They mobilized sometimes disproportionate marketing teams to give body to renewed discourse on values, services, and very generous offers. You asked for it, you got it all…. All-inclusive, all-new, more beautiful… all to stimulate occupancy at properties! But has the hotel product itself truly evolved? Have we not mostly tried to cover up a lack of change and concept renewal with an accumulation of offers that appear to be attractive but that are actually very costly? The unfurling of new concepts within already mature networks takes increasing amounts of time, and customers no longer understand and no longer accept such disparity within a single brand for several years. Budgets have been sacrificed to marketing when they should have been allocated to Capex. Never has a cataplasm on a wooden leg helped a person run faster, further, or better. If all management decisions rely on choices and priorities, it would be time for the pendulum to swing back to the product and concept and move away from appearances alone regardless how pretty they may be.

Hotel marketing cannot disguise reality without customers finally taking notice and creating painful backlash. The good old concept of best quality-price ratio was never so appropriate, all the more so since in this age of social networking opinions and criticism come together at cybernetic speeds. Some groups spend fortunes trying to counter or domesticate rather than go back to the basics of work on concepts. But innovation must continue to respect the operating account. The fundamental ratios, which determine the margin necessary to guarantee the longevity of the concept, have proven themselves even with the abandon of services that are not justified by the market price. To manage it is necessary to choose well. The coherence of the concept and the pertinence of its offer are the best assets for getting through a trend reversal that remains possible.

Undoubtedly because they are even more sensitive to the importance of how a product is perceived, unbranded hoteliers have made considerable efforts to align themselves with expectations. The new hotel classification contributed to it, although it required sacrifices and long negotiations with financial institutions. But the result is evident; the renovated urban hotel industry has regained its public. At corporate chains, franchisees have become the engines driving renewal. They are the first to mobilize around new concepts when these can bring average prices up. The same cannot be said for groups' subsidiaries which must wait before getting their share of the Capex.

The financial management of brands is faced with a dilemma: preserve margins in the short term by minimizing spending or guarantee the lifespan of the product and revenues by dedicating the necessary budget. It has often been said that hotel management needed to be dosed carefully, precisely measuring each expenditure with a coffee spoon. Using a ladle is useless if the product is not improved. The public will not be taken in and knows how to open its eyes. Through its choices, the public expresses the implacable maxim: "who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying."