Demystifying the World of Hospitality Strategy

Design without strategy is just visuals, and strategy without design is just words. At Crown, we live and breathe both – to us, the sum of both parts is the true meaning of hospitality strategy. Still not convinced? Read on to learn more about our approach. 

What is hospitality strategy?

At its core, the concept of hospitality revolves around creating and delivering memorable encounters. To activate hospitality, to create venues and concepts that promise to deliver beyond accommodations or goods -- rather provide holistic experiences that leave lasting impressions -- hospitality has the unique opportunity to engage all the senses from taste, to touch, to sights, to smells and sounds - it is our job to make sure every one of them is delivered. 

Our job is to craft concepts with a unique vision for food, drink, interior design, tabletop, uniforms, and music, along with all the branding elements that go along with it: naming, brand identity, collateral and web design. With a mix of hotel projects and standalone restaurants, bars, cafes, cruise ships and more,  our hospitality strategy work comes to life in places around the globe. From iconic St. Regis addresses from Paris to world to luxury landscapes of central America, our hospitality strategy is a testament to our team’s global perspective on holistic hospitality.

  • The Brand

    Working with brand leaders from parent companies like Hilton and Marriott to flags within them, including Waldorf Astoria, LXR Hotels and Resorts, Le Meirdien, St. Regis, The Ritz Carlton and more, we bring together the inherent foundation of each hotel brand with unique locations around the world to build iconic hotel brands and food and beverage concepts.

  • The Owners

    Similar to our brand work, our projects often encompass direct engagement with hotel and F&B owners. Here the work involves bringing to life the vision of the proprietor, all while connecting it back to its hotel brand.

  • The Guests

    At the end of the day, everything we design is in service of the ultimate user – the guest.

  • Ourselves

    We’re all about putting our money where our mouth is. Beyond guiding our clients on shaping their hospitality strategy, we put our practice into place with self-created and co-operated venues like Neighbourhood Cafe and Toast Office.

When does hospitality strategy come into play?

As early as possible! In an ideal scenario, hospitality strategy starts right at the inception of the project, and we’re brought on early to shape the holistic concept strategy before ground is broken. 

But that’s only half the battle. Most brand strategies need constant upkeep and refreshing, so we’re often brought on to refresh or redo existing experiences – helping them be more contemporary, more profitable, easier to operate, or all of the above.

Why is hospitality strategy vital to the success of a project?

It is no secret that strategy plays a crucial role in shaping guest perception and building customer loyalty, where hospitality businesses benefit by setting themselves apart to deliver a unique value proposition that drives a positive guest experience.

Hospitality strategy, therefore, is arguably the intersection between brand strategy and operational realities that drives businesses to activate experiences that are well run and, just as importantly, well received.

Where can you find examples of our hospitality strategy at work?

We’re actively working with a major international hotel brand on a conversion of a historic hotel property located in an iconic Italian destination . As the entire hotel is being refurbished and refreshed, our charge is to guide the development of the food and beverage outlets on property. 

This particular project started with a trip to the site, to absorb the historic hotel and its surroundings. From eating at what will be area competitor restaurants and exploring through abandoned parts of the old property, we surveyed the what’s what of this luxury property

Before we got to the meat of the F&B concepts, we found that the hotel in its entirety needed to adjust how they tell the story of their historic address. As each legendary tale of the golden age of the hotel’s founding years, we began to see the rich history come to life to help us create the concepts for the following F&B outlets:

  • An upscale casual, local market-inspired eatery

  • A fine dining restaurant with its sites on the stars

  • An all-day, all-night lobby bar experience

  • A scenic inspired pool bar

  • And various other micro outlets including a multi-function bar experience and a sky high exclusive dining options 

How do we approach hospitality strategy?

For us, hospitality is all encompassing. It is one of the only industries in the world that has the privilege of curating for all of the senses, from taste, to touch, sights, smells and sounds - we craft concepts that define the vision for food, drink, design, tabletop, uniforms and music that make consumers feel a certain way. 

Understanding that each hospitality strategy discussion is approaching a new and unique set of challenges and opportunities, we start by understanding our clients’ goals and vision for the project. From there, our operational experience and our global experiences will guide us from the obvious and necessary area influence to global trends we introduce in unique ways.