Protean Hospitality Brand Emotion Study Findings Detail by Laurence R Bernstein

Protean Hospitality & Hotspex Study of Brand Personality & Emotional Profiles Summary of Findings

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◦ We’re a boutique brand strategy advisory firm focused on helping our hospitality clients drive growth ◦ We combine our business/category expertise with tenacity, while balancing rigor and creativity to uncover new opportunities for your brand. ◦ We work with a network of partners & collaborators to help operationalize the strategy

What we provide: Research | Brand | Operationalization

RESEARCH Understand the company, category and consumer

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BRAND Understand and define a

Our experience Hospitality, Travel and Leisure

Other Categories

Aeroplan

Bell / BCE

Air Canada

Brookfield Properties

Canadian Tourism Commission

Dell Canada

Cara Foods Delta Hotels Fairmont Hotels and Resorts Fallsview Casino Metropolitan Hotels

American Express

Deloitte Consulting General Motors IBM Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation

VFM Leonardo

Ministry of Research and Innovation

Prime Restaurants

Pepsi Frito-Lay

The Greater Washington Board of Trade

Procter and Gamble

The Newstead Belmont Hotel (Bermuda)

Second Cup

Tourism Toronto Travel Gay Canada Via Rail Holiday Inns

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Rotman DesignWorks Shoppers Drug Mart Sport Chek

Hotel Brands: Love Some, Leave Some

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Study Intent Objectives ◦ To measure the levels of emotional engagement between consumers and hotel brands

◦ To identify white space between brands, and hence un-owned territories for brands ◦ To understand the cognitive, experiential and emotional drivers that determine brand preference and purchase intent

Use of Information ◦ Strategically identify emotional, experiential and functional attributes that will directly impact brand strength and hence purchase intent ◦ Assist in developing "mass localization" tactics to deliver these attributes meaningfully at the brand level as well as the individual property level

With a bit more input from the brand, we can ◦ Predict trajectories of brands (with .92 correlation certainty) ◦ Predict increase/decrease in market share based on hypothetical tweaking of specific emotional, experiential and cognitive attributes

Study Background/Methodology The Protean/Hotspex 2012 Study of Emotional Profiles and Brand Personalities was conducted among: A representative sample of North American travelers with the objective of understanding on an industry basis how emotional drivers affect hotel choice. Eight major hotel brands were selected for the study: Best Western, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Sheraton, Marriott, Westin, and Wyndham. â&#x2014;Ś These chains were chosen for strategic reasons, each offering specific insights into the brand landscape. The objective of the study was to apply classic brand attachment measurement systems to the hospitality industry as a whole Enabling a better understanding of the drivers of hotel choice (emotional, experiential and cognitive) and how they relate to drivers of choice in other categories.

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Executive Overview

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Overall

◦ The eight brands studied demonstrate distinct personas and emotional connections. However, the breadth of differentiation is slim for most of the players. ◦ The differentiation that is observed is in intensity rather than distinctive offerings. The mapping indicates the major brands are all covering roughly the same territory, (leaving more contemporary areas such as fun, friendly, interesting, exciting, familiar and desirable pretty much untouched (except for HI and BW which unsurprisingly are tilted toward the more passive sentiments). ◦ This explains the prominence of modern lifestyle brands (which were not studied in this project). ◦ The question becomes: which of the lifestyle brands (if any) are taking ownership of these orphan but desirable territories, and what territories have they sacrificed in doing so? And, how can the core brands amplify their emotional linkages to build sustainable, meaningful higher order differentiation (the kind people pay money for!)

◦ When consumers are asked to liken Hilton to a person, they describe an inspiring, interesting, hardworking leader. They would likely use words such as: confident, sophisticated, modern active, and especially rich. As a person, Hilton would bring consumers new experiences and new ways of breaking the mundane. Much like a creative new idea, unfortunately this creative person can also go too far and come across as pretentious, arrogant and show off.

