Competition in the budget hotel sector is fierce but Kitchen Rat can’t help wonder if gentlemen’s rules have been shoved out the window in a bid to be number one.
Although Travelodge has resisted the urge to rename itself Premier Travelodge and scupper rival Premier Travel Inn’s recent rebrand as Premier Inn (presumably it would be forced to call itself simply Inn), some of the smaller players in the field appear not to have been so lucky.
If you remember just before Christmas the Real Hotel Company (yes, it is a bit eighties-era pop) launched a Prince friendly (maybe the pop reference makes sense after all) budget hotel chain called Purple
They’ve got ambitious plans to take the likes of Premier Inn on by offering a posher take on the budget offer, with lots of mod. cons, a fair bit of style and a promised competitive price.
Although the group should have 1,000 bedrooms operating under the Purple banner by the end of this month, you wouldn’t think PI, which has more than 32,000 bedrooms, would be looking over its shoulder just yet.
However, complacency in this game is a no no and Kitchen Rat fears guerilla marketing tactics have already begun if a recent release from PI’s public relations team is anything to go by.
Premier Inn’s inaugural Purple Hair Day is coming up on the 26 February when its 10,000 team members across the UK will don purple wigs or dye their hair to raise money for Premier Inn’s chosen charity Hospitality Action….
It’s enough to leave fledgling Purple hotels, currently engaged in spreading its Purple message to all and establishing its brand in consumers' minds feeling, well, somewhat blue.