Executive Summary
Amatara Resort and Wellness is Thailand's premium destination spa. It provides guests with everlasting moments and a great experience. This resort is located at the majestic Cape Panwa, which offers the best coastal view in Phuket. Guests can surround themselves with the calming tranquility of Andaman's blue seas and endless skies with an 180-degree sea view that is available only at Amatara. As the first and only luxury destination spa in Phuket, Amatara offers all-inclusive programs which include spacious, beautiful lodging, organic, wholefood tailored to your health goals, and personalized wellness treatments and activities .
The Amatara Resort and Wellness were originally the Regent Phuket Cape Panwu. The property was rebranded in 2015 to bring more attention to the spa. During the rebranding process, there was no change in the management team or the quality of service and facilities.
Introduction
Background to Theory and Objective
Methodology
Profile of Company
Theoretical Review of the Literature
Application of Theories
Conclusion
References
Appendix
Introduction
Amatara Resort & Wellness is a five-star resort located in Phuket, Thailand. The resort is known for providing clients with superior services and experiences. The scenery of the Amatara Resort & Wellness provides the clients the beautiful surroundings of the Phuket from its clean white sands of the sea to the turquoise of the Andaman Sea. Recently, the Amatara Resort & Wellness is aiming to become a new standard for unmatched business in providing wellness experience to the clients in the serene surrounding of the Cape Panwa Phuket.
The brand name of the resort was suddenly changed from “Regent” to “Amatara” a few months ago. The owner of the resort wanted to change the brand name to something more refreshing. A decision was made to change the name to Amatara, which would be a local name for the resort. Changing the brand name of the resort is not new in the business. In fact, numerous hotels and resorts change their name as a result of ‘value chain decoupling’ where the personal performances of the model of the business are capitalized, managed, and executed by various entities. Furthermore, the potential benefits of changing the brand name are that it increases the rate of occupancy, the revenue of every room, and the gross operating profits of every room, including the functioning of the business (Dev et al 2015).
This research is about the rebranding of the resort. The brand strategy is the foundation of any organization’s brand activities. The strategy of rebranding results in the achievement of the objectives of the Amatara. The three main purposes of the brand strategy are to coordinate all the functions so they are working together to create and maintain a strong brand, concentrate resources so that they are used effectively and communicate to those involved with the brand . The aim is to determine how re-branding affects the Amatara Resort. The objective is to look at the issues involved with the re-branding of a hotel.
Methodology
Information was gathered pertaining to hotel brand guest satisfaction, occupancies, average daily rates, and a number of hotel rooms. Most major hotel brands conduct their own guest satisfaction data. The method the Amatara Resort decided to use was data compiled by guest surveys. The guest was given survey upon check out to complete about their stay. The surveys asked the guests to rate their overall satisfaction with their stay.
Profile of Company
The Amatara Resort & Wellness is famous for providing excellent services to its clients. The resort staff members have outstanding customer service skills and very attentive to details. The hotel staff is committed to giving the most excellent services to their clients and assisting the clients with their enquiries, as well as resolving the clients’ problems.
The philosophy of the Amatara Resort & Wellness is to provide undying moments and experiences for the customers. Its name is based on the ancient Sanskrit word ‘Amata,’ which means immortality or endless. The five-star resort setting and staff provide the clients with inner peace and well-being on different levels. The Amatara Resort and Wellness connect with the world and its modernization. The five-star resort manages to maintain its image throughout the year and is able to keep with the changes. Amatara Resort and Wellness is also dedicated to connecting with the people through social media, the Internet, and other alternate forms of communication; however, these can never replace the genuine quality time and complete attention that the staff members provide with their service. Furthermore, the Amatara Resort and Wellness aims to create an environment that promotes a deeper connection to the clients .
Theoretical Review of the Literature
Rebranding may be labeled as the process by which a product or a service linked
with a particular brand is marketed with a new brand uniqueness (Reach Information, 2008). A
the brand differentiates a hotel or resort from their competitors. When a hotel rebrands itself with a name it is verbalized (Cunill, 2006, p. 150). In today’s competitive business environment, it is important for hotels to establish a strong branding or rebranding. This way it can be competitive, stimulate the awareness of consumers to influence purchases and cultivate a sense of loyalty towards the branded product in question (Cunill, 2006). Service branding involves intangible products, such as hotel stay experiences. This requires guests to experienced it before they are able to evaluate (de Chernatoy & Segal-Horn, 2001).
