SMARTHINKING INC. ads

Most brand budgets lean toward marketing rather than the on-site experience. The campaign and the launch collateral get the lion’s share of the attention, because that’s where the brand is most visible. For guests, it’s the reverse. They see the ad once, then spend days with your front desk and the person who answers the phone. Once they arrive, your brand is no longer something they read about. It’s the way the property looks, sounds, and treats them, hour after hour. When a property expresses its brand, it should function like an orchestra. Every touchpoint and staff member is like an instrument. Together, they should play in harmony to create a vivid and unforgettable experience. If you’ve invested heavily in getting guests to the door, it’s worth asking how much you’ve invested in what happens after they walk through it. There’s more on this in the article linked in the comments.

Ask a development team what sets their property apart and you’ll usually hear about square footage, finishes, and the amenity list. Ask that same team how a guest would describe the difference, and the answers usually trail off or circle back to the same amenities every other property like yours offers. That second question is the one that defines your brand and sets your rate. A guest who can’t say what’s unique about your property has only one thing left to weigh — price. Here’s one way to test the strength of your brand: Look at what guests write about your property. Pull twenty recent reviews of your property and twenty of your closest competitors’. Then cover the names. If you can’t tell which property each set of reviews describes, your guests can’t, either. Read the full article via the link in the comments.

A licensed brand name won't solve your need for qualified leads. Just like a DJ in your sales center won't drive Price Per Square Foot. Brand earns its premium when guests feel it – not just when they see it/hear it.

A licensed brand name won't solve your need for qualified leads. Just like a DJ in your sales center won't drive Price Per Square Foot. Brand earns its premium when guests feel it – not just when they see it/hear it.

A recent developer meeting revealed a $75,000 logo spend (with another agency) before deciding the property’s promise. The family hated it but kept it. Sunk cost. Brand foundation typically starts around $150,000 and scales accordingly to final scope — the smallest capital line in the pro forma. Sequenced correctly, it moves ADR, price per square foot, and sales absorption. Sequenced wrong, it's the check you can't take back. We wrote up the math and how to underwrite the spend before your next brand decision.

A $10 ADR premium on a 150-room hotel adds roughly $355,000 in incremental annual revenue at 65% occupancy. That pays back a $250,000 brand foundation investment inside the first year, and the premium recurs every year it holds. Brand foundation runs $150,000 to $350,000 depending on programming needs — a rounding error next to hard construction, land, and financing. You underwrite a debt structure and a construction contingency with the same rigor. Brand foundation earns the same treatment. We wrote up the math and how to underwrite the spend.