Introduce the chain. Brand shiny new chain. With a great coffee, great service every time. The dream had arrived.
But they went too far. Copy cat chains but more crucially, local independent shops upped their game. Forcing Starbucks, to retain their margins & share price to
We’re living in a post-industrial society.
Where once, people responded to the familiarity and consistency of the mass produced, today’s quality bar is more likely to be set at unique, curious, engaging.
Take this Starbucks branch in Dazaifu, Japan, designed by celebrated architect Kengo Kuma. The uninspired, if familiar and friendly vibe of the coffee giant’s cookie-cutter stores is barely anywhere to be seen at this outpost.
Even Starbucks, with it’s 23,000 stores globally, wants to be boutique, authentic, and relevant.
Starbucks have two sets of customers. Their locals. Who want a local starbucks, that’s familiar, follows their local customs & traditions.
But what’s new, is travelers when they travel no longer want familiar. They want local.
build a personal product, for us it’s local homes, with local materials, local cultures
tell that personal story
Be true to yourself, be local, be unique. How can you make the most of what. You’re so lucky here with steeped in local & historical cultures
[PICTURE OF BORING HOTEL ROOM]
100 years ago - large, homogenous hotel chains were our saviours. They gave us safe drinking water. They gave us air-conditioning. We knew exactly what to expect. Allowed us to travel the world in complete confidence.
But times have changed. The local independent hotels have safe drinking water, they have air-con. And guess what, we dont’ want to know what to expect.
Consumers are more independent and all the markets are showing it.
Consumers don’t want the same holiday as everyone else. They want a personal experience.
They don’t want to have the same holiday repeated all over the world. They want a local/unique experience.
So where does this leave us?
This is why you’re seeing a decline in package holiday sites like lastminute.com and a massive boom in companies like booking.com secretescapes.com for independent hotels or villas.com airbnb.com or home owners.
Our model is disruptive – we provide an assured, upscale experience in distinctive private homes while the owners are out of town.
A property management service for homeowners allows us to unlock exclusive inventory for guests, setting the stage for a unique experience.
For guests, onefinestay sets the stage – we curate the collection of homes carefully, and pair them with crisp linens, towels, toiletries and even an iPhone stocked with local recommendations. Plus we’re on hand 24/7 should guests need anything else during their stay.
You have the get the fundamentals of the service right. It’s where hotels have a head start & where Airbnb hosts, who are thrown into this world for the first time, struggle.
This is true mass-customisation & cannot be forgot when talking about going personal, unique, local
How do you execute assured yet authentic experiences at scale?
Get the fundamentals right
For us that means taking care to curate the portfolio of homes to ensure they’re in safe, desirable neighbourhoods and that they meet our guests’ needs in terms of amenities and functionality
Providing a number of services, including cleaning, providing linens, towels and toiletries
24/7 customer service, through booking to meet & greet and for the duration of the stay
LOCAL
personal, toys, books, artwork
In hospitality, this trend has been pronounced as travellers have become increasingly independent.
With this, traditional ideas of luxury travel have evolved and there’s been immense growth of boutique and design hotels.
The home as the ultimate expression of the ‘boutique’ experience – inimitable and completely unique.
Contrary to the idea that homestays tend to appeal to price-sensitive end of the market, there’s an across-the-board desire for this kind of authentic experience. RAISING the bar – an extra, another desired dimension to the experience.
Tell the story. Be everywhere. … BUT get them to tell the story.
The good news. Thanks to such emerging dominance of the internet & coverage of sites like google, booking, flip key - it’s never been easier to access these people.
Build trust through multiple sources. It’s not enough to just use Google, booking.com, flipkey, homeaway > facebook, instagram, twitter, pinterest, trip advisor
The secret here is to cover off on most of the channels to build trust.
Tell a story, don’t show a feature
Connect with bloggers. Get personal with them. Again don’t show. Tell the story.
build a personal product, for us it’s local homes, with local materials, local cultures
tell that personal story
Be true to yourself, be local, be unique. How can you make the most of what. You’re so lucky here with steeped in local & historical cultures