Luxury Hospitality Brand: Hotel de Russie Analysis and Recommendations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the luxury brand management of Hotel de Russie, focusing on its brand identity and marketing strategies within the hospitality sector. The study utilizes the brand identity prism to evaluate the hotel's positioning and challenges, including maintaining its luxury image, managing marketing communications, and navigating the 'dream equation'. The analysis covers various aspects, such as the hotel's physique, personality, culture, self-image, reflection, and relationship with customers. It also addresses challenges like brand personality, authenticity, and brand extension. The report offers recommendations for improving online presence, managing customer footfall, and expanding into new markets. The conclusion highlights Hotel de Russie's strong global presence and its ability to attract premium customers by providing top-quality services aligned with customer expectations. Furthermore, it suggests incorporating long-term packages and an in-house tour and travel team to enhance customer satisfaction and strengthen the brand's market position.

Running head: LUXURY BRAND MANGEMENT
LUXURY BRAND MANGEMENT
Name of the student
Name of University
Author note

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Analysis
Image is the most important element for any luxury band especially in the hotel and
hospitality sector. For the purpose of establishing the brand identity the report will use the
brand identity prism for analyzing the position of the selected hotel i.e. Hotel de Russie,
Rome.
The diagram of the brand identity prism is:
The parameters and elements of the brand identity prism are as follows:
i) Picture of the Sender: At the top of the prism is the first parameter i.e. picture of
the sender. This is the initial part of the motive of the management of the
company, where it tries to project the image of the brand to the customers.
(Andreea, 2018). This is the portion which reflects how the management actually
wants the brand to be positioned in the market. In most cases it can be seen that

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there is a large difference between what the company wants and what actually the
customer receives. This is composed with several elements and forms integral part
of the brand management process.
For Hotel De Russie, this section is the actually the vision of the company and
how the management wants to see the brand. As it is a luxury hotel, the
management wants the customers to visualize the hotel as an aspirational product
so that it can target the niche customers. This will help the hotel to charge
premium prices for their services.
ii) Externalization: This is the second parameter of the brand identity prism which
reflects the external parameters such as physique, relationship and reflection that
helps the recipient of the service to form and image in the minds of the customer.
Therefore, externalization help the customer to get an image of the product or
concerned service before availing it.
iii) Internalization: This is the third parameter of the brand identity prism where it
concentrates on the internal values of the product or service. It is focused on the
after effects of providing or other experiencing the service by the customer.
iv) Picture: Picture of the brand is the fourth parameter of the brand identity prism
where the customer forms an image about the concerned product or service. This
is the composed picture which is formed and actually helps the customer to avail
the service. On the other hand, it is the element which attracts customers towards
the service and help them to earn revenue (Uggla, 2016).
The De Russie‘s management firstly, wants to picture the hotel as a luxury
brand so that it can attract the rich customers who shall be able to pay premium
price for their services.
v) Physique: This is the first element of the brand identity prism which is composed
of the physical evidence of the concern brand. This is defined by the visual
features of the concerned brand and helps the customer to visualize the brand and

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align them with the required services. This is the first aspect which attracts the
customer and help them to identify the perspective of the service being provided
to them.
Hotel De Russie’s physique comprises of the location of the hotel i.e.
Outskirts of Rome, the architecture used to construct the interior and the exterior
of the building, the design of the hotel i.e. vintage Roman Style which portrays the
ancient history of the region and final the added exotic structures such as the pool
and common areas.
vi) Personality: This is the second element of the brand identity prism which helps the
customer to identify the type of service which he or she shall receive after availing
the concerned product or service. This helps the brand to establish itself as a
necessity or luxury. On the other hand, the personality of a service helps to align
the needs of the customer with the service being provided by the company.
Hotel De Russie has a premium personality. It is one of the most
expensive hotels in the world and charges premium prices for its services.
From this piece of information, we know that the brand has a luxurious and
esteemed personality.
vii) Culture: This is the third element of the brand identity prism where it helps the
customer to realize the kind of service which he or she shall experience after
availing it. This portion reflects the background or history of the product and its
alignment with the culture of origin.
From the structure and architecture of the hotel it can be understood that the
roman culture is deep rooted in the concept of the hotel. The designs also reflect
the roman culture and forms the base and visual point of attraction for the
customers

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viii) Self-image: This is the fourth element of the brand identity prism which helps the
customer to position himself or herself after using the particular product or brand
concerned. With the help of this element the customers feel aligned with the
service of the concern brand.
The hotel has positioned itself in such a way that the future and present
customers visualize it as an achievement to visit the destination. For the customers
who belong to the middle income group views it as a once in a lifetime
opportunity to visit the place.
ix) Reflection: This is the fifth element of the brand identity prism where the
associated brand portrays itself to the target customers of the company. It is quite
similar to self-image this is the other side where the brand tries to align its motives
and position with the satisfaction level and experience of the customer.
This is the element where the hotel tries to position itself as a premium brand
in the market. Advertisements are very essential to fulfill this objective and create
awareness and attract premium customers for the brand.
x) Relation: This is the sixth and the final element of the brand identity prism. This is
the portion where the customer reflects the services or rather the experience of the
service with the associated brand. This aspect includes both tangible and
intangible experience of the service of the concerned brand where the customer
either is satisfied or dissatisfied with the services of the brand. If the service
successfully fulfils the needs of the brand, then it forms a positive image in the
minds of the customer and if the service fails to portray a positive image in the
minds of the customer then the longevity of the relationship ends at that moment
(Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2015).

