After more than twenty years spent advising hoteliers in every corner of Italy, there is one constant I continue to find, regardless of whether it is a boutique hotel or a hundred-room property: the belief that positioning is a static concept, set in stone on the day of the inauguration.
NB: This is an article from Lybra Tech, one of our Expert Partners
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Often, when I begin a consultancy, the first question I ask is: “Who is your customer and why do they choose you?“. The answer, almost always, is based on a perception of the entrepreneur that is not reflected in the numbers. “We are a family hotel,” they tell me, while the data shows a majority of couples complaining about too much noise at breakfast.
Positioning is not what you think of your hotel. It is the space you occupy in the market’s mind relative to your competitors. And if that positioning is wrong or blurred, you can apply all the most sophisticated Revenue techniques in the world, but you will only be trying to fill a leaky bucket.
Market analysis: looking outward to understand who you are
You cannot define your place in the world without knowing who the others around you are. Competitor analysis should not be limited to “how much they are selling a room for today.” You must dig deeper:
- What are they really selling? If your neighbor has invested in a luxury spa and you haven’t, you are no longer in the same market, even if you are both 4-star properties.
- To whom are they selling? Study their reviews, look at their social media. If their customers are looking for “silence and relaxation” and yours for “nightlife and aperitifs,” you are speaking to different worlds.
Nationality and Target: there is no such thing as a “product for everyone”
One of the most serious mistakes I see being made is homogenization. An American guest has diametrically opposite needs compared to a German guest or an Italian business traveler.
