Learn the Art of Storytelling and Positioning from Graduate Hotels
Graduate Hotels East Lansing
I randomly chose Graduate Hotels when I visited Lansing, Michigan, last December. From a couple of photos on the website, I immediately realized that the hotel is not like other hotels. There was an undeniable allure in the room design details, website copy, and cohesive yet sophisticated style.
When I entered the hotel, I knew nothing about its target market, positioning, or message in general. It clicked in my head during the time between the check-in process and entering my room. It was one of those moments when you don't have the full information, but your brain is slowly piecing together thoughts and making you ponder, even though you are not sure of the reason behind them.
I realized that my brain found itself in a euphoric state because I was staying in a place where three of my passions were present everywhere; universities, books, and hospitality. This is a genius business idea that won't get out of my head, so I decided to write about it.
If you're like me, you'll understand the feeling of being overly excited after encountering a beautiful business idea. This happens when a few of my passions come together in a business idea, even if it's composed by someone else.
If I were staying in a normal hotel, I would mind my business, but my marketing mind wouldn't stop bugging me at Graduate Hotels. There are so many excellent components that are well thought out in the positioning of these hotels. Let's dive into a few.
Target Customer
Graduate Hotels is a 9-year-old hotel chain founded by Ben Weprin. All 33 hotels are located near college campuses and tailored to cater to the culture of university towns. The main target customer of the hotel chain are parents of the students (perhaps the most repeat visits are by helicopter parents).
The concept of targeting a specific niche with a hotel is brilliant. How many hotels can you think of that are successful because they focus on a target customer that has one specific intent (visiting a student)?
Emotional Connection
The power of the emotional hook of the hotel was evident even when observing it not from the parent's perspective. Here are a few emotional aspects I found fascinating when trying to put myself into the shoes of a proud parent.
Pride
Any parent with a child attending college has a sense of pride and accomplishment. When visiting a child at Graduate Hotels, every detail in the hotel reminds them of their child's achievement. From the location strategically placed near college campuses to meticulously designed elements (such as the room keys imprinted with the name of famous alumni), the establishment can trigger positive emotions.
Sense of Community & Belonging
The design elements and branding celebrate the culture of the university town, making guests feel like they are part of the community. This can be especially powerful when the parents also graduated from the university, as the colors, names, and design elements can awaken strong nostalgic feelings.
There are many use cases of fostering community building through hotels, including college sport events, graduations, competitions, and other local celebrations.
Storytelling & Symbolism
Even if the guest is not visiting a child or has nothing to do with the university, the hotels have enough symbolism to tell the story of the town. When travelling, we are always curious about the place we stay, and during the short stay, we have a little chance to explore the local culture. I was bombarded with so much information bits that it was almost impossible not to leave the place without knowing a thing or two about the town.
Storytelling is Graduate's most fascinating, unique selling point. Usually, other standard hotels look like each other, and the things that differentiate them are the location, service quality, and luxurious components. Very rarely, they contain cultural and historical elements that tell a beautiful story. Famous alumni, sports achievements, and scientific achievements, among other things, are included in the symbolic design elements at Graduate.
One of the hotel's most distinctive and popular features at Franklin Street location is a room that is a copy of Michael Jordan's dorm room in Granville Towers from 1983.
Aesthetics
The designers did an excellent job of incorporating enough colors and elements to create the desired emotions for guests who are familiar with the town while also not overwhelming those who are not. It was a beautifully designed hotel that carefully considered every detail and color choice.
What are the business and marketing lessons
If it's not happening already, Graduate should be a case study for marketing courses in business schools. Especially in hospitality courses. Here are some things I learned from thinking about all this.
Good storytelling accompanied by exceptional design can make the business successful.
Niche targeting doesn't often mean limitations with scalability. If you count university towns, AJ Capital Partners can open about 200 locations with similar success, including in Europe. It's scalable and backed by a proven concept.
The hospitality industry is suffering from labor shortages, but not in university towns. Who will be more motivated and energetic employees than the students from the same town?
It's timeproof. If appropriately maintained, the more time passes, the more iconic each location gets.
The company's narrative and positioning are the core of the storytelling. If it's nailed, customers will resonate with the brand. Graduate Hotels have done an exceptional job crafting its narrative and positioning, which is evident in how guests feel connected to the hotel and its surroundings.
What can be improved
As a content marketer, I checked every article written about Graduate and every podcast episode the president of the company talks about the business. Of course, I first checked the company blog, and I wanted to see what it has for each location. Although the Graduate Hotel book and the blog share a ton of helpful information, I was still expecting to see the same storytelling style in the blog. There is so many unique angles the blog can use to create long-form and multiformat content pieces that can be both attractive to a local reader and a visitor.
Some ideas that I was thinking about when struggling to sleep in East Lansing room were:
Dropping a content email to the guest's inbox that includes a long-form of reading material about the culture and legacy of the town after they check-in.
Creating articles that include videos and other multimedia covering various topics about the college and the culture.
Keeping social media activity with the content. Instagram and LinkedIn are beautiful, but the last post on Twitter was done in June 2021
More resources:
The Education of a Brotelier New York Times
