The Challenge of Branding and Brand Management: Perspectives from the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

Branding is considered to be a key driver for success in the hospitality industry and consequently brand expansion has become a major trend in many hospitality markets worldwide. However, many hospitality firms and executives still focus on product development rather than brand development. This is often due to a lack of a consistent understanding of the essence of branding, reducing the power of a hotel or restaurant brand to a name, a logo, a specific design or to corporate communication, presenting the hospitality brand merely as a set of product and service features offering certain functional advantages. An appropriate brand strategy in the hospitality industry however necessitates a different and consistent management approach. The purpose of this article is to address what is being perceived to be a misunderstanding of the concept of the brand and discussing the essential components of branding and brand management in the hospitality industry. Furthermore, the paper examines selected brand practices of individual hotel properties and global hotel chains and gives an outlook on the major challenges the hospitality industry has to face in the near future.