THIS TIME ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CHANNEL. ACCOR TO CLEAR UP THE CONFUSION ON A NAME LIKE SOFITEL. APPARENTLY SOME ARE "LESS INSPIRING".
I really can not comprehend how one of the largest hotel groups in the world can think that it can get away with splitting up a questionable 'up-market' product into undefined sub-brands...... and, horror of horrors..... the less-inspiring hotels to be "hived off" under a new Pullman brand....for business travellers.
If they were not ready for the public, how can they come out with a loose announcement like this.
The article is below.
Accor plans luxury refit for Sofitel |
Accor plans to reposition its 182-hotel Sofitel chain closer to the luxury end of the market, the Financial Times reported, quoting CEO Gilles Pelisson. Atmospheric properties will be dubbed Sofitel Legends, while boutique-style venues will bear the name So by Sofitel. There will also be renovations and new openings. The hope is that a more consistently upmarket positioning will justify a major price hike, the newspaper added. Accor also plans to hive off 35 of the brand's less inspiring hotels into a new chain aimed mainly at business travellers, where they will trade under the Pullman name. |
I always felt that Sofitel was a perfect name for a telephone company, not the upscale version of Novotel, another ideal telephone company name. It therefore does not surprise me that Accor have decided to change it. It comes on the tail of the announcement that Holiday Inn is going to do another shuffle.......and there are some similarities.
Branding is such a science today so it pains me that such an enormous, successful company can talk about "dubbing" its atmospheric properties as Legends and then......"there will also be renovations and new openings" without talking about the features of the hotels that will be known as Legends and the scope of the investment to achieve this rate increase.
Now the language is kind of 'iffy'. They state, " The hope is that a more consistently upmarket positioning will justify a major price hike." That does not sound very convincing to me!
Now we could all have some fun with "So". I don't however think that they are thinking along the same lines as me, but I could be wrong. They might indeed be .....
............So French, So Charming, So Small, So Comfy and if anyone complains, So What!
.............So Tasty and So Delicious but So Expensive but if anyone minds, So What!
Certainly beats the Carlson Slogan of "Yes, I can!"
............So Expensive, So Chique. So Smart and So Sleek...So you don't like it, So What!
At least Holiday Inn will probably not choose the boutique moniker of "Ho"...as Sofitel chose "So". "Ho" has a totally different ring to it, at least in the USA... where Jerry Springer reigned supreme on the airwaves for far too long....but that's another story!
Well I guess that if any nationality can pull "So" off, it's the French. They have such a 'je ne sais quoi' approach to life that does not come off through their fine wines or luxury luggage.
The world is definitely ready for a tongue in cheek French brand, by the French, from the French and about the French.
Now while everyone else is courting the Business Traveller, Accor has a different plan. They will focus on hiving off their business travellers into less-inspiring properties. That sounds like a really unusual strategy! It sure could grab the attention of the corporate travel planners because the last thing they need for their travelling workers is to be inspired while travelling.
And Pullman has a nice 1930s ring to it. These were the noisy wooden creaky carriages that sqeaked between train stations before being sent to the scrapyard.......or were they? Maybe they have been saved for rejuvenation as tomorrow's answer to today's 'less inspired'.
I am not sure about Legends. Legendary signifies for me some history about which one can boast, like the Ritz or the George V or the Savoy and Waldorf Astoria. Unless of course the PR Department got it wrong and maybe there was a an error and it should have been Leg Ends which of corse conjures up marvellous creative opportunities, in which
.........furnishings from all the classic eras feature their 'leg ends' as design features. Legs have had such wonderful designs over the generations,
.........beds, chairs, sofas, tables, pianos all could have featured legs. It might not stop there!!
.........It probably will.
Now can anyone explain to me what an 'atmospheric property' is?
So many Brands needing so much sub-segmenting. And it always seems to be seen as so simple. A few new names, new signage, logos, brand specs, some new marketing materials and more franchise fees ........until the next evaluation splits it again.
However, this looks more to me like a brief off-the-record conversation between Gilles Pelisson and the Financial Times where the translation went terribly wrong. How quickly the message can go off track if not handled by the professionals!!
For assistance on anything to to do with hospitality branding, contact [email protected]
Recent Comments