Skift Take
Read on for our takes on all 13 of Hilton's brands.
When Hilton Worldwide CEO Christopher Nassetta recently threw some subtle shade at Marriott International, we couldn't help but wonder: Are each of Hilton's brands really so different from one another? Should some brands stay or go?
Here's what Nassetta said, regarding Hilton's brands:
"We are very focused on having pure-bred brands that are leaders in their individual segments, that have clearly defined swim lanes, that have premium market share and, as a consequence, help us drive industry leading organic net unit growth. That's our strategy. Others have taken different paths … "
And here's what Marriott's Global Brand Officer, Tina Edmundson, told us last month, a little over two weeks after Marriott inherited 11 of Starwood's brands: "… In any industry, when you have 30 brands, you're bound to have brands that occupy the same swim lane, if you will. We are doing work as we speak to solve some of those riddles."
See what Nassetta did there? We certainly did.
Does Nassetta have a point? Is it better to have pure-bred brands that don't swim in the same lanes? Most hospitality branding experts seem to agree with him. And arguably, so does Marriott, since Edmundson and her team are currently figuring out just how they want to position all those brands.
"I think, obviously, the main purpose of a brand is that it's all about differentiation," Gray Shealy, executive director of the Master's of Hospitality Management Program at Georgetown University, told Skift about the power of branding in hospitality. "How would I as a customer know whom to trust and which brand — and this is new to brand psychology — which brand to relate to? Which brand represents me as a customer in the best possible way? When I announce on social media I'm checking into X brand, it says a lot about me. The psychology behind this is quite deep these days."
Bjorn Hanson, clinical professor at the NYU Tisch Center for Hospitality and Tourism, said that for any hotel company with multiple brands, the key to successful branding is knowing what's in demand — and not so much about the brands themselves or their provenance.
"What every hotel organization that is already multi-brand is doing is to try to find white space — service levels or price points that are not being served," Hanson explained. "There are
