Create an Immersive Boutique Hospitality Brand Guests Remember

Here’s how to weave your Red Thread.

Know Your Guest

Your Red Thread should resonate with your guests’ values and aspirations. We recently created a brand for a luxury hotel with a fantastical history. Its design and feel was modeled after iconic European hotels of the jetset era, which hosted socialites and tastemakers alike.

What values can we extract from this concept?

— Social Connection: EchoHouse values exploring, time spent with friends, creating new connections and inspiring a sense of wonder.

— Understated Luxury: Offering guests thoughtful touches throughout that speak to an appreciation of fine art, global cuisines, and materiality.

— Discretion In Choice: This destination offers guests opportunities to luxuriate at their discretion whether to relax, celebrate, indulge, or recharge.

— Pleasure: EchoHouse is designed to be enjoyed, with villas, palm trees, chaises, and pools within a few steps throughout the property.

Show Your Brand, Don’t Tell

The mark of great branding is showing your audience without needing to tell them. Express your hotel brand’s essence through your design, your programming, and your service culture. Walk the walk to genuinely demonstrate the brand.

For EchoHouse, to visually express the brand’s European jetset influences, we drew inspiration from iconic images of high society living in the 50s, 60s, and 70s to infuse throughout the property. Such curated photography invoked a nostalgic feeling of glamor and an enduring vision of leisure, transporting guests into that refined world.

Newsprint, imagery, the story of the property,  the menu, the limited information (restrained / minimal information to imbue a sense of discovery and wonder)

Be Detail-Oriented When Building Your World

The richer the story of your hotel, the richer your guests’ experience. Every hotel and digital touchpoint should reinforce the soul of your brand. Here are a few areas where you can begin to refine your story.

Foster unique customs, traditions, etiquette

A room where photos are not allowed. A signature cocktail before dinner. These small details do much to create a signature atmosphere at your property.

Develop a history

Backstory, myths, and legends lend an air of fantasy and intrigue to your brand. And you don’t necessarily need to stick to the facts of a story. Guests are happy to escape into your world, so long as the experience feels authentic.

Allow room for discovery

Everyone loves an Easter egg. Your property may offer an unlisted, invite-only bar, or a room with a particular myth associated with it to make guests feel a part of your world.

Circulate special currency

You can dole out tokens, passes, or keys to unlock special privileges at your property.

Design bespoke merch

Hotel merch makes your guests feel like they’re “part of the club.” Same with the dress code, if you have one. Branding should create a sense of belonging among guests.

Offer services that align with your overarching concept

Your perks and services should fit into the world you’re trying to create. For example, a luxury boutique hotel could offer a turn-down service as a nod to an old-world hotel luxury.

Cultivate your environment

This includes everything from your interior design to your furnishings, to your service items. If your concept is inspired by nostalgia, for instance, you may opt for literal room keys with traditional hotel tassels attached to them.

Align your programming & offerings

Food and beverage offerings can majorly impact your guests’ overall experience — and immersion in the world. It’s the same with any programming or entertainment you offer. Those touchpoints continue the story of your brand.

Create characters — both real and legendary

All hotel employees have a role to play in building your world — and so do fictional characters. Successful hotel brands often draw inspiration from myths and legends, incorporating these unseen characters into their own storytelling.

Not Your Average Motorcycle Gang

When we created merch for Moxy Hotel in NYC, we knew we needed to stretch beyond the logo to create a sense of community among guests.

 

We created a motorcycle brand that spoke to Moxy’s irreverent, provocative branding concept that referenced motorcycle gang camaraderie and belonging. Was it a legitimate motorcycle gang? Only in our hearts. But Moxy’s guests weren’t looking for membership to a motorcycle club per se. They were looking to complete the narrative of an edgy, desert-living nomad in Moxy’s brand story.

Live Out Your Brand's Values

When you position your brand in a cultural space where you authentically belong, your principles speak for themselves.

A good example is Nike’s “Believe in Something” campaign with Colin Kaepernick. The brand presents as an authentic voice in the space because of their long, storied relationship with various athletes and athletic organizations. By staying true to their history, their brand story can seamlessly align with their offering.

Similarly, if your offering feels like an authentic expression of your brand’s values, guests will eagerly escape into the world you create for them.

Thoughtful, cohesive storytelling transforms a hotel stay into a memorable, enriching experience that reflects your guests’ desires and brings them back time and again. Want to create a brand story so good it writes itself? We Should Get Started.