HB ON THE SCENE: 6C Lays Out Brand Strategies At Global Investors Conference

SAN DIEGO— Six Continents Hotels is now a multi-branded, global entity that faces a future solely as a hotel company. Having decided to divest its brewing business, coupled with the decision to give back loads of cash to its stockholders, 6C is now simply a lodging company that is no longer part of a publicly held, Britain-based conglomerate, and no longer a powerhouse holding the funds to take over virtually any competing hotel company of its liking. Noting that this simplified business model now provides for a sharper business focus on its core business, 6C executives presented the company’s business plans to its franchisee base at its annual investors conference here this week. The strategy laid out to the crowd of 1,600 is straight forward: to clearly define its brands in the marketplace with consistent service and product throughout its system. Staybridge Suites is putting an emphasis on its long-staying customers, rather than trying to fill units with transient guests who may be cutting into opportunities to host extended stay visitors. Holiday Inn Express has a new breakfast concept in the form of Express Start, a sharply defined breakfast experience with new, proprietary food offerings, that is being mandated for all 1,200 North American properties beginning next year. Holiday Inn has its new balanced, full-service prototype, aimed at being more appealing to developers with its lower cost per key. The carefully planned model may be used to replace aging, unrenovated Holiday Inns throughout the system, said executives. In the upscale arena, Crowne Plaza is now the “Place To Meet,” having staked its future on small to midscale meetings. And Intercontinental has its $20 million advertising campaign to pull in the international business traveler whose many needs will now be consistently met at every asset carrying the upper upscale’s moniker throughout the globe. It is the Crowne Plaza strategy that is drawing a good deal of attention at the conference in San Diego, which wraps up Friday. The brand, organically grown by 6C (then called Bass Hotels & Resorts) as an offshoot of Holiday Inn, has struggled to find its niche in the competitive upscale market, despite the fact that it has 190 hotels in 49 countries throughout the world. As a result, 6C conducted exhaustive research to prepare for the flag’s reimaging, said Kevin Kowalski, vp, marketing, for Crowne Plaza in North America. Research showed that the Crowne Plaza name doesn’t “own a space in the public’s mind,” said Kowalski, noting that the perception of its being a hybrid of Holiday Inn is limited for most. “People said Crowne Plaza is a good, upscale business hotel,” he added. 6C is building on that image by giving the brand the new tagline, “The Place To Meet.” It’s going after the corporate, association and convention market to become the leader in small and midscale business meeting, from which is already draws 40% of its business. “This is a $15 billion opportunity,” said Kowalski, noting that group business market pulls in 20% of the industry’s total revenues. Supporting “The Place To Meet” concept are three new initiatives developed as the result of focus groups with meeting planners. A Two-Hour Response Guarantee ensures that meeting planners putting out RFPs for events will hear back from a Crowne Plaza hotel within two hours, with either a proposal or request for more information. A Crowne Meetings Director (CMD), meanwhile, will be appointed at each hotel as the single point of contact throughout the entire meeting experience. The person in that slot is required to be not only a senior staff member, but a “Certified Meeting Professional.” The Meetings Daily Debrief is a daily briefing document providing updated totals on expenses to the meeting planner, providing the opportunity for questions or concerns to be raised before the meeting event is over. The Crowne Plaza brand has a new logo to support its new image; it is similar to i