it delivered. (BTW in this huge hotel it is quite a hike to the front desk from most rooms). After waiting over 30 minutes and two telephone calls later and no bill, I went down to the lobby to handle it directly. I received more apologies for the "no-show" front desk person with my bill, but that was the least of my problems. My bill was not remotely accurate requiring an extra 20 minutes of my time to get it straightened out. Despite my rate package documentation in writing, the hotel did not have this information in their system (for some unexplained reason---which generated more apologies) and the front desk staff member assisting me had to manually re-code and re-enterfix each of the four mistaken/inaccurate entries.

And the final blow came when we arrived home only to find that a family member's pillow and blanket had apparently fallen off the bellman's cart while our belongings were being transferred from the room to the hotel's front drive and was not packed into the car. (The hotel fed ex'd the items overnight with more apologies).

The lesson to be learned (hopefully) for Marriott (which runs the Gaylord Palms Resorts) is not to promise what you cannot deliver consistently. Even calling the fix it hotline required several attempts each time because the phone did not get answered or was put into perpetual hold. Not good.

All in all Gaylord Palms is a "needs a lot of work" brand especially if it continues to espouse the "extraordinary" service mantra.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

 

Intercontinental Hotels to launch Fitness-Oriented hotel brand, Even

Intercontinental Hotel Group will launch the first mainstream hotel brand focused on the fitness minded traveler. The new chain will be called "Even" and will feature a large fully equipped fitness center in the lobby and fitness minded furnishings in each hotel room.

Research shows that business travelers increasingly are looking for hotels with truly functional gyms and not small closet afterthought exercise spaces. Currently many top luxury branded hotels and spas have fitness centers comparable to health clubs. Canyon Ranch Hotel and Spas in three US locations is noted for its excellent fitness centers on-site.

Intercontinental whose brands include Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Intercontinental, Candlewood and Staybridge Suites plan to open 100 US locations of Even Hotels. The new concept is truly distinctive and quite different than their existing properties.

The Even Hotels will also serve health oriented meals in its restaurants. In room amenities will include a coat rack that doubles as a pull up bar and a luggage rack that is usable as an exercise bench.

Although many might see this as too niche oriented, I believe it is a good branding idea for the relatively stagnant hospitality industry seeking to meet the needs of travelers who want to maintain their fitness regimens on the road without having to search for local health clubs.

The first location (not yet specified) is scheduled to open in 2013.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Consumer darling JetBlue brand suffers due to stranded planes in freak NE snowstorm.

JetBlue apparently faced some major obstacles dealing with the freak October Northeast snow storm this past weekend. In one case in which a plane was stranded on the tarmac at Bradley International in Connecticut for seven hours, it might turn out to be less of the brand's fault and more of the airport.

This past year a Passenger Bill of Rights was passed by Congress to ensure these kinds of incidents where passengers are stuck on planes for ridiculously long hours without food, water or bathrooms would be addressed. The fines the airlines face are as much as nearly $28,000 per passenger for each incident. Hefty to say the least.

Now I am no fan of airline travel these days nor the lack of service most airlines offer a sentiment shared by millions of people around the globe. However, if the latest news is true that Bradley International Airport is mostly at fault, then why should the airlines suffer millions of dollars in fines? What has surfaced includes the JetBlue Pilot's unanswered pleas to the airport to help get passengers off the plane after finding his company could not get the airport to help either. The airport was very slow to react seemingly with little or no emergency preparedness plan in place.

Maybe if the airline turns out NOT to be at fault and it is the fault of the airport and the city and/or state can they all be fined? Could the city and state be subject to lawsuits from passengers? Why not? Airports (run by governments) get fees from airlines to do business so they need to be held accountable, although, as we all know Government, whether local, city, state or Federal seem to not be accountable for much lately.

Until all the facts are known, JetBlue will be taking alot of heat from angry passengers and the media.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

 

Southwest Air one of only the carriers NOT refunding FAA taxes to fliers directly

As of today most of the major airlines including US Air and Delta have announced they are directly refunding FAA taxes paid by fliers for trips occurring during the non collection time by the FAA (which will go through this fall as the Senate failed to resolve this matter before their summer recess).

