Turning Business Into Fun.

Starwood used Blue Ocean Strategy to invent a new way to keep their hotels filled during a soft economy.

It’s no secret that the travel industry has taken a major hit during the global recession. Unfilled hotel rooms kill cash flow and can drive down property values. Starwood Hotels and Resorts decided they had to change the game.

In a major effort to attract the next wave of growth, Starwood Hotels and Resorts has embraced Blue Ocean Strategy as a primary tool to focus their key people on thinking about creating ways to effectively convert non-customers into real paying customers.

Even when hotels keep their rooms booked during the week for business conferences, they often empty out for the weekend. Starwood realized that they could drive up their weekend revenue if they could keep a conference attendee for one or two more nights over the weekend if their family could come to them. This led to their first public Blue Ocean Strategy initiative called FamTASTIC. By targeting non-customers, the company did research to learn what families wanted by talking to children. Starwood created special offers and rates to attract families, based on what the children wanted from their vacation.  After a successful launched in selected hotels in Italy and Malta it is now being rolled out across the globe.

Now, Blue Ocean Strategy is being adopted at the local hotel and resort level for management to create their own ways to attract non-customers, too. It is possible to get growing again with Blue Ocean Strategy.