Rosewood Harvard Business School

*Branding Strategy: Establish Rosewood as a true brand incorporated into the name of each hotel.

*Problems: How far can management push this branding strategy without undercutting the distinctiveness of each individually branded hotel?

Traditional Emphasis on Individual property brands:

Pros:

-the company became known for its ability to enhance a property’s value by creating unique, one of a kind properties with a small ultra-luxury residential style that differentiated it from other chain-like luxury competitors. Competitors include 2 groups of luxury hotels: corporate branded (Ritz-Carlton and Four Season) and “collections” of individually branded unique hotels (Orient-Express).

-“Sense of Place” philosophy- each hotel has a local character and culture of the given location. Architecture and history in implemented in each individual hotel which is very different approach than chain-like competitors. This was a power tool that Rosewood had!

Cons- Rosewood is considering a new brand strategy because:

-“Emphasis on individual property brands was not working from a number of fronts. Guests are seeking a unique Rosewood property experience and are not making the connection between Rosewood properties and are increasingly indentifying with other strong hotel brands.” –Scott and Boulogne

-Competition in the luxury hotel segment is intense and it was becoming difficult to position Rosewood’s collections of properties in an increasing crowded field of luxury operations.

-Current brand positioning substantially limits our market.

-Guests had a very low brand awareness of Rosewoods Hotels and Resorts.

**2 possible approaches: Frequent stay program or adopt a corporate branding approach.

Corporate branding approach:

Pros

-Status symbols: Sophisticated customers who value the distinctive, exclusive collection seem to value the corporate-branded version of luxury. –Philip Martiz, chairman of the board

-Frequent stay program: According to Market Metrix, a provider of market research services for the hospitality industry, the number of guests enrolled in frequent-stay programs grew by nearly 12% and were believed to double repeat business. Few Luxury hotels had adopted them.

**Some options of gaining awareness and building growth within the Hotels and Resorts:

-Learn more about guest’s habits and profiles in order to improve guest recognition and promote cross properties cross property usage. (How much customers spent on the room, food, beverages, activities, etc)

Cons- Outright full branding carried some risks.

-High marketing and operating expense. Would this new approach justify how much money Rosewood would be putting forth?

- It might alienate some