Question: Please write a positioning statement for the NOBU brand

Traveling in Nobu Style: Converting Restaurant Patrons to Hotel Guests

The name Nobu is synonymous with an exceptional Japanese dining experience, perfected by chef Nobu Matsuhisa over a more than 30-year career. Matsuhisa, together with actor Robert De Niro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, opened the first Nobu restaurant in 1994 and to date, there are now 38 Nobu restaurants worldwide.

But if you talk to Trevor Horwell, the CEO of Nobu Hospitality, Nobu represents much more than just a restaurant experience. Its a true lifestyle brand that also encompasses a relatively small, but growing portfolio of luxury hotels, too eight of which are open now, and eight more are in the pipeline.

Horwells primary focus as CEO is to continue to grow the Nobu Hotels brand and as he opens up diners eyes to the fact that cannot only eat at a Nobu but stay at one, too, he hasnt forgotten the brands origins in the process.

We dont normally do a hotel unless we think that a Nobu Restaurant can do well in that location, said Horwell. Thats very important because what we want to do first and foremost is to make sure there is a draw for locals, and that really comes down to the Nobu Restaurant. Horwell said the majority of his Nobu hotel restaurant diners 80 percent on average are local residents, not hotel guests. Its not like a tourist restaurant. We like to attract the locals. We want that built-in customer.

We are defined by the restaurant, in a way, he said. We play to our strengths. If you look at the hotel business today, the majority of hotels are suffering because they dont lead with food and beverage. dont have strong food-and-beverage concepts, and a lot of hotels are losing money. Today, we play to our strengths because that is one area that we do very, very well, and we bring in locals.

The idea to launch Nobu Hotels, he said, came from the fact that when Nobu Restaurants were located inside of a hotel, they were the draw for the hotel and we were bringing in customers.

If I only convert 5 percent of my customers in Nobu Restaurant to stay in our hotels, then at the end of the day, were filling out hotels. Its not a tall order to do that, and you can do that very well and very quickly if you offer the right product.

Nobu Hotels has the advantage of having built its brand over a 24-year period with its restaurants first, followed by the first Nobu hotel that opened within Caesars Palace Las Vegas in 2013.

The first focus for us, really, is to expose the brand to our restaurant customers, Horwell said. We touch all types of Nobu customers. And we also provide instant identity. If you put Nobu Hotel on a hotel, the word Nobu says something and it attracts a certain type of customer. Horwell said that, for example, when the first Nobu opened, the hotel had more than one billion media impressions.

So, whats next for the brand, and how does Horwell plan to grow Nobu Hotels? He explained, Were not driven by reservations systems because were small. It isnt as if we need a huge reservations system to fill a 400-room hotel. Thats why a lot of these corporations do well, because they have the reservations platform to fill the big hotels. Nobu Hotels, by comparison, average anywhere from 100 to 150 rooms generally.

The reason why those young lifestyle brands have emerged is because theyre like us. They are entrepreneurial, theyre unique because its a concept thats come from the heart, from whoever is the original founder. But when its absorbed by a corporation, the whole thing changes. At the end of the day, the specialness is lost because then the corporations running it, and then, I think you lose what your original concept was all about. I think thats the biggest issue.

Horwell also doesnt necessarily think of Nobu Hotels as occupying a place in luxury hospitality, instead referring to the brand as special.

I look at our hotels not as luxury, he said. I look at them as special. I like us to be special, in each location were in. Luxury is a word thats used too much in terms of everything is luxury today. For us, were special.'

Thats why Im saying, from a company perspective, were very entrepreneurial.

Todays evolving luxury traveler is seeking youthfulness no matter what age they are, and they are very curious and very adventurous. Because of that, its important for hospitality brands, Nobu included, to not just say theyre unique but to really offer unique experiences. He pointed to Nobu Ryokan Malibu in California as an example. The 16-room retreat overlooks the beach and is right by the ocean, and right next door to the Nobu Restaurant in Malibu. It becomes a destination, and thats something Nobu wants to offer.

Its also a different concept from what the other Nobu Hotels have. While Nobu Hotels are places where theres an emphasis on bringing in the locals, the Ryokans are meant to be more private.

The Ryokan is actually a place where people dont want to necessarily be seen, Horwell explained. Its a hideaway, a retreat. You can only book through a general manager and its a special place. He added, We will do more Ryokans, definitely, in locations that we think is right.

A major focus for Nobu Hotels is to grow the company and the brand with the right talent and partners, as well as make sure that the Nobu Hotels brand is reaching the right consumers.

The most important thing, from our perspective, is to build a relationship with our existing customers, he said. Its about, first and foremost, on digital, working our databases. We like to do that through email, through a lot of channels. We just brought on a new head of digital. Capturing data is very, very important now, and thats something that is a main focus and her team.

I think the main thing for us is the customer relationship management (CRM) because you can do so much with it, he said. You can know your customer. Its one part of the business that we are heavily focused in in and we can extract a lot of information from that.

In addition to beefing up its customer relationship management system, Nobu is also testing out a loyalty partnership, of sorts. The Nobu London Shoreditch joined Design Hotels last year, giving the property access to distribution on Design Hotels site, as well as a connection to the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. Three Nobu hotels are also members of Leading Hotels of the World. A lot of our customers arent driven by points, he said. When I travel, I dont go for points. I want to stay in a hotel where I enjoy the staff, the food and beverage, the products all of that and I will pay a premium for it.

Appendix A Additional Information about NOBU

Nobu Hotels

"A Place to go and be seen"

By wrapping the concept of a luxurious boutique hotel around energized public spaces, Nobu Hotels creates powerful stages for shared experiences of excitement and escapism. Featuring the best of everything with imaginative new restaurants, high- energy bars, relaxing rejuvenation, distinctive service, remarkable retail and an air of celebrity, Nobu Hotels will afford guests and privileged owners the most exclusive entry into unparalleled experiences that lay at the crossroads of innovation and imagination.

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Excerpted from Nobu Hotels CEO on a Restaurant-First Approach to Hospitality by D. Ting. Skift March 22, 2018. +Experts and image from Nobu restaurant and hotel website