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We’ve reached a point where hotel chains have too many brands for customers to keep up with but there’s no sign that the proliferation of brands is slowing down. Marriott/Starwood has 30 brands, Wyndham has 29 brands, Hilton has 14 brands and, before this week, IHG had 12 brands and from a customer standpoint there is absolutely no reason for all these brands to exist (can you tell the difference between a Residence Inn and Fairfield suites?).
On the other hand hotel chains love a new brand because they can use it to persuade hoteliers to sign up to their licensing agreements by offering them something new. While it may be hard to persuade a hotelier to brand a property as a Marriott when there are already 3 Marriotts in the neighborhood it’s considerably easier to persuade the hotelier to sign up to a brand that no one else in the area is using.
All of this is why IHG has now announced its 13th brand – voco
Voco is supposedly an upscale brand (so upscale that it doesn’t even have a capital letter at the start of its name) which will “combine the informality and charm of an individual hotel, with the quality and reassurance of a global and respected brand“.
Does that even mean anything?
Voco will initially be rolled out in IHG’s EMEAA region (Europe, Middle East, Asia & Africa) but the Americans and China are also expected to get the brand…eventually.
Here’s what IHG has had to say:
“The new brand will drive significant incremental growth for IHG, with an expectation to open more than 200 voco hotels in attractive urban and leisure locations over the next 10 years.
IHG announced plans last month to expand its luxury and upscale estate in the UK through a conditional agreement with Covivio (formerly Foncière des Régions) to rebrand and operate 12 high quality open hotels and one pipeline hotel into its portfolio across the UK. This deal will establish an important presence for voco in the UK with a number of these properties converting to the new brand in the coming months”.
The first voco hotel outside of Europe is set to be the Watermark Hotel & Spa Gold Coast in Surfers Paradise, Australia – it will be rebranded in “late 2018”.
The property offers 388 rooms and 2 swimming pools but the TripAdvisor reviews are hardly stunning:
7th out of 32 isn’t bad but I’d expect an “upscale” hotel to have considerably more “excellent” reviews than any other type…and this hotel certainly doesn’t.
Added to that is the fact that this property isn’t even priced as an upscale brand:
A randomly chosen long weekend in the Australian summer costs just over $100/night….
….which is good news for visitors but doesn’t exactly lend any credence to this being an upscale hotel.
According to IHG…..
“The voco brand promises guests an experience that is reliably different, brought to life through a bold, distinctive identity, informal service style and thoughtful touches along the guest journey. Three critical moments on the guest journey have been identified through deep customer insight where voco can create a compelling guest experience that will differentiate the brand and can be consistently applied across a broad range of individual properties. These moments are:
- Come on in – a signature welcome experience, swift and simple check-in with an unexpected, locally-influenced treat to kick-off a guest’s stay.
- Me time – encouraging guests to take a moment for themselves with extra cosy beds and bedding, quality bathroom amenities, rejuvenating aerated showers, a variety of viewing content on Smart TVs and excellent connectivity in every room.
- voco life – vibrant and sociable bar and lounge spaces that work for different moments of the day, so that guests always have space to relax and enjoy themselves – from offering a great coffee to start the day or shareable and classic dishes in the evening that provide something to talk about afterwards.”
Is it me or does that simply describe most reasonable hotels?
Bottom Line
As far as I can see there’s nothing new here. IHG clearly needs a new brand to persuade hoteliers to sign up to its management contracts and this is it.
For us travelers nothing changes and there’s nothing to get excited about because voco doesn’t appear to offer anything that you can’t get in most other good hotels…including hotels under other IHG brands.
