LUXURY operator, Six Senses Resorts & Spas is rebranding its properties to enhance group awareness and establish brand integrity.
Research indicated the group brand Six Senses enjoyed high global recognition for unique lifestyle experiences but managing director and group deputy chairman Bernhard Bohnenberger explained that adding in different brand names simply confused guests.
“The whole process now is simply to make it easier for them to understand and we believe that simplicity is the key to this relaunch – less names, simpler brands,” he said. “So rather than be called the Six Senses Hideaway Zighy Bay, the property will now be known as Six Senses Zighy Bay.”
The rebranded products will be Soneva by Six Senses, Six Senses, Evason and the company’s newest launch, Six Senses Destination Spas.
The Evason properties, run by a separate, dedicated team, are more affordable and family-oriented and will not come under the Six Senses brand.
The company also plans to overhaul and change the brand image through new imagery.
“Our photography used to be very architectural. We are now working with Hip Hotels founder Herbert Ypma who will capture the unique visual aspects of the resort and present it to our guests,” said Bohnenberger. “The roll-out later this year will see new imagery, a new website and more advertising.
“Six Senses has always been an experiential lifestyle company. We are not selling rooms and beds, but dreams and experiences. There is a total overload of the conventional luxury and we will bring something different,” added Bohnenberger.
It is the differentiated product which saw the company sail through 2009 comparatively smoothly. “While occupancies from source markets like Europe have been affected, we have managed to tap into new markets, especially with the regional markets” he said.
“One of the key factors of a Six Senses property is its location.
“Besides, every Six Senses property evolves yearly. One of the initiatives we have added at Zighy Bay this year is the tented camp experience in Musandam (pictured).”
Looking at the pipeline of developments, Six Senses will open its first resort in Morocco and the African continent with the Six Senses Essaouira in the fourth quarter of 2012. The resort will consist of 74 villas, each with their own ‘bassin’ style pool. The heart of the property will be a small rural-style village. Two more sites have also been confirmed in Morocco.
Six Senses Salt Cay will be the first Caribbean property in the Turks & Caicos set to open in 2013 and further sites have been confirmed in Brazil, Greece and Portugal.
Talks are also underway to open the first Six Senses Destination Spa in Zighy Bay.
Following the success of its spa at the Sharq Village in Doha, the company is developing a 3000-sq-m Six Senses Spa at the Al Bustan Palace in Muscat with others planned in New Dehli and Paris.