Branding Hospitality: Challenges, Opportunities and Best Practices

The core elements of brand management are to create a concept that fulfills customer needs and then to remain true to that concept in all aspects of the business. The ability to articulate a brand’s meaning and consistently operate according to that meaning has never been more critical, given the wide open window into the brand’s heart and soul created by the internet and social media. Participants in the second Cornell Brand Management Roundtable met in spring 2012 at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration to examine the elements of a powerful brand, the critical steps for brand innovation, and the growing impact of social media on brand management. Although social media may affect the way customers view a brand as they consider a purchase, the importance of the brand promise remains undiminished, and may well be stronger than ever