Exclusive Interview with President Director of Tauzia Hotel Management, Marc Steinmeyer
Whether you’re a large organization, a small group managing a collection of independent hotels, or even a single hotel that needs a different direction, launching a new brand is a challenge for even the most seasoned of hoteliers. Since TAUZIA Hotel Management recently launched a new brand, we sat down with Marc Steinmeyer, the President Director of TAUZIA Hotel Management, to learn more about the thought process behind the decision to launch, and the steps necessary to make the launch successful.
Can you describe the new brand?
Our new brand HARRIS Vertu Hotels draws inspiration from the French Belle Époque and the Joie de Vivre, or “the joy of life.” The Belle Époque was a time of innovation, excitement and optimism, which inspired new approaches in fashion, dances and movies.
Celebrating the joy of life, every element of HARRIS Vertu – whether it’s playing, eating or drinking – is done with a fashionable touch and indulgent simplicity. Through this brand, we aim to create a highly social and innovative environment, consisting of four main pillars derived from the Belle Époque: Innovative simplicity, refreshing atmosphere, social vibe, and “young at heart” service full of passion and energy. It is an extension in line with the Harris philosophy, which aims to promote life with happiness.
Why did Tauzia decide to launch a new brand? What were you seeing in the market that led you to this significant investment decision?
Essentially, it was about identifying specific growth needs for our company relative to the market. The TAUZIA portfolio previously consisted of two to four star brands. Our market research showed the need to provide an upscale experience in order to increase brand awareness internationally. Additionally, the economic growth in the Asian region, and particularly in Indonesia, indicated a significant opportunity for an upscale brand in the country. And, generational data shows that today’s travelers in the Asian region are interested in a simpler, more social, more technologically savvy atmosphere. We decided to take advantage of the room for growth in this market to launch a new upscale brand with our partner at Harmoni Jakarta, a five star Indonesian brand, this past January.
What are you doing from a marketing perspective to launch the new brand?
It has been a coordinated effort that includes traditional media, influencers, and social media channels. Media in general has played a big role in our communication of the brand’s online and offline exposure, but social media in particular will be an important part of this effort. TAUZIA has decided to prioritize social media marketing as a business objective in 2017, as it has become an essential, direct way to communicate with and create better engagement amongst our past, present, and future guests.
What social media tactics are you leveraging?
Specifically, we’re launching a Customer Advocacy Marketing campaign – user-generated campaigns on social media. This has shown to be an effective strategy, because instead of bombarding customers with hard-sell communications, we go with a softer approach through peer-to-peer advocacy.
With user generated campaigns, we can to activate our current guests by encouraging them to share their stay experience online. We incentivize them with free night stays and exclusive merchandise. After having much success with this tactic with other brands (HARRIS, YELLO & POP! Hotels), #IMATVERTU will soon be launched in March 2017 for our latest addition, HARRIS Vertu Hotels.
Social media is also useful for evaluating the success of our launch, branding, product, and service. Review platforms like Facebook are a great complement to TripAdvisor reviews, as a place to solicit feedback in order to gain more insights about the needs of our guests and also their ever-changing behaviors.
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