Viceroy Bets on Experiences in Overhaul of Luxury Hotel Brand

Mark Keiser has a problem with luxury hotels: He thinks too many look and feel the same.

“You go into a walled-off resort, and they serve Mexican food in a country that’s not Mexico, and everyone calls that luxury,” said Keiser, president of development at Viceroy Hotels & Resorts.

Keiser said “experiential luxury” is central to Viceroy’s rebranding, which debuted on Wednesday.

“Today’s luxury needs to instead be about the destination — coming back from an experience and saying, ‘These are the amazing locally immersive things that I did.'”

Viceroy, a brand with 10 hotels, vets experiences before it recommends them — a practice Keiser said is unusual among luxury hotel brands.

“Other luxury resorts may hand you off to outside groups, but the quality control can be poor,” Keiser said. “It can be a bit of a headscratcher of why they handed you off to, say, that boat charter.”

Viceroy’s flagship for experiential luxury is Viceroy at Ombria Algarve, a hotel that opened in October. Its programming includes a guided hive-to-table beekeeping experience in Portugal’s Algarve region, pottery workshops with local artisans, and trail rides in the Serra do Caldeirão mountains.

Viceroy’s focus on experiences echoes trends highlighted recently by Skift. For example, in Skift Research’s luxury traveler survey, roughly half of affluent travelers said that authentic cultural immersion was their key travel motivator.

Viceroy’s Experiences

In Florida, Viceroy is exploring partnerships to capitalize on growing traveler interest in “live tourism,” such as sports events and music performances. Activities might provide behind-the-scenes access and themed activities related to sports teams or cultural institutions.

Tampa area hotels, for example, often host athletes and sports fans who stay for baseball spring training nearby.

“If we’re able to introduce guests to the nutritionists that area athletes use or show how athletes train — how incredible would that be?” Keiser said.

Guests will pay extra for the activities. At Viceroy Los Cabos, guests can learn how to make glass for a fee at a nearby master glassblower’s workshop.

A Unified Hotel Brand

Viceroy’s rebrand — with a new logo, website, and digital marketing campaign — was supported by Highgate, the second-largest U.S. hotel management company after Marriott. An affiliate of the principals of Highgate bought the brand in 2023.

The relaunch marks a shift in strategy.

“For the last 10 years, all of the marketing dollars went to the individual properties,” Keiser said. If a guest stayed at a Viceroy hotel in, say, Chicago, they didn’t hear much about a Viceroy resort in the Caribbean.

Now, the brand is orchestrating a more cohesive narrative while maintaining each property’s distinct character. This requires a delicate balance.

Exhibit A: It has debuted custom emblems for each location. For instance, one Washington, D.C.-based hotel has the “o” in the word Viceroy on its branding shaped to show the city’s iconic Washington Monument in silhouette.

Three-Phase Relaunch

Viceroy’s brand relaunch comes after over a year of behind-the-scenes work. Phase one focused on operations.

The current phase centers on brand positioning and demonstrating results to owners.

The final phase will involve selective capital improvements — but only after proving the model’s success to owners.

Owners with older properties may need to invest in recommended upgrades to meet Viceroy’s vision for a consistent level of quality, and some may or may not want to do that. Two properties have left the system since Highgate took over.

Branded Residences, Too

Another aspect of Viceroy’s strategy is to offer experiential luxury for owners of its branded residential properties.

Viceroy executives aim to develop a unique value proposition that extends beyond traditional perks for owners of its branded residence.

“Every branded owner program has some level of perks, and we expect to create experiences for our top-tier members to give them an opportunity to start thinking about their travel and locality in ways that they might not have thought about on their own,” Keiser said.

Skift Global Forum Video: The Evolving Role of Experiences in Travel

In this video from Skift Global Forum, executives from Peek, TUI Musement, and McKinsey & Company broke down significant shifts in traveler behavior driving the boom in the experiences sector.

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