How to Create a Brand Guideline for Your Hotel or Serviced Apartment
If you manage a hotel or serviced apartment, you already know how vital your brand is. Your hotel brand is more than a logo or a slogan, it’s a living, breathing identity that shapes how guests feel, remember, and talk about their experience. In a landscape where experience is everything, a strong brand can be the difference between a one-time booking and a loyal guest for life.
But great brands don’t happen by accident. They’re built on intention, consistency and clarity. That’s where a hotel brand guideline comes in. Whether you’re launching a new boutique property, scaling your serviced apartment business, or refreshing your identity, a brand guideline ensures your visual style, tone of voice and guest experience stay coherent at every touchpoint.
This guide walks you through the essentials of building a high-performing brand guideline tailored to the hospitality industry.
1. Why Brand Guidelines Matter in Hospitality
Hotels operate across multiple channels: websites, OTAs, print, staff uniforms, room signage and much more. Without a centralised brand guideline, inconsistency creeps in. Logos are stretched, tone varies between platforms and the guest experience feels disjointed.
Here’s why a strong brand guideline matters:
It ensures consistency across all guest touchpoints
It aligns teams across departments and locations
It builds brand recall and trust with your audience
It simplifies onboarding for new staff and vendors
It improves marketing efficiency and creative quality
For serviced apartments and multi-property brands, these benefits are even more critical.
2. Start with Brand Foundations
Before you move on to design elements or messaging, it's important to define the strategic core of your brand. This is the foundation that everything else will be built on.
Begin by answering four key questions:
What is your mission? In other words, why does your hotel or serviced apartment exist beyond just making a profit?
What is your vision? Think about the long-term impact you want your brand to have.
What are your core values? These are the beliefs that guide how you operate and make decisions.
What is your personality? If your brand were a person, how would it speak, behave and connect with others?
Here’s an example to bring it to life:
A boutique hotel brand might define its mission as inspiring conscious travel through stylish and sustainable hospitality. Its vision could be to become Europe’s most recognised eco-luxury urban retreat. The personality might be described as relaxed, intelligent, warm and design-forward.
Once you’ve established these foundations, they should influence everything from the words you use on your website to the way your team greets a guest at reception.
3. Define Your Guest Personas
Understanding your audience is essential. Build 2–3 key guest personas that reflect your ideal guests’ demographics, motivations, and behaviours.
Example Persona: The Wellness Weekender
Age: 32–45, lives in a major city
Booking behaviour: Direct, prioritises flexibility
Needs: Digital detox, connection to nature, healthy food
Responds to: Calm tone, minimalist design, authenticity
Use these personas to shape your voice, visuals, experience design and even service rituals.
4. Build a Distinct Visual Identity
Your visual identity should reflect your brand personality and be applied consistently.
Include the following in your guideline:
Logo versions, usage rules, spacing and size limits
Primary and secondary colour palettes with exact codes
Typography hierarchy (headline, subhead, body text)
Image guidance: light, mood, subjects, editing style
Supporting elements: icons, textures, UI styles
Add real “do and don’t” examples to avoid confusion. Visuals matter, make it easy to stay on-brand.
5. Craft Your Tone of Voice
Your brand’s voice is what builds emotional trust with your audience. It sets the tone for how guests experience your hotel before they even arrive.
Decide where your brand sits on these scales:
Formal or casual
Calm or energetic
Warm or neutral
Direct or descriptive
Then provide practical writing examples.
Example
- Booking confirmation: “You’re all set and we can’t wait to welcome you.”
- Negative review response: “Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry your stay wasn’t as expected and we’d love the chance to make it right.” Read this post on Turning reviews into revenue
Also, list preferred and off-limits phrases. For example, avoid “cheap” in luxury branding; use “exclusive offer” instead.
6. Standardise the Guest Experience
A brand isn’t just what people see, it’s what they feel. Document how the brand shows up in real-world guest interactions.
