The document provides recommendations for two hotel brands - Oriental Express and Pan Pacific - to improve their digital marketing strategies and move up in brand rankings. For Oriental Express, it recommends leveraging user reviews on TripAdvisor, developing a loyalty program, and allowing non-members to view experiences on its forum to better promote unique local experiences. For Pan Pacific, it suggests repositioning the brand to target business travelers by focusing on relaxation, consolidating its digital presence on websites, social media, and YouTube, and establishing a presence on LinkedIn and Pinterest. It also recommends both brands invest in digital marketing for the growing Chinese and Indian markets through platforms like Baidu, QZone, and search on Google

1. Hotel Brand Study
April 8, 2013
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Gaurav Venkateswar & Jeremy Berens
Photograph by Hotels Paris Rive Gauche

2. The Assignment
Choose two brands from L2 Think
Tank’s Hotels Digital IQ Report: one
ranked as "Average" companies, and
another ranked as "Challenged".
Briefly describe the brand identity of
each brand.
Identify and describe the strategic
challenges that each brand faces.
Make recommendations for how each
brand can move up in the rankings

3. Brand Essence
Iconic, locally authentic,
unexpectedly unique luxury
experiences
Premium sensory experience
of the Pacific Rim

4. Brand Identity
“
Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the
brand strategist aspires to create or maintain. These
associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a
promise to customers from the organization members.
!
- David A. Aaker, Building Strong Brands.
”

5. Brand Identity
“
Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to
create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a
promise to customers from the organization members.
”
!
- David A. Aaker, Building Strong Brands.
The Orient Express identifies its brand as a promise of unique experiences. It strives to present a memorable,
luxurious, and culturally authentic experience specific to each hotel’s location. These attributes are described
on their hotel web site as well as on their investor relations site. It prides itself on a diverse collection of location
“spanning land and water, adventure and relaxation, local individuality and iconic opulence.” Thus, although it is
one brand, each location feels unique to its culture (e.g., its hotel in Cuzco, Peru has Incan/Spanish qualities,
while its hotel in New York has an upbeat urban feel).
The name Orient Express harkens back to the glamorous and romanticized journey across Europe from
London to Istanbul. It operates the Venice-Simplon Orient Express as a revived version of the original train.
Their video ads evoke a sense of the classic grandeur associated with the Orient Express as well as the
unique cultural experiences offered at their hotels. Their videos communicate that a stay at one of their
properties is not merely a luxurious accommodation, but furthermore an immersion into the local culture that
surrounds it.

6. Brand Identity
“
Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategist aspires to
create or maintain. These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a
promise to customers from the organization members.
”
!
- David A. Aaker, Building Strong Brands.
Pan Pacific brands itself as a premium hotel brand blending the unique culture and heritage of the Pacific Rim
with discreet elegance and personalized service. It also emphasizes the idea that its hotels provide experiences
that enliven the senses. It identifies with a unique Pacific culture but also talks to the uniqueness amongst the
various locations in the Pacific. The blend of Pacific culture and sensory enjoyments is offered amongst other
things through fusion cuisine and unique spa treatments drawing upon elements of various Pacific cultures.
It also showcases that it has been voted as a top hotel for business travelers. There is no comprehensive
YouTube channel, but the Vancouver location has a channel where many videos talk about food creations
(e.g., making mooncakes, hard lemonade, soya and mirin sable fish, etc.), showcasing the culinary sensory
enjoyment that Pan Pacific promises.