Originally the airlines instructed fliers to try to navigate the IRS.gov site to get a refund. You can imagine if the debt ceiling legislation matter in Washington was an example of government failures, you can further imagine trying to address this refund matter directly with the IRS to be just as difficult for the lowly consumer.

A call to Southwest Airlines this morning proves the usually consumer friendly airline is behind the 8 ball on this issue and is refusing to refund the funds directly or assist fliers who paid these taxes prior to the FAA tax collection shut-down with handling it through the government. Shame on Southwest as consumers have come to know this brand as one that steps to the plate and handles these kinds of matters proactively versus the legacy carriers specifically. Management and marketing asleep at the wheel on this one.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

United unveils first elements of re-branding effort with partner Continental

An interim ad campaign has started to run in which United Airlines visually uses an iconic element from Continental; the well-known globe.

This is the first effort since the merger took place five months ago.

Billboards will show the name United along side the Continental globe visual. The carrier's Hemisphere magazine will run the ad in print to be followed by national media later in the year. Sponsorship signage in stadiums will also get the update shortly.

The airline says many planes in its fleet have already been re-painted with the blue and yellow globe id on the planes tails.

Other important branding elements including a unified website, employee uniforms, airport signage will be rolled out through 2012. (It is very important that they not take too long for these pieces to be updated as consumers can become confused impacting sales with delayed re-branding implementation).

What hasn't been announced is what efforts beyond advertising and graphics (just two elements of a total re-branding package) will be made including strategic positioning beyond ad slogans.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

Coming to a hotel room near you; Starbucks single serve coffee

As part of Starbucks strategic restructuring over the past two years, (closing stores and looking for other ways to reach coffee consumers), it appears the coffee brand giant is on the verge of moving aggressively into hotel rooms with single serve coffee.

Since the brand does not have its own single serve machine, speculation is Starbucks will partner with one of the manufacturers of single serve machines like Green Mountain's Keurig (which is coming into hotel rooms to replace the out-dated Mr. Coffee type machines) to reach that valuable market. The more places consumers have to connect with the brand the better. As well the growth of single service coffee machines and pods is accelerating.

I recently was in a Bed Bath and Beyond store in South Florida where a store manager said they could not keep the Keurig machine in-stock there was so much demand for it after years of lack-luster sales of in-home coffee machines.

I would suspect that once Starbucks takes a hold of the inroom coffee game they will pursue single service pods in the home.

This strategic decision is a better fit than others in the past that included the brand going off target and into businesses like music and movies.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

The Brand Man Speaks launches "@elitalks" on twitter for current updates on marketing news

Beginning today, The Brand Man Speaks launches its first twitter account @elitalks to provide its readers with faster more current and sometimes of the moment comments on what's happening in our world of consumption.

Using twitter for its greatest strengths, @elitalks will comment on news, rumors and information as it happens/surfaces that sparks a Brand Man response or reaction.

Please sign up for my twitter account.

Thanks

Eli

American Airlines dropped by Expedia and Orbitz travel services; cost savings or effort to create brand distinction for airline?

American Airlines and online travel services Expedia and Orbitz have severed relationships meaning when using those services American flights and fares will no longer be listed.

On one hand the move is seen as an effort by American to reduce the commissions it pays to third parties who handle its ticket sales leading to greater margins per ticket sold. By reducing the number of outlets selling (and discounting) the airlines tickets, conceivably American could also keep their fares a little higher given consumers would not have as many places to price comparison check. It could also lead to consumers picking other airlines over American with their listings gone.

Another theory might be that American is trying to (slowly) remove itself from the commodity choice game it plays with consumers. That is, the reason for choice is primarily price and that the product is undistinguished between airline carriers. Branding airlines has been a difficult marketing task over the past two decades as amenities were dropped in favor of price by most carriers.

Southwest, Jet Blue and Virgin come to mind as airline brands that have been able (to some degree) brand their products beyond price, with Southwest's brand effort generating the most profitable result.

American would have alot to do to distinguish itself as it generally falls into the legacy airline category, (long standing old guard of the flying business) and uses a business model that does not easily lend itself to a distinct brand identity. I would foresee some major obstacles to a non price marketing strategy without a major overhaul of how they do business which isn't likely in this struggling economy.

