‘Experience’ .. The next luxury cliché?

Champagne with crystal glassware, The doorman with a top hat, rose petals scatteredOn a soft, sumptuous bed…All too familiar visual clichés associated with luxury travel.

From the first week’s reading, we know that luxury consumersconsider « rare and authentic experiences » as key to luxury positioning.

But if all luxury brands embrace ‘experience’ as theCritical point of differentiation… can there be a risk of degrading a core customer value into a marketing cliché?

Let’s take a look at the online marketplace …starting withWestin Hotels

A recent online advertisingcampaign uses unexpected

images and personal appeal in the text

The second page of the same campaign’s‘call to action’ is based upon ‘experience’

Preferences…create, etc.

« Book Now » replaced with an ‘invitation’

Experience Westin Packages as theProduct line…the ‘call to action’

« Choose your Experience »

WHotels from Starwood is a leader in using expressive images and conversationalText to engage site visitors experientially.

Whotels changes its main site pages often… always conveying personal experience preferences.

The following pages are from October 2006.

WHotels – people, not products, populate their site pages.

WHotels – each choice of experience – rest-revive-play – takes the visitor To a specific package offering.

Intercontinental Hotels equates their brand with a traveler’sLifestyle.

Intercontinental Hotels Corporate Website July 2007

Intercontinental’s downloadableBrochures – linked from

‘experience’ page

Conrad Hotels’ current campaign presents luxury as theexperience of just being yourself.

The advert clicks throughTo a product page.

The question…

The question… how do you think hotels, and hotel groups, can can continue to differentiate by ‘experience’…

without creating clichés?

You may wish to see Hospes Hotels approach…

E. Craig – July 2007

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