7. Strategic Challenges
Targeting Luxury Travelers Rather than Business Travelers
Dependent on seasonality of leisure travel
Limits locations for growth as only certain cities are poised for
luxury hotels
Emphasis on Unique Local and Cultural Experiences
Locations must be compelling enough for differentiated
experience
Limits locations for growth
Skilled Management
In 2011 General Manager of Orient-Express Sydney said in
Australia there is a shortage of skilled labor for operational
management
This hotel was eventually sold in 2012 to another hotel
group
Management Structure Hinders Change
Shareholder structure and Bermuda law allows for directors
to elect themselves
Shareholders have no real say in director election
Company has poor performance but directors hold power
and infusion of new talent is difficult
Directors rejected takeover bids from Jumeirah Group
and Indian Hotels Company. Both these companies
have been performing well (much better than Oriental
Express)
Impact of Recession
Travel patterns changed as people more controlled on how
disposable income is spent
Business Meeting Destination
With economic recession, discretionary spending by
companies impacts how much revenue is earned by businessrelated travel
Voted one of the Top 25 business hotels, but its branding
efforts do not aggressively position it toward this high-value
segment
Fragmented Marketing
Limited Digital Media Presence
Facebook page is the only social platform
Pan Pacific Seattle has a YouTube page, but there are no
unified page for all locations
No presence on other social platforms
Takes away from a unified brand experience
Takes many clicks to navigate between location sections on
web site
Difficult to asses brand identity
Storyline
There is no compelling promise or story to tell
Chain feels fragmented
Differentiation
Pan Pacific does not offer compelling differentiation in its
marketing
Special spa treatments and Fusion Pan-Pacific cuisine
are easily replicated and perhaps expected at any top
hotel in the Pacific rim
Personalized service is easily replicated at any top hotel
Impact of Recession
Travel patterns changed as people more controlled on how
disposable income is spent

8. Recommendations - Overall
In terms of the “Clock Model”, we recommend
that these firms commit to an exceptionally
strong bias toward post-purchase activities.
The primary post-purchase vehicles available to
hotels are Blogs/Forums, User Reviews, Social
Networks, and Loyalty Programs. Therefore, it is
crucial that Oriental Express and Pan Pacific
develop strength in one or more of these tools.
However, it is equally important that efforts in
these arenas are consistent with the brand’s
identity and increase its ability to clear the “three
hurdles”.
The “Clock Model” is a framework modeling a firm’s
investment in customer engagement prior to
interacting in a transaction with customers (starting
at 12 o’clock), during the transaction, and after the
transaction has completed (ending at 12 o’clock).
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9. Recommendations
Oriental Express should focus on leveraging digital tools to allow customers to share/
enhance their unique local experiences far better than any competitor.
BLOGS/FORUMS: Oriental Express’ website
presently has a Traveller’s Lounge forum that
allows members to exchange details about their
experiences. However, membership requires a
previous Oriental Express stay, which makes info
about these experiences invisible to non-members
(SEE APPENDIX A). This limits the population of
travelers with which past customers can share. This
hurts Oriental Express in two ways:
Past customers are cheated of the self-expressive benefit
of bragging via experience-sharing, since fewer folks are
interacting with them or commenting about their
experiences.
Potential customers (who are not members) are not able to
learn about others’ experiences, which would potentially
entice them to stay at an Oriental Express property and
spend additional dollars on tours/adventures.

10. Recommendations
USER REVIEWS: Given that so much of Oriental Express’ brand identity is based on
unique experiences, user reviews lend credibility and authenticity to Oriental Express’
marketed adventures. Thus, it is crucial that Oriental Express maintain its brand equity on
TripAdvisor, the king of travel user review sites.
Presently, Oriental Express’ flagship Venice
Simplon-Orient-Express train experience has
overwhelmingly positive TripAdvisor reviews.
However, it does still have six average ratings, six
poor ratings, and 1 terrible rating. Of these 13 lessthan-stellar reviews, Oriental Express only
responded to one. If it does such a poor job of
managing these negative reviews on its flagship
experiences, it likely does the same or worse on
less popular offerings. Thus, we recommend that
Oriental Express invest in an employee dedicated to
managing the brand’s TripAdvisor image/presence.
Failing to do so, in a world where 63% of travelers
consult reviews before booking (SEE APPENDIX C),
is a significant misstep.

