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HOTEL GUESTSTribes and their HabitatsUnderstanding Primal Motivations of Hotel Guests, to Boost Overnight and Event Guest ParticipationMarketing Concepts by TORQUE Ltd.

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CONSUMERS ARE TRIBES

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Hotel Trends and Challenges

Shifting to accommodate evolving customer segments:• Boutique hotels: personalized and refined style and service• Chain hotels: creating specialty brands with ongoing ability

to refresh décor and venue• “Cheap Chic”: combining style and value• Combining and promoting entertainment and other

partnerships

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What Hotels Have Been

• Where people stay on a business trip or on vacation• Shelter, food, lodging, services and amenities • Somewhere that is NOT your home

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Wake-Up Call:Opportunities for Hotels to mean something NEW

Hotels can be a place where people:• Get away from daily home and work life• Live out expressions of aspiration and desire• Become “Celebrities” for a day (extraordinary recognition and paramount service)• Encounter unique activities

“You might imagine that someone has eavesdropped on your dreams - you would not be entirely wrong.”

– Torque, for the Elysian Hotel, Chicago IL

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TRIBES AND THEIR HABITATS

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What are Tribes?

Tribes are groups of like-hearted people

These traits differ from demographics quantify external attributes like age, income, occupation, which are all non-experiential. Often, multiple demographics have interest in the same brands, values and lifestyle dimensions.

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What are Tribes?

Tribal characteristics are emotional and behavioral. They are beliefs and aspirations:

• Emotions and behaviors motivate brand association and purchase. This applies to downloading music, eating out, apparel purchases, event attendance, salon services – iPod users range widely in age, income brackets, occupation and

ethnicity– Their interest is emotional, based on a user’s music taste, personal

fashion and style and integration of music into their lives• Tribes are “Head Spaces”

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Observe the MovementTribes come together around:• Common attitudes and actions

– Taste in music, societal and ethical beliefs (i.e. environmentally friendly), drive to excel in business (Blackberry, Droid)

• Shared core beliefs, values and interests– REI, Indie Rock, Health Clubs, Cultural Affairs

• Social networks– Chicago Sport and Social Club, Motorcycle Riding Clubs

• Social media– Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Tumblr

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Alter Egos / Alter Ethos

• Characteristics of Tribes vary widely fromone Tribe to the next

• Tribal membership changes when life focus and social needs change– Compare life views of cancer survivor to attitudes before

becoming ill

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Distinguishing Dialects

• The frequency and style of communication varies from Tribe to Tribe– Virtual; face-to-face; one-to-many; large groups

• Some are cerebral, others think and express more emotively– Academia vs. hard-core sports fans

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From the heart, not the corporate textbook

• By pursuing emotional markets rather than statistical markets, we tune into attributes that most influence their rituals– “Speak to what people are trying to do or be”

• Understanding a Tribe’s style of communication reveals access points for marketers– Meet tribes in their own habitats; connect with their

interests

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Fostering Tribal Loyalty

To foster Tribal loyalty with hotel brands:

• Develop relevance to the Tribe’s beliefs and emotions– Hotels must embrace and enhance the attitude of their Tribe

• Create magical and memorable moments…again and again– The “best” business trip/vacation story revolves around

the Hotel• Extend and evolve Tribe relationships through promise, activity and

value– Offerings that inspire, image and ambience that resonates,

regularly updated and refreshed

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The Hotel Tribal Chant• I’m looking for experience • I expect activity and status at a fair price• I want to look good, appear worldly and informed• I want to be treated with unconditional respect• I want to have more fun than I can at home• I’m busy: serve me fast• I’m smart, but make it easy for me anyway• I know my own mind. If you don’t believe me, just watch me stay elsewhere• People want my opinion• If I’m excited I’ll tell my friends (we talk all the time)• Make it look as if I discovered it

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SPOTTING TRIBESINSIGHTS INTO HOTEL AUDIENCES

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Tribe Spotting: Nightclub-Goers

