How We Build Strong Brands - Chris Silcock, Hilton

Josiah: What excites you most about working with Hilton's brand organization, leading that organization now?

Chris: I've worked alongside and collaborated with the brand organization for many, many years. And I'm genuinely excited. First off, as you said, leadership is about people. So I'm excited about the people. We have a fantastic bench of leaders and team members within our brand teams. And you know, Brand and Commercial work so closely together that just bringing them a little closer together through this leadership change, I think it's going to enable us to unlock that next level of performance. And my role, I think my biggest role as the leader of this new team is to create, you know, a highly performing, trusting, collaborative leadership team. And I think, you know, if we do that, we can move from industry-leading performance to the next level. So there's the people side of it. You know, I'm fortunate that we have a fantastic stable of brands, right? Many of them are mature, and all of them are industry-leading, but some of them are new and just getting going. So, I'm really excited about how I can support the team in taking some of our newer brands, Spark by Hilton and Smart Studios, and supercharging them because they're going to be powerhouses in the future.

Josiah: I think one thing I really appreciate about what you do, Chris, and what your teams do is you do a lot of research and you share a lot of research. And so I've followed your trends and a lot of thought leadership that you're publishing. And so I wonder if we could break down what you're mentioning there into kind of two components. I'm very curious what makes a strong brand in hospitality, but I might ask this question in two parts. First being, what are guests looking for from hospitality brands today?

Chris: Yeah. And, you know, we, as you say, do a lot of customer research, and we try and be completely customer-led in our brand development and our brand evolution. At the basics of it is they're looking for a reliable and friendly state, right? They want to feel confident in the experience they're going to get. And they want to be treated in a friendly manner during that stay. That is at the heart of a great hospitality experience. And that should cross every brand, every chain scale, every price point. People should be able to rely on receiving that. Then you come into the differentiation between our brands, right? So we try and be exceptionally diligent in ensuring each of our brands has a customer segment that it resonates with, a trip occasion or price point that it's going to be relevant for. And we try and define that experience across three kind of core pillars. One, the product. So the physical product and attributes of that product that are relevant to that customer segment or that stay occasion. Secondly, the service and culture. So how our team members bring that product to life with how they serve our customers and how the culture of each brand resonates with that customer segment. And thirdly, and increasingly important, the technology. So how do we weave technology through the experience, combining both physical and digital to produce a superior ultimate experience for the customer. Our intent for every one of our brands is to deliver a superior experience and be the premium player. We measure that through our market share, which kind of supports the fact that we thus far have been successful.

Josiah: I'd actually like to link the show notes of this episode to your trends report because there's a lot of information by generation. You talk about consumer behaviors always changing, and as a result of that, the needs of today's travelers are changing. So I'm going to link. I encourage people to check that out. There's a lot of good research. I had one of my listeners, Lou, ask how this might evolve as you think about engaging Gen Alpha. maybe far into the future, but this is a generation that's going to have more choices than ever. There are fundamental changes in technology. I'm curious just if you have any kind of thoughts as you look pretty far into the future, what capabilities or what might need to be true from a brand perspective to engage that generation or down the line a bit?

Chris: Yeah, I think what's great about our industry is that while technology is evolving the experience and it will continue to, and even more so with the future generations, This is about a physical experience, right? We are seeing that customers, both older and younger, are prioritizing those experiences more and more. You know, our recent trends research showed that, that they're embracing connectivity in part probably because it's always been important, but then COVID was a bit of a shock. We were unable to be connected, and therefore, it's reinforced in people's minds how critical that is to having a happy existence. and they're increasingly seeking out experiences that are different, that are local in nature, that bring them and connect them to the places that they visit. We're also seeing a shift, which I think will continue with the next generations, in work trends, how people travel, and how they are able to be flexible in their location and continue to be successful at work. So, The other thing that came out very loud and clear, and I think this will continue, is the prioritization of wellness. Now, for us, that is relevant 360 degrees, but of course, the primary thing we're doing for customers is giving them somewhere to sleep. And so sleep is, you know, an ever-evolving science that people are understanding is just critical to your overall well-being. And so how we embrace that through our product development, having special beds or mattresses in some of our brands, is going to be key to remaining relevant to the future demographic of travelers.

Josiah: That's great. Let's talk a little bit about another core stakeholder. So kind of part two of my question about what makes a strong brand in hospitality from an owner's perspective, what do you feel owners are looking for from brands today?