11. Recommendations
LOYALTY PROGRAM: At present, Oriental Express lacks a loyalty program, which puts them at a
disadvantage in terms of data capture and the associated leveraging of customer info/preferences
to increase “number of stays” or “spend per stay” (SEE APPENDIX C). Consistent with its identity, we
recommend that Oriental Express launch a loyalty program aimed at capturing customer info
regarding preferred types of experiences (adventure vs. leisure; on-resort vs. off-resort; etc.). This
loyalty program should establish switching costs by being linked to award experiences (i.e. X
amount of loyalty points can be redeemed for unique local experiences/tours OR purchase of these
experiences/tours translates to X amount of loyalty points). It should also tie-in with an investment in
customer relationship management software that automatically sends an e-mail to a member postexperience. The e-mail should contain a link to a survey specific to the member’s recent Oriental
Express experiences/activities. It will solicit specific experience feedback, which Oriental Express
can use to improve their experiences.
An email marketing strategy capitalizes on mobile/tablet users' tendency to open most e-mails (SEE
APPENDIX C). In addition, users survey responses will automatically update their profile, thereby
provided Oriental Express with a better picture of their interests. This will provide Oriental Express
more information that can be used to sell them future stays/experiences. This loyalty profile can also
capture customers' Twitter handles, which Oriental Express can use to follow up with customers
post-experience, or to proactively market to customers about future experiences. At a later time,
Oriental Express can send targeted tweets based upon customers' experience preferences. Oriental
Express presently uses its Twitter account to retweet customers' positive feedback or share
untargeted information about its properties, which are less powerful activities (SEE APPENDIX B).

12. Recommendations
The heart of Pan Pacific's branding problem stems from its unclear positioning. It stresses its
"sensory experiences" and good service, but so do many other brands, and Pan Pacific’s
offerings do not appear adequately differentiated from other hotels' properties. Rather than
investing resources in trying to outdo competitors' whose sensory experiences are better
positioned, we recommend that Pan Pacific reposition its brand.
BUSINESS TRAVELER: Given that Pan Pacific was voted
one of the Top 25 business hotels, we recommend that it
reposition its brand to aggressively target high-value
business travelers. Its brand essence should be
“
”
complete relaxation for all of the business traveler's senses
This allows Pan Pacific to leverage the sensory-focused
assets that it has already acquired/developed in order to
pursue a new target segment with which it has already
developed significant traction.

13. Recommendations
CONSOLIDATED DIGITAL MARKETING: Consistent with this recommendation, we suggest that Pan
Pacific focus on clarifying their brand's position in the market by sharpening their website's messaging/
branding to clearly target business travelers. A brand's website is one of the core components of its image
and therefore should be Pan Pacific’s primary area of concern near-term. All imagery and copy should convey
the message that Pan Pacific is the place where business travelers can relax after a long day of work.
Consistent with this effort to clarify the brand's messaging, Pan Pacific should make some changes on the
Facebook platform, as well. More specifically, Pan Pacific presently has a main Facebook page, as well as
site-specific pages. This multitude of pages and page-owners makes it difficult to convey a consistent unified
message. Hence, we recommend that Pan Pacific eliminate the site pages, keep the main page, and clarify its
Facebook messaging just as we proposed for the website.
The same is true of Pan Pacific Twitter handles. Each hotel has a separate handle but there is no consolidated
handle. It may be wise to maintain both individual handles and a consolidated one. The latter can serve to be
a main point of communication and can route tweets to individual handles as necessary. Twitter should
ultimately be used to engage users post-purchase and doing so from site-specific handles might make more
sense in this case.
Similarly, Pan Pacific Seattle has a YouTube channel, but other locations do not seem to have one. The brand
needs a consolidated YouTube page.
This speaks to the need for Pan Pacific to maintain a master-brand architecture, rather than trying to support
site-specific sub-brands.

