That’s our question in this two-part series. We’ve looked at the argument for getting behind one of the bigger brands, now, turning to the independents, another question emerges: Differentiation, wherefore art thou?
“It’s hard to turn that big ship very quickly”
Mark Novota is managing partner at the Wequassett Resort & Golf Club in Harwich, Massachusetts. Five years ago, he realized that his property was on the verge of being a 5-star Forbes property, but lacked the stamp of approval.
By 2014, the resort had upped its training game and Novota had his 5-stars, something the property now pushes within its marketing.
It’s that ability to change and push forward new, bolder ideas that sets independents apart, Novota says.
“An independent property isn’t tied down to some of the processes or requirements often typical with large brands,” Novota says. “So, we have this wonderful opportunity to offer flexibility, innovation.”
Take the minibar. Novota had been receiving feedback from guests that the offering was unfairly priced, with some going as far to call it a gouge. The solution? Wequassett was able to make the minibar an at-cost product.
“Our guests loved it,” Novota says. And this is just something we could do because of our independence and the flexibility that we have. So, you can really take advantage of that kind of scale.”
And it isn’t just flexibility, but also authenticity that keeps guests hungry for independent properties, according to Mark Grenoble, president of Enchantment Group, a collection of independents which includes Wequassett.
True authentic experiences – the kind that the larger brands are moving in on and would kill to do with perfection – really belong to the independents, says Grenoble.
“Everybody’s talking about experiential travel, but very few people are doing it well,” he says. “The bigger brands are talking about it, but it’s hard to turn that big ship very quickly.”
“The challenge for us is you have less money to spend, so you have to spend it a lot more wisely”
“It’s about targeting really well,” says Pablo Carrington of Marugal Management, a Spanish-based collection of luxury boutique properties that’s existed since 2003.
“Hotel standards say you should be spending 4% of income on marketing, but we don’t do it that way,” says Carrington who says working with the press and travel agencies have both been effective in getting the word out about Marugal properties.
“Our strategy is much more: okay, what market do we want to open? Okay, let’s go into the Russian market, the Brazilian market,” he continues. “We work a lot with the press, we don’t have huge marketing campaigns, we spend no money on ads.”
The biggest issue currently facing independents?
“The challenge for us is you have less money to spend, so you have to spend it a lot more wisely,” he says. “It’s really about keeping pace with the global brands with a tenth or a millionth of the resources. Really squeezing as much out of every dollar in your sales trips and in your marketing is the only way we have to counter that potential challenge.”