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Lastly, relationship is essential part of the service industry. The most
important part of the hotel industry is the establishment of long term relationship with
the customer. In addition, they can also refer other customers and act as indirect
influencers for the luxury brand. This is only possible by providing the best service to
maintain the level of quality that it claims to offer.
Critical Reflection
The most integral part of a luxury brand is to position itself as an aspiration product in
the market. Moreover, to fulfil the motives of the brand it is quite challenging to attract niche
customers into the realm of hospitality and deliver the services through premium offerings.
Therefore, the challenges and failures of a luxury brand concerned in the hotel industry are as
follows
Failure in brand personality one of the main factors that luxury brands fail to deliver
is to position itself as a premium brand in the market. Premium pricing is not the only tool to
established itself as an esteemed brand. There must be some uniqueness and point of
differentiation where the hotel can prove that the services provided are better than its
competitors.
Maintenance of authenticity another essential element which is often overlooked by
the premium hotel industry is authenticity. Here hotel De Russie tries to maintain the Roman
tradition through its architecture and design (Liu et al.,2017). Moreover, authenticity defines
the luxury and the level of satisfaction that a customer achieves after the experience.
Brand extension open it has been seen that to maintain the high pricing of luxury
products and services the brand limits its expansion so that the brand value is maintained. But
this is a very shallow strategy that limits the revenue of the company. Moreover, the

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customers especially in the service industry main get monotonous feeling and ship to other
options being provided by the competitors.
To fulfil the dream equation for the luxury brand marketers, need to think ok beyond
traditional communication and banking on the authenticity of the luxury hotel. The points that
should be inculcated are as follows
Avoiding the mass market and concentrating on the niche market. Increasing footfalls
for luxury hotel can backfire the marketers as it would be perceived as a common product and
will affect the brand image of the company.
Maintaining a low elasticity of demand with price unlike other products which are
targeted to the mass market decreasing price would increase the footfalls. But in case of
luxury products, it has been seen that increasing the price of the brand attracts more premium
customers and the process helps in increasing the profit margin per customer (Kompella,
2014).
Limiting the distribution limiting the distribution process helps in maintenance of
superior quality of the additional products and services being availed by the customers
through the base service.
Recommendations
Firstly, to attract more premium customers towards the hotel big mass increase the
online presence through various booking sites and advertise in the social media so that more
people gets aware of the products and services being offered in the hotel (Atwal & Williams,
2017). Moreover, it should also use the advantage of its location and increase the service
profile of the brand and must use locations in the brand promotion to attract more premium

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customers. The next action it can use is to limit the total footfalls of customers for a particular
point of time so that the excitement among the people increases. In addition, it should slowly
increase the prices to generate maximum revenue for the company. (Farhana, 2014). The
final option for the company is expanding in future markets. Many African countries like
Nigeria and Uganda are growing at an exponential rate. The brand must cease the opportunity
and act immediately so that the premium customers in these areas can be attracted. Moreover,
the mentioned countries have rich resources of wildlife and forest destinations which can be
used as a tool to attract more premium customers. Moreover, expansion in these areas will
help to strengthen the market and will provide an edge over the competitors.
Long-term packages must be enabled to the customers. For instance, the company
connecting various destinations if the presence of the luxury hotels are present in more than
one country must arrange a chain-based tour.
The management of the concerned luxury hotel must appoint an in house tour and
travel team. This will help the company to find the premium customers. Depending on the
third parties results in changes in prices and alterations in services. Further, the tour and
travel team must enable and take care of the logistics facility to enhance the level of customer
satisfaction.
Conclusion
From the above study we can conclude that hotel de Russie has a strong presence not only in
Italy but also throughout the world. Firstly, the proper has started with a brief introduction of
the hotel and provided specific insights to prove itself as a luxury brand. Next the report in
the analysis portion has used the brand identity prism to specifically find out the features and
objectives off the brand. From this we understood that for a luxury product is the most

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important facet for justifying the high prices of its services. To attract the premium
customers, the service being provided in the hotel must be of top quality and must align with
the expectations of the customer. Moreover, the hotel must follow specific handbooks and
structures so that any mishap can be solved and solutions are always ready to decrease the
level of dissatisfaction towards the brand. Online presence is an important aspect for the
company because this will increase the total number of potential customers for the company
(Cervellon & Galipienzo, 2015). Using social media effectively can help the company to
increase the number of premium customers and earn more profits. Lastly to increase the
longevity off the brand it must use expansionary tools to enter future markets.

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References
Andreea, C. (2018). Exploring Kapferer’s brand identity prism applicability in
theatre. IJAME.
Atwal, G., & Williams, A. (2017). Luxury brand marketing–the experience is everything!.
In Advances in luxury brand management (pp. 43-57). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Cervellon, M. C., & Galipienzo, D. (2015). Facebook pages content, does it really matter?
Consumers’ responses to luxury hotel posts with emotional and informational
content. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 32(4), 428-437.
Farhana, M. (2014). Implication of brand identity facets on marketing communication of
lifestyle magazine: case study of a Swedish brand. Journal of Applied Economics and
Business Research, 4(1), 23-41.
Kompella, K. (2014). The brand challenge: Adapting branding to sectorial imperatives.
Kogan Page Publishers.
Liu, M. T., Wong, I. A., Tseng, T. H., Chang, A. W. Y., & Phau, I. (2017). Applying
consumer-based brand equity in luxury hotel branding. Journal of Business
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Seo, Y., & Buchanan-Oliver, M. (2015). Luxury branding: the industry, trends, and future
conceptualisations. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 27(1), 82-98.

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Uggla, H. (2016). Leveraging Luxury Brands: Prevailing Trends and Research
Challenges. IUP Journal of Brand Management, 13(1).