Have a lifestyle brand

Now my question is, if hotel groups keep on reinventing, shouldn’t travel agencies be doing the same?

We’ve seen how the hotel industry reinvented the economy segment such that it does not look like a dump anymore. The next hottest area of work appears to be in what the industry parlance now terms as the ‘lifestyle’ brand.

This brand is being crafted with the Millennial generation in mind. Designers are furiously sketching what hotel groups imagine is the product that would earn them the loyalty of new customers. Latest contenders include Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group with its Radisson Red, Langham Hospitality Group with its new Eaton (see View from the Top, page 12), or individual properties such as Kwek Leng Beng’s South Beach Hotel opening in Singapore in the first quarter of next year.

The lifestyle brand defies a star-rating system and though it has Millennials at heart, it is meant to respond to any generation so long as it embraces today’s way of living that has been immensely transformed by technology. It’s an attitude, not age. If your client is someone who expects a bottle of champagne and a plate of powdered sugar strawberries upon arrival, he will probably find the lifestyle brand a bit strange – a lobby that’s most likely a cross between an art gallery, cafe and workstation, or a guestroom that is small but looks spacious because there isn’t a working table or a swivel chair but, oh my, the wall is a canvass for Apple TV, where work and entertainment can be done to the heart’s content.

But if that means that hotels can dispense with the niceties such as a personalised welcome greeting, they could not be more mistaken. Self-service, which Millennials are comfortable with, does not mean that no service is required. The lifestyle brands that are coming up are all pitched to the upscale segment; by no means are they a limited-service economy product. But what is upscale or luxurious today is indeed quite different from the champagne/strawberry expectations of yesterday and hotel chains are quite right in trying to reintepret the product so that they remain relevant with the times. Today, as Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group’s  Asia-Pacific president, Thorsten Kirschke, told me, it’s not about work-life balance anymore; it is about integrating work and life”, which Radisson Red is trying to achieve (read more about Red in our October 10 issue).

Now my question is, if hotel groups keep on reinventing, shouldn’t travel agencies be doing the same? Take the retail agency shopfront, for instance. Why can’t it also be a cross between an art gallery, cafe and workstation, if that is what appeals to the new generation? Are tours being redesigned such that they speak to a generation that is more well-educated, well-travelled, well-informed and well-connected, i.e. the We the Living Well crowd?

While aspects such as customer relationship management are important, I believe the priority should be on the product. I hope the travel trade will take time to reassess if they have the right product that meets the market’s needs at any given time.

Then, you’ll see me spending a lot more time in a travel retail agency shopfront.