• Risk of Losing Identity: Yes, there’s a risk that your property might lose its unique identity under a management company’s branding. Maintaining the property’s distinct character while under the umbrella of a larger brand is a nuanced challenge.

• Self-Branding Efforts: Building your own brand is an alternative, though it comes with its own set of challenges:

  • Target Audience: Best suited for very inexperienced or highly experienced owners.
  • Investment Required: Requires a significant investment of money and time, especially in advertising and senior leadership.
  • High Risk: Often results in high fixed costs with a slow return on investment (ROI), and there’s a notable risk of not seeing any significant improvement in revenue or profits despite considerable marketing expenses.

• Industry Practice in Bali:

  • Ownership vs. Branding: Many large hotels in Bali are not owned by the brand names advertised but operate under management/marketing agreements with local owners or companies.
  • Successful Model: This model, popular since the early ’90s, offers a win-win situation for both management companies and local owners, leveraging global brand expansion and local expertise.

While there is a considerable risk associated with losing a property’s unique identity when managed by a larger brand, the alternative of self-branding presents significant challenges and uncertainties. Engaging with management companies offers benefits like brand recognition and operational expertise but requires careful consideration to balance brand influence with maintaining property uniqueness.

• Owner’s Control: As an owner, you have control over profits and revenues as per the contract agreement. This ensures that you have a foundational level of control and reassurance over your property’s financial outcomes.

• Termination Policy: You have the flexibility to terminate the arrangement if we are not profitable for you. Moreover, if termination occurs within the first three months, we commit to returning our service fees, highlighting our confidence in our performance and your satisfaction.

• Management Control: For us to meet our agreed contract commitments, we need to oversee the pricing and marketing strategies. This approach is backed by over 10 years of experience and the sophisticated analysis of extensive data-points by our AI systems.

• Feedback and Adaptability: We are open to feedback and willing to adjust strategies if you have specific preferences or insights. However, it’s crucial to understand that significant deviations from our recommended strategies might necessitate adjusting target revenues and profitability expectations downwards.

• Impact on Performance: Autonomy in making pricing and marketing decisions might impact the financial performance of your property. Both the owner and manager benefit from strategies that optimize revenue and profitability, hence the emphasis on professional management.

While you retain foundational control over your property, leveraging our expertise in pricing and marketing maximizes your property’s financial success. We encourage a collaborative approach, valuing your input while guiding strategies towards agreed-upon financial goals.

If your highest priority is to gain the fastest return on investment and all other priorities are secondary, then we’re the best company to partner with.

• Preventive Selection: We focus on preventing underperformance by choosing properties with high investment grade basics and ensuring owner relationship alignment from the start. This proactive strategy aims to set a solid foundation for success.

• Brand-Building Process: We emphasize our property branding process, which we explain in detail both online and in person to our new partners. Understanding this process is key to aligning expectations and methodologies from the outset.

• Root Causes of Underperformance:

  • Mismanagement: If underperformance stems from our mismanagement, we commit to correcting issues immediately upon receiving a negative review or constructive feedback from a property partner.
  • Misalignment of Expectations: Underperformance due to misalignment between owner and manager expectations requires owner support to address. Owners are responsible for paying for maintenance and repairs, and their commitment to providing excellent guest services is crucial.

• Innovative Solutions: For issues not rooted in mismanagement or misalignment, we employ innovative and creative solutions to address underperformance. This approach underscores our flexibility and commitment to turning challenges into opportunities for improvement.

Handling underperforming properties involves a mix of preventive measures, clear communication, prompt action to address feedback, and creative problem-solving. Owners’ active involvement and support play a vital role in ensuring the success of these strategies, all while enhancing property branding.

The long-term impact on your property’s reputation and guest loyalty is dependent on your brand and one of our primary services for inspirational investment is to have inspirational branding, highlighted and explained here.