◦ As a result of drifting a bit too far into this negative territory, Hilton’s weakness is in the “hospitable” essence of hospitality – and the consumer relationship with this brand would not be described as well-rounded. At its core, Hilton is not relaxed, nor is it necessarily trustworthy, kind, balanced or comforting. As a brand, Hilton is the opposite of “home” and of what’s familiar to consumers. ◦ A second look at Hilton’s logo (the sum of: blue font, finesse of the round swirl around the letter H), reveals an “oxytocin” brand – which by design should be a lot more nurturing than it is currently being seen as. Hilton would likely therefore benefit, and form a stronger emotional bond with consumers if while keeping the leadership position that it owns, it also gets consumers a little bit more in touch with its softer side – something which it is lacking currently.

◦ This is a BIG, balanced brand who is driving a very solid brand image. To describe Marriott as a person, consumers used words that represent all the core attributes that drive their future visit intent (a measure on which Marriott outperformed the rest of the brands in the survey): interesting, cool, likeable, like you, easy-going, reliable, competent and successful. But the true magic about Marriott’s brand image, as perceived by consumers, is its ability to drive a modern, leadership, mature, and traditional personality without neglecting the friendliness, kindness and honesty. ◦ Marriott is the most well-balanced hotel brand of the eight we studied. There are no major weaknesses to focus on other than some of the key “nurturing” attributes which could use some attention: kind and unselfish, good, family-oriented, decent, and polite could all be dialed up.

◦ To consumers, Hyatt is a more successful, yet nerdy version of Westin. While not as cool as Westin, Hyatt is more of a leader, rich and serious. ◦ While focused on building this status, leadership and competence, Hyatt is not getting the fundamentals of relationship-building right. Just like its peers, consumers can’t relate to it because they are not connecting with their softer side as there is no balance in the core. ◦ Hyatt needs to build up associations with balanced, kind, down-to-earth, and reasonable.

◦ As a person, Wyndham is an empty shell who – on the surface – is modern, rich and knowledgeable, but is superficial, pretentious and arrogant. ◦ It is the brand that consumers could relate to the least. ◦ The obscurity needs to be solved by building associations starting with Wyndham’s core. It is not interesting, optimistic or cool, it is not building empathy and it is not nurturing or familiar.

â&#x2014;Ś Holiday Inn is a person like you: likeable, wonderful, happy, balanced, easy-going, down-to-earth, reliable, and competent. It is not a particularly successful or interesting person. Welcome home. Holiday Inn is associated with all of the characteristics that one would use to describe something familiar, nurturing, and friendly. â&#x2014;Ś While a well-established brand, Holiday Inn appears to be coasting along and not doing enough to maintain excitement and vitality. It is looking a little tired, with some consumers calling it a out-of-date and unfashionable. Its weakness is in the leadership space where they could do a little bit more to raise their status. Also, the brand image is currently diluted and could do a more to breakthrough.

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◦ Likened to a person, Best Western is very passive. Consumers see a likeable, balanced, easy-going, down-to-earth and reliable brand. However, it is imbalanced, tending to be average, plain, out-of-date and unfashionable. ◦ It is very weak on the active side, and would need to reinvent itself to become more interesting, optimistic and cool. ◦ The issue is not lack of awareness, but more a lack of connection and interest in what Best Western stands for.

◦ Traditional, mature, and competent. Those are the words that most consumers use when describing Sheraton as a person. However, it resembles symptoms of a brand that has past its peak and is not doing enough to reinvigorate itself. ◦ At first glance, Sheraton comes across as an unsuccessful version of Hilton. While just as rich, competent, traditional, and conservative, it is not building any interest, empathy or a connection with consumers. It is just as pretentious, arrogant and uptight as Hilton, but it is missing Hilton’s charm: Sheraton is not seen as interesting, cool, and likeable. ◦ Sheraton has the quality, reliability and confidence of an established brand, but the personality of a C-list celebrity who needs a facelift , a Toastmasters membership, and, like Hilton, a crash-course on getting consumers in touch with its softer side.

◦ A cool, interesting, successful, competent and reliable person. That’s how consumers described Westin. It is just as competent, rich and modern as its peers, but it is also as pretentious, arrogant and uptight. ◦ While being seen as an attractive, fashionable, trendy and modern brand, there is a barrier in building the consumer relationship because consumers can’t relate to it. ◦ Westin would benefit from focusing on dialing up consumer associations with friendly, likeable, kind, down-to-earth or reasonable to create a stronger relationship.

