A hotel is not just accommodation, it's the ability to tell a story

Looking back to my ten years as part of my company, I could notice a key ingredient to every failure or success — the importance of keeping true to your brand and what you believe in. Of course in the name of revenue and profit, you often chose to forget the romantic side of hospitality but it's sometimes a solution to make things happen fast. Branding is the ultimate guide to eternity and the best way to create a strong brand is by telling a story. It's no secret that the biggest branded industry of all time has the most remarkable stories, and that's religion.

So let's be practical here and see how can a story run your business and beat profit expectations. First of all, the real question is how long do you want to be around hospitality? Are you looking into making money fast and leave? Then no, storytelling takes time and passion and its not for you. However, if you want to be around the next 20 years like I do, I would focus on telling my story to the world. It takes to know yourself and then find the why? in your product.

Like every good story, your hotel brand must have a memorable main character, a good entourage, a great setting & a resolution. If you put every aspect of the story focusing on a goal then you have consistency. Before all that though, you have to answer the question of why are you doing this. What part of your personality do you want to share through your hotel brand? Since, I am a second generation hotelier, my first answer to why, when I first started, was “because it's my family business” and no part of my personality would ever go into the business if I kept that mentality for long. I actually understood that when I was part of 2 new projects of the past 3 years.

By applying part of your personality into the brand it's easier to pass into the business and create the narrative. It will all come naturally to you and your staff would absorb it faster. So by being true to yourself, you make your story solid. For example, if you want to create a luxury brand, you have to love luxury and most importantly, to enjoy it in your daily life. You can understand your guest needs because they are your own needs. Of course, keep in mind that the number of rooms is a significant role since the more niche the personality treats are, the narrower the target is.

This brings us to practicality, as its the way to separate stories from fairytales. Start small and dream big for a start, as you have to apply your story gradually to your hotel, It would help both testing it against operations and allowing your staff to consume it & reproduce it. While it's important to keep it small and apply it gradually, it is important to be consistent to the story, and this would come naturally if its part of your personality and not a copy of a successful idea.

Finally, pick your four story attributes.

• The main character is the face of the brand; it could be the hotel itself, your self or your General Manager. The faster your decide it, the easier you can promote it.
• The entourage is your staff; they will help the main character go through the story and its impossible without them. That is why they have to be relevant and focused but also consistent. This is why you should focus on ongoing training to your staff as things evolve fast.
• The setting has to be consistent with your brand. Location, facilities & amenities have to be telling the story themselves or at least giving a hint.
• Last but not least the resolution. The service to your staff will lead the story to a successful end and make them feel they want to hear it all over again.

Being part of a successful hospitality story is my goal as a hotelier and I hope I can inspire you to tell your story through your hotel or any other business.

Be patient & think long run.