Kagehitokiri

bottom line when it comes to advertising - there is always a classy way

plenty of discussion of nonguests here

pool deck open to public at FS (denver?) >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17996052-post30.html

preventing guests from dining at halekulani >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18467152-post2.html

re pools - dont forget spa guests, pool passes, cabanas

Kettering Northants QC

Four Seasons, Mandarin and Shangri La run some big hotels that have lots of rooms to fill. The way many of us buy our hotels has changed in recent years- I certainly don't have all the the holiday brochures (with their carefully selected portfolio of hotels) scattered around the Lounge any more, and maybe the "superiority of their excellent properties" is no longer speaking for itself.

Many people go to site scraping search engines and say "show me ALL the 5 star hotels in X city for this date, as a result some of the Hotels run by these chains won't even show until webpage 14 of 15 (who ever goes to Google Page 2?). We can argue that those of us on flyertalk don't do that, but if owners of large hotels relied on the couple of hundred of people who contribute to this forum to fill their rooms and restaurants they'd go broke in no time.

These people are running hotels not golf clubs and they're running them for a profit - and from what I've read it's very hard for Luxury hotels to turn profits.

Yes, they may have set out to attract a certain type of client X years ago, but a lot of the world is in recession, countries that were once rich are now not so rich and countries that never travelled, now travel everywhere. Times change, we may not like it. How many hotels are there that we know of that say "you can only stay here if we want you to", Peter de Savary I think runs a couple of places.

And you know, the feeling that we get that they're no longer targeting their adverts to what we think is their natural audience, namely "people like us" is because the reality may be we are no longer that target audience - it's that wealthy 20 something from Russia who will think nothing of buying $1000 bottles of Krug, which is certainly not me.

xracer

It's aspirational and in this case it's totally disingenuous. That pool in the picture is of a private pool in a private residence. That residence is not in the rental pool. So, unless you are a member of the Saudi family that owns the residence, all the aspirations in the world ain't gonna put you in that pool.

Kagehitokiri

seychelles or marrakech? seychelles has added some residences to inventory. they added to accommodations a while ago, and i see rates for one now.

xracer

Seychelles. They have indeed added residential units to the inventory, but they have not added THAT one (the one that shows the specific pool picture), nor will they ever according to what I was told when I visited the place. Of course, that was a while ago and things change, but it seemed to be a pretty firm answer when I asked.

The picture of that pool also appears on the FS website as well and gives the impression that it is part of the main pool, which it is NOT.

I wonder if any of the residences for FS Marrakech will ever be in the rental pool, but that is OT.

Kagehitokiri

http://d2eup7qjx8j6ae.cloudfront.net...b.720.405.jpeg
that one?
i guess that one has location
edit - first time FS has done that kind of false advertising? (back to OP)
edit - thanks xracer for pointing it out, i never made the connection
edit - IIRC there is also another recent example of FS doing this kind of false advertising - i cant find it now, but im pretty sure i came across a new (official) FS residence club resale site, that had a picture of an estate residence at FS costa rica

but the 5BR in hotel inventory is pretty cool - more info on residential site
you didnt hear rates for 4/5BR did you?
(3BR residence starts same as 3BR hotel)

xracer

That's the one. I agree that the 5br looks cool, but I've no idea what the rates are for any residence.

vuittonsofstyle

Interesting news - Four Seasons just hired a new worldwide advertising agency - TBWA - Chiat Day. Do you think they have been reading this thread?

aa213bb

LOL. Though I have to say, I hope TBWA are good ... went to their homepage and I absolutely hate their website -- not that I'm the person hiring them, but they'd have to have a nice portfolio/presentation to overcome that first impression.

Kagehitokiri

particularly bizarre - one & only royal mirage using photo from atlantis marketing
http://royalmirage.oneandonlyresorts...mages/1102.jpg
http://royalmirage.oneandonlyresorts.com/kidsonly.aspx
http://royalmirage.oneandonlyresorts...togallery.aspx

atlantis palm
http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/kidsa...teparties.aspx
http://www.atlantisthepalm.com/kidsa.../clubrush.aspx

atlantis bahamas
http://www.atlantis.com/kids/teens.aspx
http://www.atlantis.com/kids/preteens.aspx
http://www.atlantis.com/kids/kidacti.../clubrush.aspx

(atlantis uses some for both properties, but presumably similar enough)

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its too bad oyster doesnt have more photo tags
http://www.oyster.com/hotels/photo-fakeouts/
http://www.oyster.com/shots/
you cant search by management company etc

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from when it was under GHM, but thats not the same thing as aman

vuittonsofstyle

Looks like they are economising!

TheBrownPrince

Four Seasons has always used very appealing models in their property photos. It's been the case as far back as I can remember with their aspirational marketing. It's just that some of the advertising they're doing now is borderline questionable, i.e. clearly belongs in a pin-up magazine.

For example, they've given this Estonian couple complimentary stays to do photo and video postings that promote their properties.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzAsa0_pi9s

Paris:
www.instagram.com/p/BJPzSrlh6wv

Golden Triangle:
www.instagram.com/p/BEFv0NMtLgr/

Thai properties with outtakes:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M3wcnbTmGc

To be honest, these are just the sort of people, I'd rather not be in a hotel with. Eye candy is fine but this is the kind of in-your-face sensuality...

Why does FS encourage this? Don't they realise how tawdry and cheap it makes their brand look?

offerendum

Indeed!

Kagehitokiri

sometimes FS and FS PR, sometimes local FS/PR/owner, all part of changes at FS/others

social media etc has become standard part of PR, and PR involves discounted/free stays

i dont really differentiate among most glitzy social media, its all practically same to me

going back to O&O and atlantis, was related owner etc, maybe guest access partnerships

uggboy

Such marketing techniques do reflect our times, I guess. It's very competitive out there and some hotel companies see this as an advantage to "show" their properties in fascinating new lifestyle concepts which are accentuated via "eye candy" which support the notion of "in the now" and "at play" at their hotels and destinations alike. This will make some people/guests unhappy, but equally this will draw new people in too as future guests, IMHO. Overall, I can see nothing wrong with this approach to be honest, especially as many more people see travel/luxury travel as their aspiration of having a "good" life, it's all part of it.

Cheers & Safe Travels. ^