Branding is an essential part of a hotel’s success, it’s so much more than a name, a logo, and a font, every touchpoint is an opportunity to curate a 'brand experience'.

Most owners and management companies don’t specialize in brand development. So naturally, they hire the job out to external agencies to create their brand for them. But in order to create an effective hotel or F&B brand, you must understand hotel operations - and that’s one of the major benefits an in-house marketing team can provide.

At Charlestowne Hotels, we are in the unique, and I would say enviable, position of managing over 40 independent and soft-branded hotels and 30 F&B outlets, each one requiring its own identity.

We understand the nuances of impactful and memorable branding, and we decided early on to launch our very own internal creative marketing agency, which works alongside our operations team. With this approach, we’re able to provide a full suite of integrated services and develop a 360-degree guest journey with the operational teams who oversee guests day in and day out.

More than often, we see third-party firms develop a hotel’s branding and the on-property team doesn’t fully understand the dynamics and guest implementation once the “brand book” is handed off due to the lack of involvement the property has along the way.

This is the worst thing that can happen to a hotel and its owner. They invest hours of time and money in the conceptualization of a brand, then that brand loses its luster or ability to be implemented for the guest once they’re on-site.

How can you avoid this from happening? We believe collaborating with operators from the inception of the brand all the way to executing programming and on-site guest experiences is where branding truly comes to life.

That’s why our creative team works closely with our properties to guide them through the process and help them understand how to implement their brand.

We place a big emphasis on brand development and execution. So, when I see a brand come to life and see it be embraced by the staff and enjoyed by the guests, it is truly a gratifying experience.

Michael Cady
CMO, Charlestowne Hotels

This article first appeared at www.tambourine.com