rosewood hotels and resorts case study

Some Of Rosewood Properties Around The World

Introduction  A private 5 star hotel management company with

luxury iconic hotel headquartered in Dallas, Texas .

12 hotels world wide with a capacity of 153 rooms.

 John Scott is a new President & CEO.

Robert Boulogne, vice president of sales and marketing.

The first hotel Rosewood managed was The Mansion on Turtle Creek, opened in 1980.

115,000 unique guests had stayed at Rosewood hotels.

Rosewood competed with two groups of luxury hotels: the corporate branded . “collections” of individually branded unique hotels.

Rosewood’s “Sense of Place” Philosophy – Architectural details, interiors reflected the local character and culture.

Introduction continued:

The Individual Brand/Collection Strategy

Unique, one-of-a-kind, luxury properties.

Brand compass has always been built on concept of “A Sense of Place” which means that each of the properties seeks to capture what is unique about the given location.

Growth strategy-two-fold:

Convert existing iconic, luxury hotels with strong brand equity which needed to be re-positioned and re-launched with professional management.

Help developers conceive and create the next generation of luxury hotels and resorts around the world, and in doing so create brand equity in the property itself

The Limitations of Individual Branding

Individual property brands was not working from a number of fronts.

Guests seeking a unique Rosewood property experience and product, were not making the connection between Rosewood properties and were increasingly identifying with other strong hotel brands.

Competition in the luxury hotel segment is intense and it was becoming difficult to position Rosewood’s collection of properties in an increasingly crowded field of luxury operators.

Their current brand positioning substantially limits their market.

CORPORATE BRANDING

EXTERNAL COMPETITIONCompeting with known chains and

individually branded properties, to name few:

Four Seasons with 58 properties Ritz- Carlton – 52 properties ‐  Fairmont – 46 properties Orient express Rocco Forte etc.

AGENTS PERCEPTION

I book the hotel and not the Rosewood Brand is not as important as the hotels & resorts The brand is not as strong as it was in its past   Known only by individual hotels & resorts Clients don’t come asking for Rosewood as a Brand

clients know Rosewood only because I educate them on it  

We have to drive understanding of Rosewood. Once they understand what Rosewood is, it does mean something

EMPLOYEES PERCEPTION

  It’s a brand of dilemma – don’t see great opportunity, few business opportunity.

 Secret club known by some guests who go and the industry .

Very low awareness. Those who know are past guests.

GUESTS PERCEPTION

 Brand Rosewood means nothing. Guests have used various properties but

couldn’t realize that all were a part of same group .

Even after staying at the property, guests don’t tend to know the name Rosewood.Rosewood as a brand doesn’t encourages

me to try different properties.I didn't know until my travel agent mentioned it.

Global positioning with one-of-a-kind properties.Strong emotional bonds through current

successful hotels.Unique competitive advantage and

differentiation versus competitors - "Sense of Place".

Global flexible data warehousing system.RevPAR is 17.62% higher than the luxury hotel

market average.

Internal resistance in changing corporate branding strategy.

Mixed branding signals - inconsistent use of Rosewood Logo.

Inconsistent view of corporate culture across company.

Low brand recognition and low recall ability of guests.

83.97% fewer rooms than market average in luxury hotel industry.

Implementing a corporate branding strategy.Cross-property usage.Implementing a reward program for loyal

customers.Brand-wide performance development.Increasing philanthropic activity to promote

brand image and enhance brand awareness.

Luxury hotel industry highly competitive.Very high property growth of competition.Consumers have narrow perceptions to luxury

hotel brands.Customers are increasingly connecting with

corporate branded hotels.Repeat customers are property loyal.Competitors in LH industry are cut throat for

brand image.

CURRENT ISSUES

 After switching to automated data gathering through CRS, consolidated guest data revealed that- 5%  multi  property  return  visit  while  corporate      branded  hotels   enjoyed  10% 15%    cross poverty‐    usage  rate.    Rosewood  was  at  the  low  end  of  the  scale  and 

 there  were  an   opportunity  for  increasing  cross    ‐property  usage.  

PROBABLE SOLUTIONS

Through frequent- stay program.

Corporate branding approach .

Issues observed with Frequent Stay Programme

 This type of program had been successful only for large multi segment operators with broad

geographic distribution.   Loyalty through these type of program was fostered by offerings such as — flexiblecheck in, check out time, personalized services, freedom to request a specific room, capacity of employees to solve most unusual problem etc…

Advantages of Corporate Branding

Collective experience . Consistent service – in all aspects .   Encourage guests to use more than one property. Better brand recognition.   High customer loyalty. As per the survey, Individual brand or collection

hotels had 5% to 10% cross selling rates while corporate branded hotels enjoyed 10% to 15% cross property usage rates.  

SUGGESTIONS   Don’t dilute individual brand persona . Subtly add Rosewood to it. Get internal teams confidence.   Show them a bigger picture. Incentivize trade and ask them to push a brand. PR can do wonders. Build a Rosewood membership plan . Tie up with travel agencies/tour operators.