Soft Brands - Future Opportunities in the Canadian Market
Soft brands represent the movement of brand affiliations into the independent hotel market, bringing distinctive properties into an affiliation that expands the franchise company's audience while nurturing the creation of unique property-specific experiences for guests. By associating an independent property with a soft brand, the hotel is able to benefit from the expansive distribution channels and marketing reach associated with a brand. At the same time, the soft brand allows the hotel the freedom to define and shape the product offering. For the traditional hard-branded hotel, the core selling feature is the highly controlled, uniform guest experience across every hotel with the same name. In contrast, the soft brand allows the hotel to be special, characterized by the geography and culture of the region in which it is situated and the history of its own creation; only service standards and soft touches are maintained across all properties stamped with the same soft brand. In short, the soft brand creates a synergistic relationship between the service standards associated with a brand and the character of an independent hotel.