Hotel Lifestyle Branding means more Product Partnerships
Chris · March 13, 2007
With an increased focus on lifestyle branding, hoteliers are developing partnerships with some interesting (and powerful) retailers. Hotel brands are seeking new ways to strengthen their brand identity by aligning with non-lodging lifestyle products that their guests already use. The intent is to integrate the guest’s daily-life experiences into the hotel experience to provide seamless interaction between the two.
Recent partnerships between brands such as Westin Hotels and Starbucks, and Sheraton and Yahoo! are helping blur the lines between the lodging experience and guest’s daily lives.
Almost everywhere a guest stays they are able to use the products they are familiar with in their guestrooms and conversely, guests are able to use hotel product in their daily lives. This is the essence of lifestyle branding. Were the bathroom amenities exquisite in your Marriott hotel bathroom? You can buy them at the Shop Marriott website. If you enjoyed your sleep on your Hyatt Hotel bed, you can buy that too at Hyatt’s At Home Collection site.
The Westin brand has long been partnered with Reebok in all Westin hotel health clubs. Reebok ‘powers’ their hotel gym facilities, which is to say that Westin is using Reebok equipment and work-out gear. Westin has also developed the WestinWORKOUT room which features Reebok Pilates and cycle DVDs.
Not to be outdone by Starwood’s lifestyle branding initiatives, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts recently partnered with Adidas to supply training gear through ”Fairmont Fit” available to Fairmont President’s Club loyalty members.
I love the Fairmont-Adidas partnership. When I read about it on Fairmont’s website I was immediately struck by the memory of Run-D.M.C. - the pioneering hip hop group back in the 1980’s. Run-D.M.C. only wore Adidas - minus the shoelaces, and I will always associate the Adidas brand with that image. That’s probably not the brand identity that Fairmont had in mind when entering in to this partnership with Adidas but it works for my demographic.
As more partnerships are developed between hotel brands and retailers, more than ever before guests will be able to choose a hotel lodging experience that truly reflects their lifestyle - or at very least the lifestyle that they wish they had. The key factor for successful lifestyle positioning for hoteliers moving forward will be their ability to truly understand and know their guests and patrons so that the right partnerships can be initiated in the first place.
