Rosewood hotels grew and built their brand on being a
“collection” of unique properties. Their guests chose Rosewood properties (over
the competition) because they were “unique, one-of-a-kind properties with a
small ultra-luxury residential style that differentiated it from other
chain-like luxury competitors.” Most guests didn’t know or associate the
Rosewood name with each individual property. They have placed great influence
on each property being unique and having a sense of place with local managers
determining the standards of luxury. Since this is a foundation for the
individual property brands, I would suggest being very careful with
rebranding.
Hospital/health care conglomerates in Indiana have the same
marketing challenge. IU Health branded all of their locations with the IU name
for consistency, but also because IU medicine is a familiar trusted name (in
Indiana anyways). IU Health had to be careful when renaming certain hospitals that already had a
positive reputation. This example worked for IU because of name recognition; however, for Rosewood,
rebranding would have the opposite effect on brand recognition/value.
St. Francis Health has done similar rebranding/renaming
efforts, but more subtle and long term than IU Health. The health care system
gradually renamed hospitals with respect to their original names so patients
(customers) would not be confused or turned off by the new names. The names
have gradually been changed again (For example - Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health – Crawfordsville) to build the Franciscan Alliance, formerly
Sisters of St. Francis Health Services, Inc.
I would recommend this “soft corporate branding” approach to
Rosewood if they are determined to rebrand and add the Rosewood name to each of
the properties – do it in phases, and be sure not to offend loyal, lifetime
customers or lose individual name recognition. Begin by adding the Rosewood name along with the individual location name and as time passes, conduct brand recognition studies before completely changing all branding to only Rosewood.
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