The Importance of Creating Brand Recognition in Resort Industry

Resort Management

Written Report Assignment

2010

The Importance of Creating Brand Recognition in Resort

Industry

Ardy Tristianto

THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING BRAND RECOGNITION IN RESORT INDUSTRY

Diploma in International Hotel and Tourism Management

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Table of Contents...........................................................................................1

Introduction....................................................................................................2

Brand and Consumer’s Buying Decision.........................................................2

Brand as a Differentiation Tool and Value Escalation.....................................3

Minimizing Risk through Brand’s Reputation..................................................3

Concept of Brand Partnership.........................................................................4

Conclusion......................................................................................................5

References.....................................................................................................6

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Introduction

Branding is more than just putting a company’s logo on the building. In

hospitality industry, creating strong brand recognition is fundamental because

a brand portrays the image and the level of service being provided by the

company. A brand is also used as a measurement of the expectation built by

the consumer. Moreover, a strong brand acts as an identity to differentiate one

company to the other in the market (Murphy 2008). This paper analyses the

importance of establishing a powerful brand in hospitality industry, specifically

in resort businesses.

Brand and Consumer’s Buying Decision

“…brands are powerful assets that must be carefully developed and

managed.” (Kotler et al. 2010, p. 239). From that assertion, it can be defined

that a brand is indispensable for a product, acting as a trademark and

communication tool that will be used to affect the consumer’s preference and

decision when buying a product.

The Brand-Customer Relationship Diagram (George 2003).

From the diagram above, the first and the most important phase is creating

brand awareness. In resort industry, service quality is the key to differentiate

one brand to the other. In the second and third phase, consumer will assess

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Awareness

Consideration

TrialPreference

Recommendation

2


the value on which brand can fulfil their expectations. Subsequently, as they

feel comfortable with one particular brand, it will establish a preference and

loyalty towards that brand. Finally, the company can benefit further as the

loyal customer tends to promote the brand to the others, who eventually will

experience the cycle as well.

Brand as a Differentiation Tool and Value Escalation

“Relationship is personified either by the organization’s name, or by the brand

name on the product itself.” (de Chernatony and McDonald 2003, p. 12). This

statement suggests that there is a correlation between the service provider

and consumer that is built by generating the awareness towards the brand.

This results in either positive or negative assumption being visualized by the

consumer on a certain product. Brand functions to create a distinction among

several comparable resorts. Thus, innovations and comprehensive

understanding of the competitors and current market condition are crucially

required (George 2003). For example, the Marina Bay Sands Resort in

Singapore which is run by Las Vegas Sands Corp., the leading entertainment

and integrated resort company in the world (Las Vegas Sands Corp. 2010).

Marina Bay Sands position themselves as the most expensive integrated

resort, with one of the biggest casino and convention centre in the world. In

differentiating themselves with other integrated resorts, also with their own

franchisees, they promote the integration of premium luxurious service,

gaming and entertainment with first-class business facilities. This concept

makes Marina Bay Sands as the biggest breakthrough in Asian resorts industry

that upraises the consumer’s acknowledgment towards that particular brand

(Schneider 2010).

Moreover, creating strong brand recognition also adds non-functional benefits

towards the products (Elliot and Percy 2007). It can alter the consumer’s

perception regarding the market of a certain product. By adding extra value

through its uniqueness, level of quality, or simply by its prestige, consumer is

more likely to choose that particular brand. For instance, a family prefer to use

the service of a more expensive but well-known hotel brand for their holiday

than its competitors that offer cheaper rate. This may be due to their past

experience and the image of the hotel in the market, which focuses on the

functionality of the hotel itself in delivering their service to the customers.

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Minimizing Risk through Brand’s Reputation

The success of a brand is measured by its reputation in the market. In

hospitality industry, service is the main selling point. Thus, the reputation of a

brand is essential in reassuring consumer to purchase their service. Since the

visualization of the brand is only through experience, a loyalty or an aversion

towards that particular brand may develop based on the consumer’s past

experience. In addition, this is strongly related to the consumer’s attempt in

minimizing the risk of their purchase, ranging not only from the financial risk,

but also other risks in terms of psychological aspect, time and functional

purpose of that purchase (de Chernatony and McDonald 2003). Any consumer

will expect to gain a value equal to what they have invested. In this case, the

sense of security that consumer can feel in choosing a particular brand can be

evaluated by looking at the gap between the benefits that can be gained and

the loss they could possibly suffered.

