The Ultimate Authentic Travel Experience? Historic Hotels Are a Candidate
Photo Credit: The Plaza Hotel in New York City, a Fairmont property. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts/ AccorHotels
Skift Take
Fairmont's new report confirms what we as travelers have always felt about staying in an iconic, historic hotel — that it's something you'll always remember. Smart travel brands and marketers would do well to leverage those emotional ties.
At a time when nearly every travel marketer expounds on the importance of "experience," Fairmont Hotels & Resorts recently took an interesting approach to understanding just what kinds of experiences can make a real impact on travelers.
The Toronto-based hotel company, which is in the process of being acquired by AccorHotels, conducted a series of interviews with 10 guests to get a better understanding of just what kind of emotional connection or experience they have when staying in some of Fairmont's most iconic and historic properties.
Fairmont published its findings in the first of a series of Luxury Insights Reports: "Stewardship of Iconic and Historic Buildings." To conduct this study, the hotel company hired Weinman Schnee Morais, Inc. (WSM), a New York-based market research firm made up mostly of social and behavioral scientists. Instead of interviewing people in focus groups, WSM researchers interviewed eight guests via phone during their actual stays at historic Fai
