Hotel sells reminiscences, not rooms

One of the premier luxury hotels in Sarasota, the Ritz-Carlton, has a new message to attack the recession. It wants to measure a guest's stay in memories, not number of nights booked.

The premise is part of a broad advertising campaign at the hotel chain, a subsidiary of Marriot International. It's the first rebranding effort in several years for Ritz-Carlton, known for its “ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen” motto.

“All the hotels out there have had the same message since the beginning of hotels, which is come stay with us,” says Marcie McGeehan, director of sales and marketing at the Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. “Ritz-Carlton is putting that on its head.”

The Ritz-Carlton, says McGeehan, wants to stay with the guest, not the other way around. The memories theme is part of a developing trend in luxury, where intangibles are marketed and sold over tangibles, in an effort to personalize consumer spending in the recession.

Indeed, a core aspect of the campaign is Stories that Stay With You, where the hotel recounts true tales from guests, from Philadelphia to Beijing. The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, and the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples, have cameo appearances in the stories.

In Sarasota, an employee took pictures of a lost stuffed animal doing fun things in the hotel, from playing the piano to cooking in the kitchen, along with a storyline for each photo. The stuffed animal and the new book were reunited with its owner, a young boy, by 9 a.m. the next day, according to the campaign.

In Naples, meanwhile, two employees set up an indoor soccer field in an unused ballroom during a rainy Saturday for two young girls.