2nd ITB Hospitality Day: Talk about multi-sensor technology
Augsburg (February 2, 2007). Chanel needs to sound, Lego needs to taste and the i-pod needs to smell. The industry is working on multi-sensory brands and now, the first hotel chains are following suit. Westin Hotels, for example, will smell like white tea with geraniums and freesias, and "signature music" will accompany its guests around the globe. Brands are developing a personality by addressing all senses of their customers. How do you manage this? A question to be solved during a discussion at ITB's second "Hospitality Day" on 8 March in Berlin. The panellists are hoteliers, brand creators from the industry and inventors of multisensoric images. hospitalityInside.com will be the media partner of the ITB hotel conference for the second time.
There will be no decision without emotions. Everybody knows this: whether buying a car or clothes, when choosing the champagne on a warm holiday evening... The industry's brand strategists have been using this "feeling" for a long time. Established brands benefit from long-term market presence which leads to an automatism when making the buying decision according to the pattern of "I know it, I need it, I don't need to think about it".
The worlds of fashion, architecture and design already extensively use the senses. When interior designers such as Matteao Thun, fashion designers like Armani or home decorating companies such as Culti from Italy enter the hotel business, there is a lot of staging and emotionalism involved. In future, hotels will address the senses of their guests. This can be explained from a medical and biological point of view: "In our brain, a large number of neurons react to a stimulus that is seen, heard and felt at the same time with much more intensity than on the individual stimuli. Up to ten times as intense, as soon as stimuli come from several channels at once," explained Dr. Hans-Georg Haeusel, member of the managing board of directors of the consultancy Gruppe Nymphenburg Retail Consult in Munich at a congress.
The first step towards differentiation is brand design. This changes the optical perception of a brand. Just recently, the professionals increasingly focused on the other senses, namely those of hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. But how should a hotel and a hotel brand, respectively, find its sound, smell or taste?
Last year Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced the introduction of multi-sensory technology chainwide as the first global hotel group. Sue Brush, Global Brand Manager for Westin will explain the group's efforts and success. At her side will be a representative of the Hyatt Corporation. Hyatt just started to introduce smell in some hotels.
Uli Mayer-Johanssen, founder and chairwoman of the branding agency metadesign in Berlin will explain how it works to connect company namens and brands with smell, taste and sound. Bernd Michael Strategic Advisor of the internationally know advertising agency Grey will contribute the marketing value of the multisensoric technology.
The talk will be moderated by Gerhard Fuchs, Managing Director of the consulting firm "die fuechse" in Munich. He would like to find out if this new sensuality makes sense. "Hotels love to sell emotions today," he questions, "but the question is: Are emotions already there or will the guest have to bring emotions?"
The discussion "Brands + multi-sensor technology: Hotels have to smell and taste" is to take place on Thursday, March 8 from 12.30 to 13.30 p.m. in Hall 7.1 a, Auditorium New York 1. It's free of charge for all ITB visitors. / map
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