From the service provider point of view, maintaining a positive image of the

brand and applying preventive measurement towards situation that could

harm their brand are obligatory. This required an effective risk management

throughout the brand developing process. One example is the J.W. Marriott

Hotel, Jakarta. J.W. Marriott had suffered a devastating damage on their brand,

not only once, but twice in 2003 and 2009 due to the terrorism acts. After the

2003 bombing, J.W. Marriott managed to re-establish their brand through

enhancement in security and known as the most secure hotel in Jakarta since

then (Wright 2009). However, in 2009, it happened again. This time the impact

was even worse as there were several Marriott-branded hotels in Asia that also

being attacked in a short period of time (Ibid). This seriously obliterates their

image as it was practically a repetition of what happened before. Various

procedures in improving the security have been taken since then. However

their reputation has recovered just yet. This example shows how important it is

to maintain positive brand recognition and to choose an extensive, yet efficient

approach in handling every situation that could harm it.

Concept of Brand Partnership

One profitable approach in developing a brand is through partnership or what-

so-called the co-branding. Jean-Noël Kapferer (2008) emphasises “Co-branding

is necessary to increase the chances of success for a brand’s extension

beyond its original market”. This statement explains that the integration

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between two brands or more is intentionally exalting the awareness toward the

brand and at the same time expanding their market using its appeal, which

creates a new criterion of those brands. For instance is the partnership

between Giorgio Armani S.p.A. and Emaar Properties PJSC. In June 2010, they

opened the first Armani Hotel and Resort in the tallest building in the world,

the Burj Khalifa, Dubai (Emaar Properties PJSC 2010). Using the popularity of

Burj Khalifa as the tallest building in the world and the growing tourism

development in Dubai, integrate with the legendary name of the Italian fashion

brand, Armani, this resort rapidly captivate the world’s attention and results in

a new perception towards those brands.

Conclusion

In conclusion, creating brand recognition is vital as it provides benefits in

increasing and expanding the business of a resort in terms of profitability and

market share. It can communicate the quality of service offered to the

consumer through their image and reputation, as well as differentiating

themselves from the other competitors. However, a thorough understanding of

the industry and its market condition, effective risk and marketing

management and consistency in delivering the best service to the consumer

are unquestionably required.

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References

de Chernatony, L. and McDonald, M. 2003. Creating Powerful Brands. 3rd ed.

Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Elliot, R. H. and Percy, L. 2007. Strategic Brand Management. [online book]

New York: Oxford University, Inc. Available from:

http://books.google.com/books?id=RikP8IqJlUUC [Accessed November 20

2010].

Emaar Properties PJSC. 2010. World’s First Armani Hotel Unveiled in Burj

Khalifa, Dubai. [online] Available from: http://www.emaar.com [Accessed

November 21 2010]

George, R. 2003. Understanding Your Brand – Aligning Brand Equity to Drive

Business Value. [online] Available from: http://www.prophet.com [Accessed

November 20 2010].

Kapferer, J.N. 2008. The New Strategic Brand Management: Creating and

Sustaining Brand Equity Long Term. 4th ed. [online book] London: Kogan Page

Limited. Available from: http://books.google.ch/books?id=8PoItiB7bicC

[Accessed November 22 2010].

Kotler, P., Bowen, J.T. and Makens, J.C. 2010. Marketing for Hospitality and

Tourism. 5th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. 2010. Las Vegas Sands: Corporate Overview. [online]

Available from: http://www.lasvegassands.com [Accessed November 20 2010].

Murphy, P. 2008. The Business of Resort Management. Oxford: Butterworth-

Heinemann.

Schneider, K. 2010. First Review of Mega-Hotel the Marina Bay Sands. [online]

Available from: http://www.news.com.au/travel [Accessed November 20 2010].

Wright, T. 2009. Deadly Blasts Rock Jakarta Hotels. [online] Available from:

http://online.wsj.com [Accessed November 21 2010].

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The Importance of Creating Brand Recognition in Resort Industry