Making Emotional Connections

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Cracking the code of Emotions Until recently, most researchers focused almost exclusively on the rational mind in quantitative surveys. While research techniques to measure ‘emotions’ continues to develop (brain scanning etc.), Invested 4 years and conducted thousands of surveys toward developing a comprehensive online measurement approach, which effectively captures how people ‘feel’ about and react emotionally to brands, new product concepts and packaging designs. This methodology is based on a comprehensive list of 85 emotions and 182 personalities. The relationship between these attributes has been mapped and inter-related in great detail through over 10,000 surveys and advanced multivariate analytics. We have proven conclusively across over 34 categories and over 101 brands that, on average, “soft” drivers account for half of all buying behavior. Therefore measuring these drivers is critical to any successful research project.

How people feel about brands, new product concepts, packages and services. © Protean Hospitality Partnership

The personality that is projected outwards by brands, new product concepts, packages and services.

Category Context 1. Emotions – a connection, warmth, excitement, pleasure – have twice as much impact on their choice of where to stay when compared to rational features and benefits (70% vs. 30%) Emotional vs. Rational Drivers of Choice

2. Compared to other categories – even service categories -hotel brands are underperforming radically in terms of delivering these emotional connections Consumers evaluation of emotional drivers

Brand Personalities

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Understanding the Emotional Regions Brown:The Competent Zone Includes core emotions of acceptance and fellowship, as well as feeling informed and selfconfident Orange:The Inspiring or Leadership Zone Is based on feeling inspired and optimistic

Yellow:The Interesting Zone Is built on the core emotion of Interest as well as feelings of amazement and surprise, and being alive and energized

Red:The Fun Zone Is associated with emotions such as enjoyment, amusement, and desire

“LIKE YOU”

Purple: The Friendly Zone Is associated with emotions related to liking

Green: The Trustworthy Zone Is grounded in emotions such as trust, loyalty, and respect

Grey: The Familiar Zone Is home to feelings of satisfaction and gratitude

Blue: The Nurturing Zone Is linked to feelings of human warmth such as love, caring, and compassion

Understanding the Emotional Regions In general, attributes closest to the centre or core of the map have the greatest positive impact on consumer behaviour – on attraction and buying – but are difficult to differentiate on.

Attributes in between the Core and Outer rings are typically the attributes that can be used to differentiate between brands.

“LIKE YOU”

Attributes at the edge on the map have greatest negative impact on behaviour and lead to distraction and rejection. © Protean Hospitality Partnership

Good brand/Bad brand

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PersonaSphere – Full Map

PersonaSphere – Hilton

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Hilton (n=68)

Q12. Brands are not people, but they do have personality. If this brand were a person would it be more…

Friendly

PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Marriott

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Marriott (n=95)

Friendly

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PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hyatt

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Hyatt (n=113)

Friendly

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PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Holiday Inn

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Holiday Inn (n=100)

Friendly

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PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Wyndham

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Wyndham (n=108)

Friendly

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PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Best Western

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Best Western (n=99)

Friendly

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PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sheraton

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Sheraton (n=84)

Friendly

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PersonaSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Westin

Familiar

Interesting

Competent

Base: Westin (n=123)

Friendly

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Brand Experience

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EmotiSphere – Full Map

EmotiSphere – Hilton

Base: Hilton (n=128) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere – Marriott

Base: Marriott (n=101) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere – Hyatt

Base: Hyatt (n=88) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere – Holiday Inn

Base: Holiday Inn (n=97) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere – Wyndham

Base: Wyndham (n=93) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Best Western

Base: Best Western (n=104) ÂŠ Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere – Sheraton

Base: Sheraton (n=117) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

EmotiSphere – Westin

Base: Westin (n=76) © Protean Hospitality Partnership

Summary of “Centers of Gravity”

Centers of Gravity: Totality of Personasphere and Emotisphere

Six of the eight brands cluster in 2 emotional territories, with the 2 family brands sharing space on the other side of the map, in the “Familiar” segment.