Chris: Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, owners are in business and they're looking for a superior performance of their investment. We achieve that by having a superior experience for the customer, which means our customers become loyal to the brand, which means we are able to generate more demand, more pricing power and, therefore, deliver a superior return. Tactically, when an owner plugs into Hilton, they want their hotel to ramp up quickly, and then they want it to perform over the long term. When an owner plugs into us, they get access to Hilton Honors, our loyalty program, 180 million members strong in the fastest growing hotel loyalty program on the planet. And they really value that, right? That's one of the most valuable things that our customers get access to. They also value the access to our technology. So we deliver platforms across the customer journey, that as soon as an owner joins Hilton, builds one of our brands, they get access to superior shop and book capabilities, where we're starting to allow customers to not only by a room type, like a standard room or an executive room, but specify the exact elements of that room that are important to them and have us match them with one specific room in the hotel that meets their need. We're starting to allow them to customize the package of goods that they buy when they book a hotel room. So they may want to arrive early or depart late, or they may want breakfast on one day or a restaurant reservation on another day. We're starting to enable them to book that at the time of booking so that they can personalize their whole travel experience with us. And then we're doing the same on property. So, from our industry-leading, I would say that I'm biased, but digital arrival is where a customer can literally see a floor plan of the hotel on their phone. They can pick the exact room they're in. They can check-in; they can open the door with their phone. And then at the end of the stay, they can check out all digitally to the in-room kind of entertainment experience. We're rolling out our bespoke connected room entertainment experience, which is just like you would get used to at home. A high-quality interface gives you access to all the entertainment you're normally used to, enables you to connect your own entertainment with the TV, and enables you to engage with the hotel and learn more about experiences in the hotel. And so, back to your question, owners value being able to plug into us and get access to all of those things that ultimately deliver a superior performance and a superior return.

Josiah: Hilton for Business is a program that you've invested a lot into. I wonder if you could speak a little bit to the origins of this program and how you thought about building it.

Chris: Yeah, I mean, small- to medium-sized businesses have always been a big part of our business because they travel a lot and are resilient. However, both us and the market in general has underserved their unique specific requirements, right? Because it is hundreds of thousands of small companies, whereas the industry has focused a lot on big business and ensuring we have the right, you know, RFP tools and benefits for that market. So as we looked at this market and in our trends report you referenced, you know, we realized that 80% of those travelers want to be able to transact their whole trip online, right? They want to have their relationship with us digitally prior to their physical relationship with us. And 75% of small businesses book and manage their own travel. The travelers are actually doing all of this admin themselves. So it's quite a burden. And so we looked at this and determined that there's an opportunity to build a unique program that delivers on the requirements of that segment. What they're looking for is the business owner is looking for some recognition and some value in consolidating their stay with any one company. So historically, only the traveler earns loyalty from us through our Hilton Honours Loyalty Points. In Hilton for Business, the owner will now also be granted loyalty benefits for the stays of their team members. So we're recognising the owner for the part they play in consolidating their travel. Obviously, value is important, so we're offering them immediate access to discounts across our hotels if they sign up and register their team members, rapid onboarding, i.e., attestation that the company is viable for the program, and then tools for them to manage their travel. So they actually have oversight and insight into travel expenses, where people are traveling, and so on and so forth with dashboards and data. So we take, you know, we've already got thousands of small businesses have signed up. We just launched in January and we'll continue to build those capabilities as they feed back to us. And we'd learn more because we really want this to be something that for the small business owner feels like it's solving their pain points and providing great value to them.

Josiah: I love it, Chris. My last question for you is sort of high-level. You articulated the ways you build brands that are attractive not only to guests but also to owners. I'm curious: How do you think about creating and building brands that are uniquely Hilton and leverage your strengths as an organization? You touched on a number of these, but do you have any other thoughts about making uniquely Hilton brands?

Chris: It's funny because there's an important thread of consistency. And that thread of consistency is that a customer knows that if it's endorsed, and it's one of our brands, it's got Hilton in part of the experience, it will be a high quality, reliable and friendly experience, right. And that's critically important, because that means people can traverse the world, they can traverse our brands and have that level of confidence. They will also find some elements of the experience that traverse all the brands. So for example, the world-class digital arrival that I explained, they'll find that in every brand in every part of the world. The connected room experience in the room, the entertainment, they'll find that. So all of these represent that high quality, consistent, reliable experience. Then you become unique by each individual brand, right? So whether it be Hamptonality and Hampton 100% guarantee and the playfulness that you'll experience in our team members, whether it be the Doubletree cookie on arrival that people love and the Doubletree care culture, which is the way our customers in Doubletree bring service to life. So then that uniqueness comes to life in each brand, and it needs to, because each brand, whilst part of the pill and providing those consistent elements, has to feel unique because then it will resonate with a different segment of customers for a different kind of triplication.