Strong branding can help Amatara Resort and Wellness to identify themselves in the consumers’ minds. In fact, the International Society of Hospitality Consultants has identified branding as one of the top ten critical issues by the hotel industry has to address because increased competition between the brands is leading to issues such as amenity creep and diverging interests between owners and brands. The owners of the Amatara Resort need to ensure that their brand represents their services so guests can get a visual of the rebrand.
The importance of branding and guest satisfaction has been studied in the field of hospitality management. The hotel industry has shown a great deal of growth in the past few years. The factors that will determine their success are achieving guest satisfaction and loyalty. The demands of hotel guests are becoming more complicated. It is very important that Amatara makes sure their guests are not only satisfied but become loyal and return guests. The major aim is to determine that guest relations and loyalty are the key to a brand being successful.
Application of Theory
The hotel property’s amenities, staff, and management carry over from the origin brand to the lower or higher scale destination brand. Guests may find that the experience with the property exceeds or does not meet the average quality of the affiliated brand after rebranding. If a hotel switches to an upscale chain, it may run the risk of not meeting customers’ expectations formed by that brand. In upscale rebranding, vertical brand extension theories apply. Hotel guests can become confused about the quality positioning of the destination brand. This can reduce their previously favorable evaluations. Downscale rebranding can cause negative feedback from previous guests. Now this strategy may result in higher sales volumes, but the benefits might be outweighing the costs.
Conclusion
Successful rebranding can enhance guest satisfaction, rebranding alone cannot sustain high guest satisfaction. Sustainability will depend highly on continuous maintenance and improvement of guestrooms, reservations and amenities. Amatara Resort and Wellness needs to ensure that these particular areas are taken care of so that they do not become issues for guests at a later time.
Rebranding can increase employee morale if the hotel is rebranded to a better brand. The rebranding of the Amatara Resort will create new growth and opportunities for employees. The rebranding also brings with it the need to learn new procedures.
In summary, we provide the first steps in a complete understanding of rebranding— a topic that has had limited empirical research in marketing. We expect that this analysis of the hospitality industry will open the doors for similar research in other industries.
Reference
Amatara Resort and Wellness, n.d. Amatara Resort and Wellness. [Online] Available at: http://www.amataraphuket.com/wellness-programs/our-philosophy.html[Accessed 16 April 2016].
Cunill, O. M. (2006) Growth Strategies of Hotel Chains: Best Business Practices by Leading
Companies (pp 149-168). New York: The Harworth Hospitality.
de Chernatoy, L., & Segal-Horn, S. (2001). Building on services’ characteristics to develop
successful services brand. Journal of Marketing Management, 17(7-8), 645 – 669. DOI:
10.1362/026725701323366773.
Maheswaran, Durairaj, Diane M. Mackie, and Shelly Chaiken (1992), “Brand Name as a
Heuristic Cue: The Effects of Task Importance and Expectancy Confirmation on
Consumer Judgment,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1 (4), 317-36.
Muzellec, Laurent and Mary Lambkin (2006), “Corporate Rebranding: Destroying, Transferring
or Creating Brand Equity?” European Journal of Marketing, 40 (7/8), 803-24
Park, C. Whan, Bernard J. Jaworski, and Deborah J. Maclnnis (1986), “Strategic Brand Concept-
Image Management,” Journal of Marketing, 50 (October), 135^-5.Reach Information (2008). Rebranding. Retrieved from
http://www.marketing.reachinformation.com/Rebranding.aspx
Sexton, D., 2008. Trump University Branding 101: How to Build the Most Valuable Asset of any Business. New
Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Appendix
Amatara Resort and Wellness Hotel Survey
Overall, how friendly were the hotel staff?
Extremely friendly
Quite friendly
Moderately friendly
Slightly friendly
Not friendly at all
Overall, how proficient were the hotel staff members?
Extremely professional
Quite professional
Moderately professional
Slightly professional
Not professional at all
How quick was the check-in process?
Extremely quick
Quite quick
Moderately quick
Slightly quick
Not quick at all
Overall, how clean was your room?
Extremely clean
Quite clean
Moderately clean
Slightly clean
Not clean at all
Please tell us what you think about the new brand, Amatara Resort and Wellness.
