2012 Hotel Group Brand Vulnerability Study | Introduction
“Ok, I don’t like to disturb you at what I know must be a
difficult and distressing time for you, but I need to know first of all if
you actually realize that this is a difficult and distressing time for you.”
-- From “The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul” by Douglas Adams
Almost two years ago, cg42 was established with a simple goal – to help businesses align the
operations, finance, and marketing functions behind the core principle of creating customers. We felt that many of the traditional approaches to growth strategy had not kept pace with the changing face of today’s informed and demanding consumer, and did not provide the business leader with the insight required to make the hard strategic choices that can position their organizations for long-term success.
We developed our proprietary approach to Brand Vulnerability to help our clients identify and fix
the frustrations that were causing their customers to leave and to exploit the frustrations that their competitors’ customers are experiencing. In multiple categories, we have helped clients leverage this information to redefine their brands, offerings, service experiences, policies, and procedures to remove the customer frustrations that cause attrition. The results have been eye-opening.
Our first publicly available study of Brand Vulnerability was conducted on the Retail Banking category in 2011. We predicted historic levels of customer defection and diagnosed the unique reasons why each of the major players would be experiencing increased attrition in a category characterized by a high degree of inertia – and our findings have proven to be prophetic. This is unfortunate, since we had also hoped that the information could provide a platform for the major players to create real and lasting improvement in their brand experiences. Sometimes a true diagnosis of a problem can lead to lasting change, but we have yet to see that part of the story come to fruition.
In our second publicly available study, we are examining Brand Vulnerability in the hospitality category. Specifically, this study examines the vulnerability of the major hotel groups and their loyalty programs among their most valuable customers – the primary frequent-traveler member. As you will see, we look at the inter-relationship between the loyalty program and the associated hotel brands and properties, to understand how the frustrations of the frequent traveler influence their likelihood to change loyalties. Similar to the first Brand Vulnerability study, there are some clear “winners” and some brands that are facing significant challenges. We hope that a deeper understanding of the frustrations that contribute to vulnerability will lead to real and lasting change – and, therefore, a more rewarding and fulfilling experience for their most valuable customers and the opportunity to capture a greater share of these most-valuable customers’ travel dollars.
We hope you will see how Brand Vulnerability Analysis can be a very powerful tool for businesses looking to quantify the impact of their challenges in financial terms and how it can help to identify immediate competitive vulnerabilities on which a brand can capitalize to position it for accelerated growth.
Always remember – DON’T PANIC!
