RedDoorz establishes new hospitality brand despite pandemic-hit year

Singapore-based hotel chain RedDoorz has launched a new hotel brand, SANS Hotels, which aims to provide a vibrant and cosy stay experience at a low cost. Properties under the new brand will feature trendy furnishings and amenities, and are targeted at consumers who value stylish comfort and modern design without having to pay a hefty price. SANS will initially be rolled out in Indonesia in November, with a target to have five new properties by the end of 2020. SANS Hotels will eventually be rolled out to RedDoorz’s other markets, namely Singapore, Philippines, and Vietnam, and Singapore.

In a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Liviu Nedef, chief marketing officer, RedDoorz said it will be targeting the younger generation with SANS Hotels, namely the GenZs to Millennials aged between 21 to 36 years old. These are students and newly-minted workers, freelancers, and professionals with limited-to-average expendable income. This is the fastest-growing travel segment in Indonesia, and RedDoorz is looking to tap into a huge market of around 63.5 million people within the age group.

As for its marketing strategies, most of its initial efforts will be to make sure that this new brand gets noticed. "We’re looking to do a lot of social and digital engagement activities initially, fully leveraging on our existing brand recognition in Indonesia, along with our digital channels," she said. With these strategies, the aim is to get the message out, drive consumer engagement and create awareness for SANS Hotels.

"We aim to capture consumers’ attention and break through the media noise that’s currently present in Indonesia. On top of this, we will also be competing against the backbone of a busy Q4 season, where all of the brands are fighting to get the consumers’ attention due to the holidays," Nedef added. The marketing and operations for SANS Hotels will still remain within RedDoorz current marketing team set-up. Depending on how the next couple of months develop, the brand may look into setting up a new marketing team to manage this brand.

The name "SANS" is said to be derived from the Indonesian word “santai”, which roughly translates to “chill”. Amit Saberwal, founder and CEO, RedDoorz, said it is launching this new brand despite the COVID-19 situation as the brand gets ready for its next phase of growth. "Once the pandemic gets behind us, we will be the first hospitality company in our part of the world to spring back into full growth mode again, thanks to everything we’ve done during this challenging year," he said.

Saberwal added that RedDoorz remains committed to Southeast Asia's hospitality potential, and looks to provide more economic value to its accommodation partners, and become the largest hospitality platform in the region. 

RedDoorz said the launch signals its new vision to become an ecosystem of various accommodation products, each backed by distinct brands that cater to the different needs of consumers, from budget stays to more premium, design-inspired experiences and even extended-stays offering. The vision of RedDoorz as a multi-brand accommodation platform will come to life with a new redesigned app and rebranding campaign in Q1 2021. The new app design will feature easy access and navigation to the different accommodation brands and will also be complemented by a new loyalty programme, which can be used to earn and redeem discounts and access exclusive partner offers and benefits.

Additionally, Nedef told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that the rebranding exercise it is doing in 2021 will need to capture this new vision and experience for RedDoorz into mainstream attention. RedDoorz is looking to change a lot of its product experience such as how people will find or search for the new products on the platform. The rebranding will also articulate the changes on RedDoorz’s side, and what’s important for the consumers to know. With the rebrand, hotel and accommodation partners will also be able to expand their business by leveraging the new products, RedDoorz’s user base and its technology which enables them to access modules for distribution channels, revenue management, payments and operations.

This launch of SANS Hotels comes a couple of months after RedDoorz promoted Liviu Nedef to the role of CMO from senior VP of marketing and communications. Nedef leads the company’s marketing, communications, and direct business-to-consumer sales efforts. He will continue to focus on making RedDoorz become the preferred hospitality brand in Southeast Asia and accelerate its mobile-first customer strategies.

RedDoorz also launched several new initiatives in 2020 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to help its hotel partners, staff and customers cope with the effects of the coronavirus. These include “Red Heroes” - a programme which provided free temporary accommodation for frontline healthcare workers, “HygienePass”, an industry-wide cleanliness and sanitation certification programme for the hospitality industry in Indonesia and the Philippines, and “Hope Hotline”, a mental-health support program for its employees, hotel partners and their staffs. Across the region, RedDoorz operates a network of more than 1,800 properties in over 150 cities, spanning Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand.

At the start of this year in January, RedDoorz also unveiled KoolKost in Indonesia, a fully-managed community living service that allows customers to rent rooms under flexible leases. At launch, KoolKost will operate a network of over 100 properties in 14 cities across Indonesia.

KoolKost provides flexible, community-type living spaces focusing on living experience. It targets young professionals and college students in major metropolitan cities in Indonesia.  According to RedDoorz, KoolKost was launched to address the supply-demand gap in the long-term rental housing space. Moreover, it added that KoolKost is able to increase RedDoorz’s experience in the hospitality vertical, its established brand presence, reach and proprietary technology solutions.

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