Sound investments in the hotel industry

Andrew Cosslett, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group, which operates the InterContinental Hotel brand as well as Holiday Inn and others, noticed that in almost every InterContinental Hotel lobby he visited, he would hear the classic Brazilian bossa nova tune "The Girl From Ipanema" over the sound system.

Cosslett began to wonder how that might affect the experience of the typical InterContinental guest and, according to Eric Nicolas, who holds the title of global director, brand innovation for InterContinental, "Mr. Cosslett came to us and asked what an InterContinental should sound like."

There followed an extensive period of research that has resulted in the launch of InterContinental's new acoustic program, which will create an individualized playlist for every location.

But InterContinental is hardly unique in its sonic quest. In the last few months alone, hotel companies have made a flurry of moves to team up with music companies and, yes, music designers to enhance guest experiences through sound.

None of these brands expects guests to choose a hotel because a Bruce Springsteen song is playing in the lobby, but they all feel that the music program becomes an integral part of the experience that ultimately generates loyalty.

Among recent developments:

Under Hyatt's deal with AudioSuite, each hotel will have a signature collection of songs that will be available online for users to download to their MP3 devices "so guests can bring their Hyatt experience home with them." The latest addition, the Grand Hyatt New York Music Web site, features New York-themed music by artists that can be heard throughout the hotel.

Why the march to music?

At InterContinental, "It's all part of creating a brand identity," Nicolas said. "We repositioned the brand two years ago, and that included all the usual elements of logos, colors, etc. However, we wanted to take InterContinental to its full potential in how we presented the brand to guests. That includes everything from the notepad and the pen in the room to the sign on the building."

Nicolas said Whole Foods supermarkets served as a role model for the kind of brand identity InterContinental sought. "Everything from the way they light the stores to the way the food looks is carefully thought out, and we wanted to emulate that comprehensiveness."

To that end, InterContinental approached a music designer, Los Angeles-based Emmy nominee Maureen Crowe, who has worked as a music supervisor on such films as "Chicago" and "The Perfect Storm." Said David Anderson, vice president, global brand innovation, "Her role is to interpret and translate our guest experience into music, much as she does with films."

However, when Crowe's suggestions were shown to IHG's chief marketing officer, he did not see how it could be proven that music would be a benefit to guests or hotels. So Crowe and the IHG team went to a consultant with an academic background. They studied how music influences people, particularly those in the brand's target demographic of 37 to 47.

They came to realize that in the course of a day the lobby was used for different purposes: business meetings in the morning, more leisurely pursuits later in the day and back to business later.

Even the gender of the lobby loungers fluctuated: more females at some times, more males at others.

Finally, the team came up with three core playlists: artists known all over the world, regional artists known over a fairly large area and emerging artists. A combination of the three was to be tailored to each property.

The team also found "that we could get tremendous employee involvement in this," said Nicolas. "They are the ones who are coming up with the emerging artists."

Only after all that is IHG ready to offer its music program in public spaces. It's a huge task, because each hotel will be different.

"We want to prove that the program makes sense by taking a little step at a time," Nicolas said. "Once we have the advocacy from our top executives, we will move to music in the room, on the TV and so on."

CONTINUED...