Luxury Collection Ad
The rich may not have as deep of pockets as they did last year, but Starwood is still launching its first branding campaign for its Luxury Collection brand. This extravagant portfolio boasts over 60 of the world’s most prestigious properties in over 25 nations. Print ads, breaking in August magazines, tell affluent consumers “Life is a collection of experiences. Let us be your guide.” Bora Bora, Italy and popular North American scenery are shown in three separate ads. The move comes at a time when the luxury hotel segment is experiencing some unforeseen softness.
At this point, no one will know if this move is necessarily a well played or poor business decision. In my opinion and if done well, building brand equity and awareness in a period of downturn could ultimately enable a brand to come out above the pack once our nation emerges out of this slump.
Smith Travel Research, Hendersonville, Tenn., which tracks hotel performance, earlier this year forecasted “that luxury hotels would be able to maintain pricing power well above the level of inflation,” said vp Jan Freitag. However this prediction hasn’t held true. Through May, the average daily rate at U.S. luxury hotels increased 3.2% (or roughly at the same rate as inflation). This is a steep drop from December’s 6.9% rate. “Luxury hotels had a very good couple of years. We were suggesting that would continue,” Freitag said. “The pricing power we had suggested is not as strong year-to-date.” Occupancy is down 1.6%, but that is more of a function of increased inventory, he said.
Still, Phil McAverty, Chief Brand Officer at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, New York, said in a statement, “For today’s affluent global explorer, the Luxury Collection is the curator of extraordinary destination experiences where nothing less than an exceptional level of service, perfect location and indigenous personal offerings will do.”
Has anyone seen the new luxurycollection.com site launched on July 8? In my opinion, this is the most aesthetically pleasing landing page of all the Starwood sites. It offers expert travel advice, photography from the National Geographic Image Collection and global cultural calendar so travelers know what events are happening where.
Source: Brandweek
[...] no secret that Starwood is focusing on the upper-end markets. We saw in yesterday’s post the new branding campaign for the Luxury Collection properties (and most of which are overseas). [...]
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