14. Recommendations
OTHER DIGITAL MARKETING: Our final recommendation is for Pan Pacific to establish a
master-brand presence on other social sites. To cater to the business market, Pan Pacific
should post on LinkedIn by posting Pan Pacific articles about relaxation for the business
traveler. If resources allow, it should consider generating this content itself, in order to stress
the importance of sensory experiences and tightly control the message.
Pinterest is another potential option for posting visuals around relaxation for the business
travel and the sensory experience.

15. China
Recommendations
Many accounts and studies indicate the current trend for future
growth in high-end markets is catering to Chinese consumers. In
luxury and high-end fashion products, a large segment of mainland
Chinese are voraciously consuming goods, and even traveling to
Europe for shopping sprees to avoid value-added tax on imported
goods in China. The CEO of Pan Pacific and the General Manager
of Oriental Express Sydney have both indicated that In China is a
hot market for tourism. Domestic tourism is an important source of
consumer growth and tourism revenue has been growing for over a
decade. According to the China National Tourism Administration,
the number of domestic trips jumped 54 percent from 1996 to
2006. The government has helped to support this trend by easing
travel restrictions, and increasing the number of mandatory public
holidays in order to drive tourism demand. In particular Chinese
workers now have two “golden weeks” as part of their mandatory
national holidays; during one of these weeks in 2009, tourism
generated nearly 7.7 billion renminbi in revenue. Chinese tourists
spent $102 billion on foreign trips last year, 41 per cent more than
Paid
Search
Result
Chinese
Sharing
Banner
Ad for
Starwood
the year before. Thus there is a strong domestic and international
market for Chinese travelers. As part of the Digital IQ methodology,
Chinese-specific platforms should be factored in. Baidu is China's
largest search engine and according to a 2012 study commanded
78.3% market share with Google only at 16.7% share. Luxury
brands such as Prada, Burberry, Hermès, Chanel, Louis Vuitton,
and Ermenegildo Zegna already appear to have banner ads when
testing searches on Baidu.com. In contrast, when testing top 21
hotels from L2's report using Baidu, only Starwood Properties and
Intercontinental showed up with banner ads. For any Starwood
property, the ad that came up was not for the individual hotel (e.g.,
not for W Hotel, or Westin), but a generic Starwood Hotel banner
ad. If the Chinese market is a growth area then part of a strong
digital marketing strategy should include investment in paid search
on Baidu (as well as Google China). The strategy should also
include Chinese social network such as QZone, which has
approximately 712 million users today.

16. India
Recommendations
The CEO of Pan Pacific and the General Manager of Oriental Express Sydney have also both indicated that
India is another market to watch.
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“
India seems to be getting popular among investors
particularly, Indian nationals who are residing in the
Europe or US and are returning to India to invest in their
home countries.
PATRICK IMBARDELLI
”
President and CEO
Pan Pacific Hotels Group
There may be an opportunity to purchase keywords relating to travel to India (however at the moment neither
brands have locations in India). Furthermore, both brands can invest on keywords specifically in Google India
as part of the pre-purchase cycle for Indian business and leisure travelers.
!

17. Appendix A - Orient Express Members-Only Forum

18. Appendix B - Orient Express Untargeted Tweets

19. Appendix C - L2 Projections & Findings

20. Appendix D - Pan Pacific Homepage

21. Appendix E - Sources
Web Sites
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/11/29/at-orient-express-the-board-holds-all-the-cards/
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/13/technology/thebuzz/index.htm
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Relax/Story/A1Story20130406-414047.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02tourist.html?_r=0
http://www.orient-express.com
http://www.panpacific.com
http://www.techinasia.com/social-media-and-social-marketing-china-stats-2013/
http://www.l2thinktank.com/research/hotels-2013
Other Articles
BISWorld Industry Report G4611-GL Global Hotels & Resorts, September 2012, Nima Samadi
Hotel & Accommodation Management; Feb2011, Vol. 15 Issue 1, p70-70, 1p, 1 Color Photograph
Hotel & Accommodation Management; Feb2012, Vol. 16 Issue 1, p38-38, 1p
Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. 2011 Annual Report