| Wednesday, 21 October 2009 00:00 | |
Banyan Tree chief: Control your brand and stay globally nicheby Luke Clark (4Hoteliers.com) The executive chairman of Banyan Tree Holdings has urged those charged with protecting travel brands to take extra care not to license their brand away, and weaken it in the process. Instead, companies should utilise the reach of the internet to become globally niche players.  Speaking in Singapore as the keynote speaker of Web in Travel 2009 on Tuesday morning , Ho said that while the global crisis had hurt a lot of businesses financially, he was not certain that the world had changed fundamentally.But one thing that would change, compared with the "hyped period" in the market pre-crisis, was the licensing of recognised brands away from their core product. 4Hoteliers Image Library“A fashion designer puts his name to a hotel, and considers it the epitome of luxury. All this ‘bling-bling’ part of luxury was representative of an era that had really gone to excess.” Ho said that Banyan Tree had been approached about licencing Banyan Tree fashion wear, but this was not a move that he would support. “We will not licence our brand away – we need to control our brand.” With over 20 new projects signed recently despite the recession, Ho said business for Banyan Tree globally was still on track. While high price for a quality product would not disappear following the crisis, luxury for the sake of it would be challenged, he noted. “Luxury has always been a dirty word. It’s cold and pretentious. The pretentious side of luxury has changed.” He cited Pierre Cardin as an example of a brand that had cheapened its overall brand by selling ballpoint pens in addition to high-end fashion items. “Pierre Cardin has sold itself to licensees." The other key to brand management was to keep a close eye on the age profile of the market that you were trying to capture."In hotels, it’s all about keeping up with the demographics. Club Med for instance lost a lot of relevance because they didn’t keep up with the demographics. It’s trying to change that new, but whether it can catch up is anyone’s guess.” Ultimately, Ho predicted that the current climate was ideal for well positioned niche players to go global by staying true to their brand, and seizing on the reach of the internet. “The timing is perfect for the emergence of small, niche and global brands – we all need to think of ourselves as niche players in a global world.” For daily coverage of ITB Asia & WIT 2009 please visit www.4hoteliers.com/itbasia |
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