By Kate Sarmiento
Think about the best hotel stay you’ve ever had, then catch which detail your mind grabs first. Was it the beautiful lobby, a particular scent, a thoughtful gesture, or simply the way someone made you feel? That detail is a decent clue to what the brand really got right, and it’s the question this article digs into. It’s also right at home at EVOKE Your Story™, the storytelling methodology founded by Anna Rosa Parker. Anna studied theatre and playwriting at the University of Washington, and her path from the performing arts into luxury branding took her to New York, where she developed brand voice and storytelling for leading hospitality, wellness, fashion, and lifestyle brands.
Luxury hotels have an odd problem, which is that guests can have a hard time telling them apart. With so many luxury brands competing for the same guests, it gets hard to remember what makes any one of them different, and much of the branding in the category leans toward functional upgrades like better facilities (Source: Purdue University, 2017). A renovated lobby is lovely (nobody ever checked out wishing it had been uglier), but the story, the sensory experience, and the voice behind a brand are what give guests something to remember.
If you work on a luxury or hospitality brand, you’ve probably felt the tug to spend the next budget on something guests can see, and it’s an understandable tug, since a new lobby is easy to point at. But what about the things a photograph can’t capture? The signature scent that brings back a memory years later, the music, the textures, or the warmth of a genuine welcome. The sections below make a case for giving these less tangible elements the same attention, beginning with story, moving through the guest experience, and ending with voice, which together build the kind of connection that stays with a guest long after checkout.
Your Brand Story Works Harder Than Your Chandelier
Story comes first, because a good one gives guests something to feel. Research into the neuroscience of storytelling suggests that emotionally engaging narratives can influence how people connect with others, shaping their attitudes, beliefs, and behavior (Source: Cerebrum, 2015). Any competitor can copy the fireplace in your lobby, but a story rooted in a brand’s genuine identity, values, and point of view is much harder to replicate.
Structure counts too. In one study, people who had stayed at a luxury hotel in the past year read a brand story, and a well-structured narrative improved how they perceived the hotel’s image, partly because it drew them into the story (Source: Purdue University, 2017). The hotel was fictional, so existing brand perceptions didn’t influence the results. The same research notes that luxury hotel guests tend to value emotional and symbolic benefits, making storytelling particularly relevant to the brands trying to reach them.
Guests walk in with stories of their own, too. Psychologists call this narrative identity, the evolving story we tell ourselves about who we are and how we became that person (Source: Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture, 2019). A guest booking a suite may be celebrating an anniversary, marking a milestone, or finding a moment of peace after a difficult year. The hotel becomes part of that personal story, and a brand that understands this can consider what role it wants to play in the guest’s experience.
EVOKE Your Story™ draws on techniques from acting, including objectives, obstacles, and given circumstances, to help people recognize the narratives shaping how they think, lead, and communicate. Brands can explore similar questions. What does the brand stand for? What does it want people to feel? What makes its perspective genuinely different? A hotel that can answer those questions honestly has the foundation for a compelling story, and the opportunity to bring that story to life through every guest interaction.
Your Story Only Counts Once a Guest Walks Into It
A story stays on paper until a guest actually experiences it. Hotels have countless opportunities to bring that story to life, from the moment someone arrives to the follow-up email after checkout, and every interaction either reinforces the story or contradicts it. That’s why the small details matter just as much as the big ones.
Emotion does real work here. A 2024 survey of 399 Indian luxury hotel customers explored the relationship between emotional attachment, a sense of belonging, and guests’ willingness to help shape their own experiences (Source: The Open Psychology Journal, 2024). The findings suggest that when guests develop an emotional connection to a hotel brand, they may begin to feel part of something larger than an individual stay.
Actors talk about subtext, the meaning that sits underneath the words in a line. A front desk greeting has subtext too, because the attitude behind the words travels along with them. A perfectly rehearsed welcome can still feel cold, while a genuine gesture can make someone feel instantly at home. That’s a good reason for hotel training to consider how staff connect with guests, not simply what they’re instructed to say.
Brands get to choose where the effort goes. One built around calm might invest in quiet rooms, thoughtful lighting, and a front desk that never makes anyone feel rushed. One built around playfulness might express it through unexpected details, a distinctive soundtrack, or handwritten notes. These choices create a sensory and emotional experience that reflects the brand’s personality. And when they all tell the same story, guests can feel the difference.
A Brand Voice Is What Guests Hear When Nobody Is Talking
Here’s a quick way to see voice at work. Read a hotel’s booking confirmation, then the sign by the elevator, then its replies on Instagram. Do they sound like they belong to the same brand? A distinctive voice should be recognizable across every touchpoint, even when the tone shifts to suit the occasion. When they sound like three strangers, the guest is left guessing which one is the real hotel.
Anna Rosa Parker has spent years on this kind of work, building brand voice and storytelling across hospitality, wellness, skincare, and fashion for Baccarat Hotel & Residences, 1 Hotels, Sóley Organics, Furtuna Skin, and EleVen by Venus Williams. A voice can start small. Jotting down what the brand believes, how it expresses its personality, and which words it would never use gives everyone who writes or speaks for it the same starting point.
Values keep a voice steady. EVOKE’s own are curiosity, courage, connection, and creativity, and those values influence how the brand communicates. Luxury brands can try the same thing by reading their homepage out loud and asking whether the language genuinely reflects what they stand for, or simply sounds like every other luxury brand.
Then there’s whoever picks up the phone. That person becomes the brand’s voice for the length of the call, so they should understand the story behind it and feel empowered to express it naturally. Because the most carefully crafted brand voice means very little if the people bringing it to life don’t believe in it.
Ready to Find the Story Your Brand Already Carries?
So what makes a luxury brand memorable? Probably the things guests can’t fit in a suitcase, like a story they can feel, an experience that stays with them, and a voice they recognize wherever they encounter it. Marble and brass are nice to have, but it’s the story behind them that gives the experience meaning and makes a lasting impression.
If you’d like help finding the story behind your own brand, EVOKE Your Story™ is a good place to start. The methodology helps founders, leaders, and organizations uncover the stories, values, and perspectives that shape how they communicate, connect, and lead. The self-paced Personal Brand course offers a starting point for anyone building a brand of their own. Explore EVOKE’s courses and leadership programs, or book a free discovery call.
Your story is already there. The question is, do you know what it is?