Let's face it, airlines, including American, have done everything they can to increase cash flow, try to become profitable by making the flying experience as bus like and commodity like as possible. Increasing amenity offerings without being able to increase price substantially always backfires for the legacy airlines and will continue to as long as the consumer sees price as the primary decision driver when booking the these carriers.

Watching out for you everyday

Eli

 

Holiday Inn pushes re-branding effort to survive and compete in today's hospitality marketplace

Holiday Inn, one of the country's oldest and largest chains of hotels and an icon on the highways of America is pushing to complete an aggressive total re-branding plan to become more competitive in the increasingly crowded hospitality industry.

All franchisees are required to massively upgrade properties to be allowed to keep the affiliation which is key to bookings (and profitability). Upgrades are noted to cost upwards of $250,000 per hotel. This hefty price tag is weeding out the older seedier properties that have kept the brand's image below par and pushed target guests to other chains like Hilton Garden Inn and Marriott's Courtyard.

A Wall St. Journal report says the corporate mandate forced out over 700 properties since 2005; some property owners were not even allowed to upgrade because it was felt their hotels were no longer appropriate for the Holiday Inn brand.

The upgrade comes as consumers at all levels of the price spectrum now expect more amenities and comforts (upgraded beds, linens, fitness centers, restaurants, iPod stations, free wifi) and are making decisions based on which brands offer the best value for the experience. Consumers clearly like newer properties over old ones; and if they are old properties the charm of age must be accompanied by the conveniences of today (and tomorrow).

Additionally, as the recession seems to be behind us (somewhat) hotel chains now see it as imperative to have the best product in the market now to snatch travelers as they begin to travel and spend more.

It has taken Holiday Inn a while to get this effort really moving as they lost valuable ground to Marriott over the past decade. Hilton got a head start over Holiday Inn by determining sooner that like Marriott they needed to offer more budget conscious business and leisure travelers mid-level amenity oriented properties as the higher end hotels suffered during the recession.

To many baby boomers, Holiday Inn is a 50s/60s brand they experienced mostly with their parents on family trips across the US and are less likely to choose the brand over Marriott when price is either at parity or isn't the key decision point.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli

 

 

Playboy brand coming to South Beach, Miami linking with Sagamore Hotel

Playboy, the male oriented iconic sexual fantasy brand from the 60s, has been struggling to survive on revenue from its magazine alone these days given strong competition from the internet and a changed culture in America.

So, it may be surprising to learn that the "bunny" brand is trying to team up with lux hotel Sagamore in famed South Beach Miami to get back into the hotel business.

Years ago Playboy was a fixture around the globe with hotels and lounges extending the magazine into three dimensions. As a kid I remember how cool it seemed to know someone who had access to a Playboy "key" to gain admittance to one of the famed locales to see the bunnies up close and personal. It was the era when the old James Bond character and his bed hopping swinging lifestyle was the envy of most men.

The brand has suffered as culture changed and competition increased.

The Sagamore Hotel, known as the "Art Hotel" in South Beach for its prized art collection, boutique size and more low key orientation than its grand neighbors such as the Delano and Shore Club, is unable to pay its mortgage. The recession has hit lux hotels around the US including in popular South Beach hard. Once rooms were easily fetching $400 or more a day. This past year many lux hotels in this market were lucky to get $200 and were losing lots of money.

It is reported that to "save" the Sagamore, a hotel I found very comfortable and highly enjoyable when I stayed there 7 years ago, the owners and loan holders are talking with Playboy about a brand merger. There would not be a casino, like Playboy would like to have and is associated with at the Palms in Vegas, but it would have all the rest of the Playboy trimmings, bunnies included.

Can the Playboy brand work in South Beach and at the Sagamore? I actually think yes. I think the retro nature of the Playboy brand albeit an updated one (culturally) which is more PC has a strong appeal and would attract audiences who come to South Beach to party hard and to see and be seen. The Sagamore was overshadowed by so many higher profile hotels in the area....new ones opening every year...(the W South Beach is the "it" hotel of the moment and booked) that it seemed lost among the frey. The Playboy association would give it new life.

Thus, I feel the Playboy brand is NOT dead just in need of a bit of retooling but its 60s/70s feel is consistent with other retro things happening in this country to a time of yore perceived to be more care-free and stable than today.

Watching out for you everyday.

Eli