Cover things like:
Welcome rituals and check-in style
In-room standards: layout, scent, lighting, sound
Turndown and farewell rituals
Staff interactions, language, and service posture
If you're managing serviced apartments, include:
Digital check-in guidance
Branded guest communications and signage
In-unit materials like kitchen guides and tablet interfaces
7. Digital Brand Execution
Apply your brand consistently across digital platforms such as your website, emails and social media.
Include guidance for:
Website layout, tone and user interface design
Email template structure, tone of voice, CTAs
Social media content themes and caption style
SEO blog structure and brand tone
If possible, add pre-approved templates and starter packs to speed up production.
8. Communicate Sustainability and Local Impact
Modern travellers care about sustainability, community connection, and brand transparency. Don’t just say it, show how your brand delivers on it.
Include:
Environmental partnerships, certifications, and practices
Local suppliers or artisans you collaborate with
Community outreach or charitable initiatives
Clear language to avoid greenwashing
Example
Instead of “We care about the planet,” say “Each stay funds rewilding projects in the Lake District.”
9. Brand Governance in the Age of AI
AI is now a part of most marketing workflows and your brand guideline should address how it’s used.
Document:
Approved AI tools (e.g. ChatGPT, Canva, Grammarly Business)
Tone-aligned prompt examples
How to review AI-generated content
When human oversight is required
This ensures consistency and reduces risk, especially when working with junior staff or freelancers.
10. Crisis and Reputation Messaging
Brand voice matters most when things go wrong. Include a section on how to maintain your tone during a crisis.
Prepare templates for:
Negative review replies
Service interruption notices
Refund or cancellation policies
Social media statements
Use an empathetic, clear tone that reflects your brand values.
11. Train, Share and Keep It Alive
The value of a brand guideline comes from how well it’s used and that requires education and visibility.
Best practices:
Store it in an accessible location (Internal Drive, Google Drive)
Introduce it during onboarding for all new hires
Hold annual brand refresher sessions
Create short explainer videos or quizzes for teams
Make it a living document that evolves as your brand grows.
Conclusion
Your brand guideline isn’t just a document to tick off a checklist, it’s a living asset that shapes every guest interaction, marketing campaign and piece of content your hotel or serviced apartment produces.
The strongest hospitality brands feel effortless and seamless, not because they’re lucky, but because they’re built with intention. They sound the same in a booking email as they do in a welcome card. They look the same on Instagram as they do in a room directory. They make the guest feel the same way at check-in as they do when leaving a review.
That level of consistency doesn’t happen by accident. It’s documented, trained and reinforced daily. That’s the true value of a brand guideline.
Use yours to build trust, scale your marketing confidently and deliver guest experiences that feel thoughtful, cohesive, and distinctly yours. If your brand is your story, then your brand guideline is the script that ensures it’s told beautifully every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
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A brand guideline is a document that sets out how your hotel or serviced apartment should be visually and verbally represented across all guest touchpoints from your website and social media to signage and service language. It ensures consistency, builds trust, and helps your team deliver a seamless guest experience. Without it, your brand risks looking and sounding different every time, which weakens recognition and credibility.
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Your guideline should cover more than just logos and colours. It should include your brand’s mission, values, and personality, as well as guest personas, tone of voice, visual identity, service rituals, digital content rules, and even how to respond to reviews. For modern hotels, it’s also useful to include AI usage guidelines and crisis communication templates.
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Yes for all properties. A clear brand guideline helps boutique hotels and serviced apartments compete with larger brands by looking more polished, professional and consistent. It also makes it easier to brief freelancers, onboard new staff and maintain a high standard of guest communication.
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Review your brand guideline at least once a year, or whenever your branding, guest profile or positioning changes. If you launch a new property, update your website, or shift your tone of voice, your guideline should evolve to reflect those changes. Branding is never static and your guideline shouldn’t be either.
