The Guest Company We Keep
A woman walks into the cocktail bar of a luxury hotel and surveys the atmosphere. Instead of staying for a drink, she decides to visit a neighbouring hotel. What could have possibly gone wrong??
One of the most overlooked touchpoints in luxury hotels are perhaps the other guests. A hotel can hardly control who walks through their doors, but they do (or should) strive to influence the type of guest that visits or stays with them. Over the past few weeks, I have visited some of the most luxurious hotels in London. Before I step foot inside a hotel, I don the independent luxury business traveller hat; once inside, I scan the crowd.?
Oftentimes, the guests will serve as a reflection of the hotel - there is a degree of harmony. As an independent hotelier once put it to me, “each hotel has its tribe”. But, there are times when there is a disconnection between the image the hotel is trying to portray and the image of guests who openly rebel against that directive. Just this week I happened to be in a hotel that was serving Afternoon Tea. Aside from the business types, there were two other younger guests with their respective dates. I figured this was a good crowd for the event - it jived. The live music (as a centrepiece) echoed tradition and sophistication. I did observe one issue, however, that affected how I was experiencing the hotel’s brand narrative. In front of the live entertainment was a gentleman working on his laptop and sporting a white t-shirt. Just like that, the space I was so happily experiencing was jolted by just one guest. He changed my perception of what it would feel like to experience Afternoon Tea, and surely it wasn’t just me. Others who recognised the discord would have at the very least, subconsciously, had their perception of the hotel altered.
As I was leaving the hotel, there was another woman who entered to do some filming, walking hastily towards the space where Afternoon Tea was being enjoyed. Staff promptly stopped her and asked her not to record, presumably out of respect for the other guests and the brand narrative. This was a good example of what can actually be controlled in order to maintain the intended atmosphere.
On another occasion, I was in a posh bar and found the gentleman beside me sporting a baseball cap. To each his or her own?
As a hotelier or guest, have you come into contact with similar scenarios where a guest(s) disrupts the brand narrative? I’d love to hear your stories and how you either dealt with the situation or worked to prevent brand discord.
领英推荐
Sincerely,
Damon
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