Hotels are more than just places to eat, sleep and work. They are venues, plugged into local communities, places where Tribes of like-hearted communities meet to Dream, Play and Engage.

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HOTEL GUESTS
Tribes and their Habitats
Understanding Primal Motivations of Hotel Guests, to Boost Overnight and Event Guest Participation
Marketing 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 Movement
Tribes 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 from
one 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 TRIBES
INSIGHTS 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 Agent
What 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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