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Brand Finance has recently rated Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts as the No. 1 Emerging Brand of the Year, ahead of several more established brands across diverse sectors. Furthermore, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts has also been ranked 23rd with a brand value of Rs. 4.9 billion in the Most Valuable Brands list, making it the first time that the brand entered the list. Deputy Chairman of John Keells Holdings Ajit Gunewardene shares his sentiments on this achievement by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts in a candid interview with Daily FT.
Q: What are your thoughts on Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts being ranked 23 in the Most Valuable Brands list for the first time along with being appointed the number 1 Emerging Brand in Sri Lanka?
A: We feel privileged to have Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts feature prominently in Brand Finance’s corporate roll call of honour. Being anointed Emerging Brand of the Year and ranked 23rd amongst other longstanding brands is an accomplishment that makes us justifiably proud. This achievement marks the fruition of our sustained brand-building efforts over the last four years. We embarked on a definitive brand strategy as far back as 2009 and fittingly we have seen the brand going from strength to strength since then.
However, we approach our brand-building strategy as a journey without end, and will keep evolving our brand strategy to sustain the cutting-edge advantage that the brand clearly holds in Sri Lanka’s leisure and hospitality segments. We have made a serious commitment to building the Cinnamon brand and now our focus is to execute the brand-building strategy across all dimensions of the brand.
Q: In your opinion what were the pivotal factors that have contributed to this historic accomplishment?
A: It is no mean feat to overtake leading brands while entering the prestigious Most Valuable Brands listing for the first time. One of the key attributes of Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts is our speed of adapting to change and embracing opportunities. Innovation lies at the heart of our operations and our positive outlook drives us to optimise these opportunities to our advantage and also to the benefit of all our stakeholders. More importantly, we benchmark Cinnamon brand standards against the best in the world. We accept and expect nothing but world-class quality when it comes to the Cinnamon brand.
[caption id="attachment_410065" align="alignleft" width="360"]
View from hotel at night - Cinnamon Bey Beruwala[/caption]
Lastly, this accomplishment is a direct result of substantial investment in marketing and related operations that have together leveraged on joint synergies to emerge with a unique brand niche that Cinnamon occupies. I am heartened by the fact that our associates at all levels have come together as one to make this triumph possible. Our position today is also a reflection of the goodwill we have garnered over the years amongst each of our stakeholder groups.
Q: What has Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts done differently over the last year to be acknowledged as an emerging brand in this year’s listings?
A: Our success has stemmed from a combination of dedication, hard work, market research and analysis and cutting-edge marketing strategies that have combined to boost the brand. We took a conscious decision to inject substantial investments into brand communications and have organised many international events that have given the brand immense exposure and visibility in the region over the previous year.
Significantly, we have deepened ties with our customers by understanding their needs and behaviour, so that we can customise our services for them. We believe in being innovative and catering to our customer needs and to do this we discarded any semblance of a cookie-cutter approach, thereby respecting each customer as unique in his or her own right.
In my view, a blend of these strategies and our determination to get it right every single time, has propelled us to the forefront of Sri Lanka’s prominent brands. We do not take brand stewardship lightly and all our systems and processes are primed to add value to the brand through an inward and outward process.
Q: What is the edge that Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts enjoys over more established hospitality brands?
A: I believe that our passion for innovation places us front and centre in the industry. Moreover, this can be borne out by casting a glance at the multiple pioneering events introduced by us for the first-time ever in Sri Lanka. From pre-pageant tours of pageant finalists originating from major source markets for Sri Lanka, to the first-ever Travel Bloggers Conference, innovation is deeply embedded within our company and helps us sustain the dynamism of the brand.
We are consciously moving away from looking at our business with a purely bricks and mortar point of view. Anyone can build hotels and resorts costing millions, but at Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts we know how to infuse life into them. We do it well and discerning customers know this and thus select us over other hospitality brands.
Q: As the future face of Sri Lanka’s corporate landscape, what message does a brand like Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts give out to its peers and to the world?
A: Sri Lanka as an emerging destination will offer significant new opportunities and with these opportunities will come new challenges. The competitive framework and the new age consumer will require us to think differently and to think globally if we want to thrive in this environment.
I believe that Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts has a bigger role to play in the emerging Sri Lanka, maximising market gaps to create an internationally recognised brand. Our journey has taken us from discovering and mining the potential of the Cinnamon brand to establishing a clear market positioning for it. From there, we have moved seamlessly onto the process of expressing our brand values across all our operations so that every contact with the brand exudes the same strong brand ethos, leaving no confusion about what the brand stands for.
At the next crucial stage we have had to communicate and interpret the brand ethos to all stakeholders, which inspired us to understand what each customer wants from us and how we can better serve them. By customising our products and services, we move closer to customers, who then also invest in the brand by way of brand loyalty, repeat stays, positive reviews and so on. Last and most important, is our team of associates who embody the brand values.
Q: The power of a brand comes alive when its brand values are “lived out” by employees. How does this apply to Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts?
A: Our associates are driven by a passion for and pursuit of excellence, to always do better and constantly raise the bar across all operations. We are relentlessly inculcating this sense of ownership about the company into our associates. What our associates think of our brand is what reflects upon our customers.
Employee satisfaction resonates to customer satisfaction and our associates are undoubtedly our biggest brand custodians. Our associates are continually encouraged to use the brand filter whilst engaging with customers and other stakeholders. The stronger they relate to the brand, the more earnest their engagement with customers will be.
Q: How does the Cinnamon brand engage with stakeholders to enhance brand value further?
A: Apart from associates and customers, we reach out equally to other valuable stakeholders in our journey, namely, investors, our society and to build the country as a choice tourism destination.
Our 360-degree approach enables us to adopt a sustainable strategy to benefit one and all. The brand embodies this approach in diverse ways, for example, we have been taking strategic initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint and have achieved a reduction by approximately 15% over the last five years and overall reduction in our water footprint by approximately 20%. Overall, we have been aiming at international best practice levels in sustainability as defined by Earth Check Global.
Our social sustainability efforts are focused on empowering the communities within which we operate. Our focus is on strengthening their livelihood, for example, sourcing vegetables, raw materials, boats for whale-watching or jeeps and trackers for safaris from within the surrounding communities. Through these endeavours, the local community takes ownership of our operations and invests in our business in a positive manner, enabling us to co-exist in harmony. By improving the standard of living for local communities and ensuring their sustainable livelihoods, we create a win-win situation both for our stakeholders and for our brand.
Q: What activities are being planned for the future to ensure that the Cinnamon brand forges to the top of the entire Most Valuable Brands list?
A: The most obvious aspect of the brand-building strategy will be the emergence of Cinnamon as a lifestyle brand. Ensuring that we fully understand our customers and cater to their needs effectively will be at the forefront of our efforts and our biggest focus. We are committed to keeping our customers plugged into our brand by generating excitement around our unique services and flamboyant events. The panache the brand exudes will forever keep our customers wanting more.
Q: What is the long-term vision for the brand?
A: Being recognised globally as a brand to be reckoned with in the hospitality sector. We aim to be the benchmark for the hotel industry in the region and the hotel of choice for both local and global travellers by offering them a vibrant lifestyle.
The brand is already making waves in the region and receiving due awards and recognition for its distinctive brand identity. We aspire to rub shoulders with and compete in the same playing field as the most well-known global brands.
You can expect to witness greater brand-building activity from us over the next five years and we will not slow down until we become recognised as a world-class brand that adds infinite value to making Sri Lanka a holiday destination of choice. Sri Lanka is on the cusp of a period of growth and we want Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to ride the crest of this wave.
