Reviving a Heritage Luxury Hotel Brand
Overview
When Marriott Luxury Group took on a storied luxury hotel brand, leadership had a big question in front of them: is there still value in the name, and if so, what should they do with it? I led the qualitative research that helped them weigh a possible revival as an ultra-luxury brand in Europe and beyond, and I brought leadership strategic recommendations on how to approach it, from how the brand could sit within the wider portfolio to how its identity could travel.
The question
Does a heritage brand still carry meaning for today’s luxury travelers, and is that meaning worth building on? If it came back, would it stand alone or sit alongside Marriott’s existing luxury portfolio? What does ultra-luxury actually require of a hotel, and how far can a distinctly Italian brand travel without losing what makes it special?
The approach
I ran a multi-stage digital study over several days with affluent, well-traveled luxury travelers across Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia. Rather than treat the brand as a set of awareness and preference scores, I looked at it as living culture: the stories, memories and imagination that surround it. From there, I explored what ultra-luxury means to this audience, how different ways of structuring the brand would land with them, how they see the competitive landscape, and what a revival and international expansion would need to honor.
Outcome
The research gave leadership a clear, human view of the brand and the decisions in front of them. The final report covered:
- The mythology around the brand: what people know, remember and imagine, and the world it calls up
- What a revival should protect and what it needs to evolve
- How the brand could be structured within the portfolio, and who each option is built for
- What ultra-luxury asks of a hotel today
- How brand identity can travel, and where it needs to adapt to local culture
- A map of the ultra-luxury landscape and the tensions that organize it
I brought leadership strategic recommendations: guardrails and risks for each path the brand could take, a view on how to approach a revival, and principles for taking it international. The goal was to give them something to act on, so they could make the decision with confidence.