Today, I will talk about how you keep brands evolving as consumer attitudes change. The strongest brands have either a very strong heritage or a very strong purpose, or sometimes both. For example, Levis, an amazing American heritage, comes to mind when you think about that brand. Apple isn’t about computers, this brand is about creativity and the way that design makes you feel.

At Hilton, we had the same purpose for over 100 years. Whether you are dealing with product brands or with hospitality brands, heritage and purpose are incredibly important. I think that is where the similarity ends. There are fundamental differences between branding in the hotel sector and branding in the product sector.

Because hotels are not like cans of Coke. No one ever opens a can of Coke and wonders what this one will be like. When the product is simple and fixed, branding it has become a kind of marketing battle. Coca-Cola spends about 4 billion dollars a year on advertising and sponsorships, all to ensure that when you think about Coke, you are thinking about a lot more than just fizzy water. 

It is very different in the hotel business. Hotel experiences are always unique, every single stay is unique. When you have that much variety in the product, the branding becomes not a marketing battle but an experience battle. It is all about the capacity of delivering an experience that meets and exceeds your customers’ expectations and separates you from the competition. 

At Hilton, we pay enormous attention to it. This is your key metric, this is the percentage of customers that give us five out of five on all of the social media reviews that we see across the EMEA region. It is really important to us to see that moving positively...