A hotel room has a bed and a TV. It costs over two hundred dollars a night. But the business is much more than renting a room. Hotels are multi-million-dollar investments in hospitality and fine dining. They provide assurances of quality, efficiency, and genuine friendliness. And they should be marketed as such.
That was the hotel business. Now … keep your eyes open to see what hotels do to reposition their offerings after they are impacted by major health concerns and a dramatic decline in the flow of “traditional revenue.” Another business we all know rents cars. In an effort to move forward, they could move out of the rent-a-car business and into the travel and sightseeing business with an emphasis on health and safety.
Through a merchandising, public relations, and marketing program designed to position such a company as more than a set of car keys and a rental car form, the company could become number one in a unique segment of the market. Retailers will find the need for this type of thinking. Some will learn they were not in the dress business, but the personal fashion and service business. Others may recognize that they are not in the furniture business but in the interior home design business.