MCLEAN, VA—In order to meet the changing needs of travelers, Conrad Hotels & Resorts has repositioned its brand for the smart luxury traveler.
As part of Stay Inspired, a global initiative across each of its 24 properties, the brand has begun rolling out Conrad 1/3/5, a customized collection of one-, three- and five-hour experiences through the Conrad Concierge mobile app and StayInspired.com. The experiences were curated by Nilou Motamed, Conrad’s first ever director of inspiration. She has previously served as editor-in-chief of Condé Nast’s digital food brand, Epicurious, and features director and senior correspondent for Travel + Leisure.
Conrad defines its guests as smart luxury travelers. “That’s a traveler that wants luxury service but on their own terms—not just the bling and white tablecloths and people standing at attention, but a more genuine experience that still feels like you’re being pampered,” Motamed said.
StayInspired.com offers the ability to save and share Conrad 1/3/5 itineraries; access custom content such as photos, videos and maps; and book a room and an experience through the hotel’s concierge. On property, concierges will be equipped with tablet devices to guide guests through the itineraries. Motamed said, “It enables you to have an enriching, local experience. That’s crucial in a moment of time where our social currency is really tied to—especially on Instagram and our social platforms—our experiences and how cool we look. Storytelling is so important to enabling people to feel like they’re not experiencing something at a surface level.”
And, of course, guests will be encouraged to engage via social media and the hashtag #StayInspired. “It’s crucial for brands to have a voice and a way to communicate directly to guests, but in an authentic manner. Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are the ultimate travel activators, but consumers know when we’re being sold, and no one wants that anymore,” said Motamed.
“What’s important to note is that Stay Inspired isn’t just a content platform; it’s also a complete overhaul of the traditional concierge experience,” she continued. “Our aim is to turn what used to be a simple transactional experience between a concierge and a guest who was looking for a car booking or a restaurant reservation, and it was very much [judged by]how quickly and efficiently it happened. Now, we’re incorporating storytelling.”
The Stay Inspired experiences have been broken down by time and by interests across six passion points: food, arts and culture, shopping, wellness, active/adventure and family,” said Motamed. “I really wanted them to feel casual and digitally toned, so not overly lengthy or wordy—a little bit like an email from your friend in Rome about his favorite recommendation.” Motamed noted that one of her biggest frustrations with travel publications—and she was once a perpetrator of this herself—was there’s no itinerary in the recommendations. “We would give a city guide—hotels, restaurants, galleries, shops—and they’re not anywhere near each other,” she said. “In a city like Paris, in Tokyo, New York, where do I begin? All travel content should be packaged together in the form of itineraries. We want to enable people, if they choose to, to have a really self-sufficient experience.”
Motamed noted that the itineraries are very rich, but can expand and contract. “I’ve made something like walking around Nolita a three-hour experience. I’ve personally done that for an entire day,” she said. “It’s not spoon-feeding—there’s a lot there to discover, too. We just want to make sure if they’re doing a shopping outing, they have a great coffee place to stop at.” In addition, Motamed steered clear of trendy destinations. “If you focus too much on the hot, buzzy place of the moment, there’s the risk it won’t be nearly as buzzy in five minutes.” She noted that the experiences needed to be both evergreen, but not well trammeled. “We want them off the beaten track, but not so much so that the guest would feel out of their element. They’re accessible, they’re evergreen, but of course there’s going to be some modifications as we continue putting them online,” she said.
A major part of the new brand initiative is a cultural shift in how employees approach guest interactions. Specifically, the brand now trains all of its team members to be storytellers of their destinations. “That’s a seismic shift in the way hotels do business,” said Motamed. “My favorite thing to do is to ask the bellman where he goes for late-night ramen, and I feel like some staff felt comfortable doing that but others felt it wasn’t really their role. We’re shifting the role: it’s not just the concierge’s role; all of the outward facing team are curators and ambassadors for the destination.”
According to Motamed, this transition has been smooth. “It’s actually so gratifying to see that it’s actually not a difficult thing to do,” she said. “When we devised the training, we had the concern that it would be challenging to roll out. But, I can tell you from personal experience, having been at the properties, seeing the change and enthusiasm and engagement we’re getting from the team since they have had the training—there’s a real engagement on their part because they do love their homes, they do love their cities and they now have the opportunity to showcase them. Storytelling is not something super common in training. In a previous era of service, the goal was never to tell a good story. We’re empowering the team members to tap into their natural hospitality and talk about their favorite places, where they may have felt previously that that was not OK.”
Motamed noted that this is true not just of aiding the guests with external experiences, but interactions within the hotel as well. “What I’m really impressed by is one of the elements of the training is for them to use their own judgment,” she said, noting that, if she has a stuffy nose, “As my room is being made up, if they see I’ve got a box of tissues, they can go ahead and bring me tea. They don’t have to ask permission. We want them to feel like they’re engaging with the guest in a much more natural and holistic way.
“For any brand to be relevant in today’s marketplace, it needs to deliver what it feels is a true and valuable service for its client. The Stay Inspired initiative really is an answer to that,” continued Motamed. “It fulfills a need within the hospitality space that was previously unmet.”