Appeal to people who:• celebrate pop-culture• aspire to start their own trends• yearn for “15 minutes” of fame & fortune• develop complex proprietary rituals, jargon and

symbols for communicating and engaging• use technology to socialize• look for status, success, acceptance and approval

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Tribe Spotting: Wine Aficionados

Appeal to people who:• are wine/food enthusiasts (equal interest for both men and

women)• have genuine interest in social aspects of wine culture

(acceptance of neophytes) • look for intellectual depth in food and drink• enjoy the prestige (they are aspirational and discriminating) • seek culture and style

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Tribe Spotting: Gamers

Appeal to people who:• Play computer, TV, kiosk and hand-held games (the fastest growing

entertainment market)• look for stimulation, escapism and diversion• seek individual and group game-play • enjoy non-athletic, non-physical competition• need an outlet for rebellion, simulated adventure and fantasy• appreciate services for Wi-Fi, movies, games and more

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DESIGNING THE HOTEL EXPERIENCE

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Where to play: Stay In or Go Out

There is a lot to do in the community and a lot to do in the hotel itself• Wine tastings• New art and furniture expos• Fashion shows• Apparel trunk shows• Premiere / launch parties

for media and music• Weekly lounge soirees• Charity support

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Hotel as Venue

• Make the hotel a Venue (the internal habitat)– Host activities relevant to local and out-of-town Tribes– Generate publicity and revenue through entertainment– Evolve the bar, restaurant, poolside, conference hall, spa,

theater, “game room”, guest room facilities

• Make the community a destination District (the neighborhood, community habitat)– Include OTHER VENUES, as well as media whose

relationships add value and experience– Partner with theaters, clubs, exhibition centers, public

beaches and other services, retail districts, entertainment districts and destinations (restaurants, lounges, etc.)

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Hotel as Venue

• Schedule thematic and seasonal hotel venue activities– Venue activities are successful because they consistently

appeal to Tribes’ emotions and aspirations, and not to demographics or ubiquitous pop culture phenomena.

• Examples– Ian Schrager Hotels - “Lobby Socializing” and the “Hotel Theatre”– Standard Hotel Downtown Los Angeles - Lobby and Rooftop– Summer Parties at W Lakeshore Chicago– Hard Drive Chicago - lobby entertainment/nightlife

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Case Study:Palms Casino Resort as a Tribal, Habitat Expert

• Corporate philosophy embraces consumer AND employee Tribes• Setting and service offerings are emotional, sensational and social• Activities are aspirational: guests are made to feel like celebrity • Relevant partnerships align and support Tribal activity

– Playboy Enterprises International - licensing for new hotel tower, venues– Clear Channel Entertainment (concerts, album releases, appearances)

• Social and interactive elements are designed to keep guest at the property as long as possible

• Result: Revenue reflects expertise in Tribal Marketing

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Case Study: Palms Casino Resort

Future Playboy Hotel tower, venues Current tower, venues Future Palms Place Residence Condos

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Habitat Experts: Pave the Path

• The Palms and other lifestyle, boutique (W) and luxury (Peninsula) hotels enjoy increased traffic, publicity and revenue due to the added value activities found in their venues and overall habitats

• Mid-range hotels can realize the same benefits, and more effectively foster Tribal awareness and loyalty with correlative activities and venue development - even if the activities or venue facility are impermanent

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Venues and Activities: Mid-Range Hotels• Hard Drive - Hyatt

– Modern multi-Purpose venue for entertainment, lifestyle and corporate events

• CπShell - Hotel Indigo– Trunk shows from relevant retailers in surrounding neighborhood

• Express Yourself - Holiday Inn– Live karaoke events at Holiday Inn Express properties

• Courtyard Cookout - Marriott Courtyard– BBQ’s and festival event content

• Comfort Zone - Comfort Suites/Choice Hotels– Local salon/spas provide on-site “refresher” services

• Nights Inn - Days INN/CENDANT– Scotch, whiskey, beer, wine tastings

• PLAY @ 8 - Super 8/CENDANT– Sports Bar theme for televised games/races/matches/tournaments

