YOTEL is challenging the status quo, it’s in our DNA!
Our Mission
We appeal to those who find traditional hotels uninspiring, searching for a different experience and not just a great sleep.
We deliver that experience to Generation YO through awesome people, smart design and the creative use of technology.
We provide unique spaces, each with their own personality, connected by a sense of community, all delivered with a touch of fun and tons of passion.
We are inclusive, we are confident and innovative, we are YOTEL!
Our Brand values
We try to live and breathe them, we really do, come and visit us, test us out!
Authentic: We are always true to who we are, and do what we say.
Creative: We are playful, inspiring, unexpected, constantly evolving by re-imagining the norm.
Smart: We are stylish, clever, informed, witty and intuitive. We are efficient, resourceful, agile and totally savvy.
Our Brand Promise
To you, our guest …
We promise to deliver a different experience through awesome people, smart design and the creative use of technology.
We promise you unique spaces, each with their own personality, connected by a sense of community, all delivered with a touch of fun and tons of passion.
Customer
‘We deliver that experience to Generation YO through awesome people, smart design and the creative use of technology’
I am not sure who ‘Generation Yo’ is but am sure it is not a couple in their 50’s off to a wedding!
However, Yotel Manchester was the closest hotel to the wedding venue, it seemed good value and the imagery on the website looked bright and interesting so we gave it a go.
Having read their mission, values and promise and been frustrated by the antiquated processes of many hotels over the years I was expecting something really different and clever.
Experience
Our arrival was promising the team was not behind a reception desk but out ready to greet us. Whilst this is not a ‘reimagining of the norm’ it is refreshing.
Unfortunately what is very much the norm is the wait we had to be attended to and the click, click of the mouse to find our booking!
The downstairs reception area/ bar/ lounge/ dining area was indeed quite different for the downstairs of a hotel it was ‘fun, and stylish with a sense of personality’ and people seemed relaxed and happy there.
Whilst ‘unique spaces’ might be taking it a bit far, the bedrooms also felt quite different in bold orange and black colours and a clever use of limited space (apart from an unusable gap between the bed and the wall)!
No tea and coffee in the room was a little inconvenient but there was a good tea and coffee offering on each floor. No doubt a cost saving but does also fit with ‘community’.
According to the website Yotel also hold events – Yofest, their calendar of summer events sounded fun, different from the norm and a fit with their desire to create a ‘sense of community’ .
Alignment
I admire Yotel for their vision and their desire to stand out in the homogenous world of the low- mid market hotel chains.
A vision should be ambitious and not necessarily ever achievable. It should motivate your teams and your customers. Crucially, it should guide all your decisions so that it comes to life through all the touch points your customers and colleagues have with your brand.
It feels like, whilst not not totally unique or challenging the status quo in all areas it does feel like the brand is guiding all areas of the customer experience. I enjoyed my stay and would try a Yotel again, however, for a brand that talks so much about innovation in its vision I would have liked one of two really stand out moments that would have amplified my experience. If your brand truly is about innovation and challenging the status quo then it is key to arm your colleagues with the tools and techniques to think differently as well as the latitude to act on those ideas.
As part of our Customer and Colleague Experience alignment projects, we run Brand Amplifier sessions where we use creative exercises and stimulus to help teams come up with new and different ideas.
For those companies who want to ensure that creative thinking continues we run one or two day innovation courses teaching and practicing techniques that can be applied throughout the business.
If you would like to hear more about developing strong, ambitions brand visions, aligning your colleague and customer experience to the brand or innovative thinking then please get in touch.