I am not sure whether I’m in Paris or Berlin, but I am staying in a Holiday Inn!

I have recently started thinking that because of the development of hotel video guides and user generated reviews, “hotel brands” are bound to loose their reason d’être in the low and middle scale market for the new generation of leisure travellers and unmanaged business travellers. I have taken a look at the reason travellers would choose a branded hotel against an independent property and have realized that this reason has disappeared. I know..some of you will think that I have written this post from the cosy bed room of a mad house, but I will explain to you my line of reasoning.

Let’s take a look at WHY a traveller would go to a Courtyard By Marriott or to an Express By Holiday Inn rather than going to an anonymous middle scale hotel. The reason is simple and straightforward: Standardization.

By the 1950s Holiday Inn not only opened their first motel, but also opened the door to consistency and uniformity. Although the format of standardization was primarily a management tool to control and ease the process of development, it met the need of travellers for reassurance as it ensured recognized and consistent standards of facilities. These standards are one of the basic benefits of brand value and the reason behind guest patronage. The hotel brand reduces the uncertainty associated with the booking process. If you are going to sleep in any Holiday Inn of the world you can confidently expect a room that is not less than 25 m2 with a King size bed, a large desks with ergonomic chairs, task lighting and a powerful shower in the bathroom.

Leisure travellers and unmanaged business travellers will be able in the near future to make the best informed decision in the travel planning process than ever. Travellers can read peers’ reviews (tripadvisor) enjoy the contextual appeal of visiting the hotel (trivop.com) and directly experience the human reassurance provided by a salesperson (estara.com). The sum of the values that these companies deliver eliminate the information asymmetry in the booking process, in other words the promise once fulfilled by the brand is not necessary anymore.

Leonardo Stassi (Guest blogger)

Comments

[Michael]

While I would agree that many will increasingly choose the avenues listed above for a once off, high value or highly symbolic booking (holiday, wedding, family reunion) or if they require certain attributes in a hotel (family atmosphere, hedonism).. many will not want to invest the time and effort surfing the net for user reviews and simply rely on the brand itself. I would think this is especially true for those who see hotels as transient space passing through to someplace else rather than those who see hotels as a place of dwelling and as a integral part of their travel experience.

[Jimmy]

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