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Embrace the Community

Inevitably guests will want to explore their new surroundings

• Embrace this past time and add value to your guests experience– Hotel “Wonderland”

• Act as guide and advisor– Where, why and Wonderful

• Go beyond the stereotypical concierge expectations– Must be a relationship, not a human “ATM”

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External Habitats: Districts

• Make activities and opportunities available to guest Tribes via strategic community relationships restaurant, bar, lounge, club, salon, spa, tanning, retail, theatre, sports, specialty

• Unique Example: – “Yoga goes hip-hop as marketing takes hold…”

NEW YORK (Reuters)

– What a cool activity to recommend to guests, or to HOST on-site at the hotel itself

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Bartering with the “Neighbors”• Create sponsorship partners

– In-room music download services– Private label music soundtrack (Standard Hotels, Establishment Hotel in

Australia)– Entertainment technology - Sirius Radio Suites at W Hotels

• Create branded entertainment - Hotels are 24-hour a day “brand programming” for Tribes and neighbors - in essence a hotel’s version of Product Placement (for RELEVANT Sundries, Amenities)

• Build relationships with media partners– Carry local guides: Print guides, radio stations– Co-host events with local and national PR

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Include the “Natives”

Locals have the same Tribal attributes as out-of-town guests:

• Motivations for participation may be different than overnight guests but the same emotional and spending potentials– A “cool” meal, a great party, a chic manicure, a great memory

• Create experience of “Vacation at Home”– Sentiment of magic and status in their home town

• Reciprocity often results where the guests actually initiate and seek out engagement with the hotel based on previous experience & value– Holiday Inn commercials, Event Promoters, Frequent Player Club

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Migrating Hotel Tribes

• Guests occupying rooms as an out-of-town visitor for business or leisure

• Create a “Concert of Dreams”– Activities are a synchronized concert of circumstances

composed to resonate with the migrating Tribes

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Dancing With Tribes• Tribal camaraderie between hotel guests themselves

– Permission and invitation to “rendezvous”• Tribal camaraderie between guests and the staff

– Genuine respect for dignitary & celebrity treatment• Tribal camaraderie between guests and the “neighborhood”

– New friends make a foreign land “home” - local bar - especially if travel is seasonal or of a regular frequency

“Dancing with Tribes” and their rituals remind us how to play in the context of the theater of their experience

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Re-Runs: Traditional Hotel Routines

Eat . Sleep . Work• Ask a hotel employee where to go out to eat, drink or

socialize– Do they REALLY know who you ARE?– Do they REALLY know what you WANT TO BE?

• Plan to leave before you even arrive– That’s sort of depressing!

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Inspiring New Rituals: The Hotel Tribal Chant

Dream.Play.Engage• Celebrate absence of traditional routines and

discover new ones• Engage unique social opportunities and activities• Celebrate your “inner outlaw”

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Flagship Habitats: Meccas for Tribal Rituals

• Turn one property into a place where Tribes can experience activities and amenities in ways other same-chain properties don’t offer - the “story of a promised land” venue

• Opportunity to pilot new brand experience concepts– Boutique as Flagship (Hotel Indigo - new brand, property in ICH line)– Traditional brand as Flagship (Holiday Inn, Hyatt can each has their

own flagship or flagship sub-venues & programs that offer evolved brand standards - Hard Drive Chicago)

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Keys to Finding and Connecting with your Hotel Tribe

• Mirror the like hearts and minds• Enable rituals and behaviors• Engage the community• Move beyond the traditional brand and traditional: Eat, Sleep,

Work. To the new emotional function: Dream, Play, Engage• Hotel as venue• Work from the heart, speak the dialect, join the movement

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Torque: Trend Concierge and Brand AgentWhat we do• Established in 1992, Torque is a digital brand and integrated marketing

firm that helps companies who need to be agile in changing markets• Tribal Intelligence® is our methodology for understanding customer

audiences.

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