Key & Hidden Drivers

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Positive and Negative Attributes

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The Drivers of Consumer Choice

Drivers are plotted against a dependent variable (purchase intent) in order to calculate a derived impact score.

NEGATIVE DRIVERS Negative attributes do not appear in driver maps, but they are shown in the Hotspex Heatmaps.

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Importance of Functional Attributes 100

Table Stakes

Key Drivers

Offers a good price/ provides good value for money

80 Service staff are friendly

Stated Importance, %

Room design is attractive

Available where I need to travel Offers special discounts or deals

Provides an easy online reservation process

Performs well on/ has high online ratings and evaluations

Has a swimming pool Is successful and is a leading hotel chain

Recommended by friends or family

Is different or unique in some way

20 10

Is well advertised or has

Unimportant memorable advertising

Hidden Drivers

0 0.0 ÂŠ Protean Hospitality Partnership

0.1

0.2

0.3 0.4 Category Derived Importance

0.5

0.6

0.7

Importance of Personality Attributes Chart 1

Personasphere 0.70 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 -

Derived Importance

Personasphere: Brand imageâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; What I think of the brand ÂŠ Protean Hospitality Partnership

Average

Importance of Emotional Attributes Chart 2

EmotiSphere 0.60

0.50

0.40

0.30

0.20

0.10

Derived Importance

Emotisphere: Experience of the brand â&#x20AC;&#x201C; How the brand makes me feel ÂŠ Protean Hospitality Partnership

Average

The Opportunity 1. Understand how your operation is perceived ◦ Protean Hospitality Brand Measurement or ◦ Survey of loyal customers and non customers and how it is experienced ◦ Customer experience audit

2. Identify the deficits relative to the industry averages 3. Understand how these specific attributes are delivered, expressed and experienced 4. Working with internal operations and marketing teams develop operationalization programs

Thank you Any questions?? ÂŠ Protean Hospitality Partnership

Understanding the Emotional Regions

“LIKE YOU” Opposite Zones Have Opposing Relationships

Emoti / Persona – Summary Regions

PersonaSphere – Top-20 Positives

PersonaSphere (Top-20 Positive) Respondents:

Competent Reliable Successful Likeable Interesting Friendly Cool Like you

Hilton A 68

Sheraton B 84

Marriott C 95

Westin D 123

Hyatt E 113

76 GH 66 78 BDFGH 50 64 BH 37 42 26

71 H 58 52 FH 42 40 26 29 33

76 GH 76 BDEGH 66 FGH 61 63 BGH 43 48 H 48 E

63 57 58 FH 48 54 29 49 H 30

65 60 68 FGH 46 50 31 40 24

Down-to-earth

38 D

Knowledgeable

Easy-going

37 38 47 FH 35 36 32 28 25 20

24 24 30 H 28 24 28 22 23 21

39 39 H 30 34 35 35 32 29 27

19 36 32 H 30 30 22 14 20 15

29 38 45 FH 42 H 36 30 17 24 24

Hard-working Modern Rich Intelligent Confident Mature Practical Straightforward Reasonable

Holiday Inn F 100

Wyndham G 108

63 62 27 67 BDEG 44 60 ABDEG 33 51 EG 65 ABCDEG 33 65 ABCDEG 43 D 26 10 23 19 22 39 D 33 37 G

Q12. Brands are not people, but they do have personality. If this brand were a person would it be more… © Protean Hospitality Partnership

Base: those familiar with the brand (base varies by brand)

55 47 46 43 43 28 41 29 20 30 16 27 27 30 24 22 19 18 15 10

Best Western H 99

48 53 23 57 37 52 BDEG 23 42 74 ABCDEG 24 71 ABCDEG 31 15 6 14 18 17 33 28 31

PersonaSphere – Top-20 Negatives PersonaSphere (Top-20 Negative) Respondents:

Pretentious Arrogant A show-off Average Out-of-date Plain Rigid Uptight Unfashionable A follower Greedy Superficial Narrow-minded Inflexible Unimaginative Demanding Authoritarian Cold Unfriendly Theatrical

