Defining Your Difference: How To Write A Hotel Positioning Statement
What We’ll Cover:
What is positioning?
Why does my hotel need positioning?
How to position your hotel
Key components of a strong hotel positioning statement
What is Positioning?
Hotel positioning is the strategic process of shaping how guests perceive your brand and what makes it different.
It defines the associations people make about your hotel, typically centered on:
Who you are
What you offer
How you’re different from the competition
In simple terms, hotel positioning explains why a guest should choose your hotel over any other option.
Why does my hotel need positioning?
In today’s competitive landscape, strong hotel brand positioning is what separates properties that compete on price from those that compete on value. A well-positioned hotel attracts the right guests, builds loyalty, and creates a clear reason to book, even at a premium.
Effective positioning enables you to:
Connect with Customers
Positioning defines how your hotel benefits guests, therefore demonstrating relevance, instilling trust, and driving purchase.
Differentiate Within the Brand
For branded hotels, localized positioning allows you to highlight the attributes that make your hotel stand out among the rest—all while still staying true to the brand pillars that customers expect.
Incorporate Relevant Experiences
Clear positioning provides direction for how you can craft consistent, ownable start-to-finish experiences throughout the hotel—anything from in-room extras to bookable excursions.
Create Consistent Messaging
Engagement with your brand starts well before a guest walks through your door, and clear positioning serves as the foundation for all touchpoints including your marketing and advertising efforts and staff engagement.
Key components of a strong hotel positioning statement
Once you’ve gathered all your information, it can be helpful to use a template to start writing your brand positioning statement. There are dozens of these fill-in-the-blank templates listed on many branding websites, but often these templates result in an obvious and generic positioning platform. Logic and data alone will not lead to a unique and motivating hotel positioning–you need to add in your creative interpretation of your observations, insights, and key findings.
Whether you want to use a positioning statement formula or free-style your own, these are the components that ensure your positioning can appropriately guide how you want people to perceive and experience your brand.
Target Audience: Describe what they are like and what they are looking for in a hotel
Offer: Define your unique value
Hotel Pillars: Choose 3-4 pillars that capture what you do well and what makes you stand out from the competition
Essential Benefit: Explain what guests get out of their stay
To write a positioning statement using a formula, it could flow something like this:
For [Target Audience], who are seeking [Experience], [Hotel Name] offers [Unique Value] by delivering [Pillars/Differentiators], so guests experience [Essential Benefit].
Ready to get started? Download our free Hotel Positioning Guide to craft a clear, differentiated brand positioning.
What You’ll Find Inside
Best practices for crafting a unique and memorable hotel positioning
Additional territories to inspire your thinking
Suggested AI prompts to guide and refine your process
