Nurali Urmat

Marketing 590 – Marketing of Services

April 4, 2016
Banyan Tree Resorts and Hotels

1. What are the main factors that contributed to Banyan Tree’s success?

It is important to understand that Banyan Tree was filling a gap in the luxury resorts market and the fact
that there were few, if any, major players in this space had a lot to do with how well the company did.
Another point of their success is that the founders themselves were avid travelers and clearly understood
what kind of experience their customers would want in this type of a resort. Furthermore, according to the
case, when the company was up and running, much of the interest was generated by the company’s
socially responsible business values and practices that care for the social and natural environments.

Initially the company went after the Banyan Tree brand positioning, which was focused on medium sized
luxury resorts market, then the company ventured out into the new area in order to gain a wider customer
base. This was done primarily because of competitive pressures. The company also decided that it
needed to expand its geographic footprint. However, the issue with such widespread expansion is being
able to preserve the company’s distinct identity. The fact that throughout all these changes the company

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stuck to its values and founding principles contributed to their success around the world.

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2. Evaluate Banyan Tree’s brand positioning and communications strategies. Can Banyan Tree

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maintain its unique positioning in an increasingly overcrowded resorts market?

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The following few points is what makes up the company’s brand positioning: The use of local
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flavors and construction of property designed to blend into the natural landscape of the
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surrounding environment is the key to why the resort attracts the travelers that it does. The
company also lets its employees to vary the service delivery according to local culture and
practices, as long as they were consistent with the brand promise of intimacy and romance.
“Products and services were conceived with the desired customer experience in mind.” The
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company makes sure to create an individual experience based on who the customer is. For
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example, the “Intimate Moments” package, was a surprise gift that was presented to
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couples upon their return to the villa. The company also created other ways to draw the
guests in and make sure they keep coming back. Although some of these things seem like
small gestures, that’s what made the difference for their guests.

Banyan Tree brand is also known for its spas, which relied on human touch, rather than high
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tech equipment. This was another way that Banyan Tree differentiated its brand from the
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countless other resorts and spas. According to the case, brand awareness was mainly generated
through public relations and global marketing programs. The case also makes a point that apart from
heavy advertising at the conception of the company, the company kept it minimal and targeted.
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Another way to communicate their brand was through relationships with travel editors and writers which
helped increase editorial coverage of Banyan Tree. The company’s marketing and communication
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techniques are appropriate considering the fact that this is a luxury resorts market and Banyan Tree did
not want to flood the market with advertisements and seem desperate for customers. The fact that they
strictly on focused on high end travel magazines and invited top notch writers is also evidence to why they
wanted to ensure the high end feel of the product. The acquisitions of its own GDS code also put Banyan
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Tree on a global scale and made it a global brand.

3. Discuss whether the brand portfolio of Banyan Tree and Angsana, as well as the product
portfolio of beach resorts and city hotels, spas, galleries, and museum shops fit as a family. What are your
recommendations to Banyan Tree for managing these brands and products in future?
In 2002, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts took over and essentially started its first hotel that was
located in a city and at that time planned to open a several other city locations. All of them were meant to
be either rebuilt or built from scratch in order to conform to their established brand promise. City hotels

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 also had the Banyan Tree Spa and Gallery. I think the fact that these costly steps were taken in order to
rebuild and upgrade these hotels with Banyan Tree’s unique touch was an important step in making sure
that they fit into the BTHR family.

After establishing a strong foothold in the luxury resorts and hotels market, BTHR introduced Angsana, a
more affordable brand than Banyan Tree, to run as stand-alone spa business in other hotels. The
company went on to establish several other businesses under Angsana and Banyan Tree brands, all of
which were following their initial promise to social and environmental responsibility, local taste, the sense
of place and engaged local communities. I believe the key to the success of holding so many types of
businesses within the family is making sure that they still adhere to their greater promise and focus on
customer experience. In some way or another, their product portfolio is interconnected and that’s what will
be important in order successfully manage these brands in the future. I would recommend they stay the
course of social responsibility and environmental awareness, especially nowadays when these two topics
are at the top of mind of almost every customer.

4. What effect does the practice of corporate social responsibility have on brand equity?

In the case of Banyan Tree it had a profound effect on Banyan’s brand equity. In line with the company
ethos of conserving local culture and heritage and promoting cottage crafts, the company founded

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Banyan Tree Gallery, a retail store showcasing indigenous crafts. The crafts were made by the locals,

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which not only created jobs for the local population but also showed Banyan Tree’s stance on social

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responsibility. Overtime, there was a Banyan Tree Gallery across all of the company’s resorts and the

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community outreach extended across multiple countries.

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Being socially responsibly also helped them establish a stronger brand. Customer praises were generally
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directed towards the fact that it was a private, exclusive experience with sense of place and romance.
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Company’s socially responsible policies also had a huge impact on their employees, who in turn had pride
and respect for the company. Furthermore, the effect of corporate social responsibility is also evident in
the fact that the company has won countless awards for just that, social and environmental responsibility.
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People loved the fact that the company was engaging local communities, associates and guests to share
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the cause of climate change and actions to reduce the carbon footprint.
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Involving the guests and the local community is at the forefront of Banyan Tree and this has enormous
impact on their brand. With countless initiatives in the works and already in place, many guests know
Banyan Tree resorts as a place that only provided top notch service but also deeply cares about how it
does business.
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5. What potential problems do you foresee bringing Banyan Tree to the Americas, Europe, and
the Middle East? How could Banyan Tree address those issues?

The cost of doing business will definitely be the number issue that the company will face in the Americas
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and Europe. Parts of Banyan Tree’s success comes from cheap labor and Asia’s hardworking and
dedicated workers. Although there are ways around the financial issues that the company faces, it will be
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harder to replicate the success they had in Asia as it was their home territory and they are closely familiar
with how the “authentic” experience would look/feel like. As it already mentioned in the case, it is
important not to dilute the brands, purely striving to open as many resorts as possible would not be the
right strategy. It would imperative for the company to stay focused on Banyan Tree and Angsana brand
promises. Furthermore, it will be important the company finds the right talent to manage its hotels and
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resorts in the Americas and Europe as the culture is distinctly different than that of Asia, and it would be
important to stay the course but make sure that there are tweaks made into their products in order to
cater to the local population.

All Banyan Tree hotels and resorts were designed around the concept of providing a sense of
place to reflect and enhance the culture and heritage of the destination.

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