Hilton A 68

Sheraton B 84

21 16 20 5 13 1 13 8 1 9 12 9 12 9 4 11 9 8 4 10

23 20 15 17 11 11 17 17 10 13 14 12 12 13 15 7 7 7 12 10

Marriott C 95

Westin D 123

13 11 13 5 5 4 9 5 6 2 5 2 3 11 5 7 4 6 5 6 10-15%: a concern,

25 23 19 9 6 9 16 15 6 10 10 13 8 8 8 12 7 8 7 5

Hyatt E 113

Holiday Inn F 100

23 20 20 4 4 5 17 18 2 2 11 8 9 13 2 9 13 13 4 9 16-19%: a serious concern,

Wyndham G 108

3 1 3 19 20 26 4 3 22 18 4 3 5 3 9 2 1 1 4

26 19 15 13 10 6 7 13 7 4 8 13 11 5 7 11 8 11 8 5 20%+: a very serious concern

Q12. Brands are not people, but they do have personality. If this brand were a person would it be more… Base: those familiar© Protean with Hospitality the brand (base varies by brand) Partnership

Best Western H 99

2 1 2 27 29 E 29 E 2 3 24 16 2 5 5 2 12 1 2 5 1

EmotiSphere – Top-20 Positives

EmotiSphere (Top-20 Positive) Respondents:

Trust Interested Liking Satisfied Pleasure Comforted Warm Happy Safe Relaxed Self-confident A connection Inspired Respect Accepted Excited Entertained Informed Optimistic Loyal

Hilton A 128

65 D 65 BDG 65 BDG 55 G 45 41 44 D 44 G 31 46 G 40 31 30 33 21 25 26 21 21 28

Sheraton B 117

59 D 45 48 38 34 37 32 35 40 29 35 22 28 35 15 24 19 22 19 17

Marriott C 101

Westin D 76

67 D 73 BDEGH 76 BDEGH 66 BDEG 54 DEG 59 BDEGH 56 BDEG 50 DG 47 52 BDG 39 41 G 38 G 39 H 34 29 29 27 30 24

36 39 35 34 29 26 19 24 25 24 24 18 26 20 17 14 17 16 21 11

Hyatt E 88

53 53 52 39 30 34 34 40 39 33 32 24 28 22 18 23 15 15 19 19

Holiday Inn F 97

62 D 63 D 63 DG 54 G 53 DEG 44 48 D 46 G 36 39 40 36 30 29 20 24 24 19 18 17

Wyndham G 93

51 46 37 30 24 28 25 21 34 23 23 16 13 18 11 17 11 18 9 11

Q12. In this section we are going to take a close look at exactly how you feel about a few specific hotel brands. Base: those familiar with the brand (base varies by brand)

Best Western H 104

57 52 55 52 49 G 32 37 35 42 34 28 36 20 15 33 12 16 14 12 9

EmotiSphere – Top-20 Negatives EmotiSphere (Top-20 Negative) Respondents:

Can’t relate Unsure Unaffected Unchanged Mixed feelings Excluded Disappointed Apprehensive Bored Pessimistic Unhappy Dissatisfied Uncomfortable Critical Worried Shame Unappreciated Frustrated Intimidated Disliking

Hilton A 128

26 9 4 3 5 5 9 1 3 4 2 2 3 3 3 5 1 3 3

Sheraton B 117

26 6 9 6 5 2 3 2 2 1 3 2 2 1 1 2 -

Marriott C 101

Westin D 76

10 7 4 7 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 10-15%: a concern,

29 11 8 8 8 10 2 6 1 4 3 1 2 4 4 1

Hyatt E 88

Holiday Inn F 97

27 6 3 7 7 6 4 4 2 1 2 2 3 16-19%: a serious concern,

15 13 9 8 9 5 6 4 3 6 3 2 4 1 1 1

Wyndham G 93

Best Western H 104

34 16 11 9 8 7 3 7 5 1 2 2 20%+: a very serious concern

20 16 14 13 11 3 10 9 8 5 5 10 6 3 2 5 5 1 4