Hospitality businesses are, by their very nature, shaped by the guests they have to accommodate. For example, hotels that serve tourist hotspots tend to lean into their local community presence, because being an advocate for your most intensive selling point is just good business. This can even reflect in the trimmings of how you present your brand – from your kitchen creating “Eiffel Tower” desserts, or referring to other, notable names people will recognize.
However, all the branding in the world cannot help rectify a hospitality business that has become stale. It’s easy to see how certain brands can fall into this, especially if the clientele has come to expect things a certain way. Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares UK is a good example of this, showcasing how a tiresome unwillingness to let a certain branding effort go can lead to lethargic business planning from there on out.
If you feel yourself falling into this difficulty, then what next? Well, adding life and presence to your hospitality business can be a good means of injecting some dynamism, and seeking relevance in the now.
Entertainment & Events
A regularly rotating schedule of acts and events you can host in your public areas can be a wonderful boon to business. Celebrating your local music scene, for instance, could help up-and-coming artists grow and develop, while working with a music booking agent to secure the best acts can be helpful. You might also run an open-mic night, or perhaps run events of your own, such as local food fairs in your outside areas. Bringing people together, investing in community, and ensuring entertainment will always define you as a place-to-be, no matter how humble that is.
Gentle Ambience
The ambiance of hospitality, be that through its textured lighting, the kind of ambient music you have playing through your purposefully-located speakers, and the tones and colors you use to decorate with, especially seasonally, can add a real sense of place and character. Generally, opting for a relaxing, calming, but not too tired “vibe” can enable people to come and hangout, out and behave as you hope them to. Of course, sometimes you wish to add spice, such as when serving hot food, or playing culturally authentic music alongside bands that add a little fun and inspire guests to dance, while air filters and good ventilation will add a light, pleasing, airy presence to the place. With this combined, your hospitable space will feel more than pleasant to occupy, inviting people for all reasons.
Well-Trained, Vibrant Staff
Those who serve as ambassadors of your brand and caretakers of your service will often define your hospitable approach more than anything else, be that the warm smile given by a waitress, to the confident reception offered by a concierge. With well-trained, well-paid staff who all get a share of the tips, and good personal grooming standards and the freedom to express their personalities, your employees will always present the best of themselves. Encouraging that often means providing pathways to promotions within your brand, and ensuring regular training efforts are invested in.
With this advice, you’re sure to revivify your hospitable brand with life and presence, in the best possible way.
Leave a Reply