International Hospitality and Tourism Student Journal 4 (1) 2012 25-35

How the fashion brand Bulgari affects customer relationships: The case of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts in Milan
Yena Jung
HTMi, Hotel & Tourism Management Institute, Srenberg, 6174 Luzern, Switzerland

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Abstract There has been great attention paid to fashion boutique hotels such as Missoni, Ferragamo and Versace hotels for last decade. Glittering luxurious fashion brands tend to fulfil customers satisfaction with fantastic visualisation, brand identity and specify the brands image. Therefore, some customers tend to make a choice mainly for the brand name. Bulgari Hotels & Resorts pioneered one of the original fashion hotels. Furthermore, Bulgari hotels operations have adopted a strong service spirit from Ritz-Carlton since Bulgari has co-operation with RitzCarlton hotel, despite the fact that the Bulgari is a fashion brand. The aim of this paper is to investigate if luxurious fashion brand image satisfies customers with not only brand marketing but also qualified service of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. In order to find key questions, three objectives were derived into the aim. The first objective is to analyse the effectiveness and challenges of image of Bulgari as fashion brand influences the customers decision. Secondly, the paper examines what factors of brand positioning leads to customer satisfaction. The last objective is to evaluate the importance of the high level of service in Bulgari besides its brand position. Interestingly, the high brand position fulfils customer desires and wants with brand personality that is able to represent customers characteristics. However, fashion product branding must be different from service branding, therefore the fashion hotel needs to consider maintaining the excellent level of service if the hotel wants business to be sustainable. In fact, the present paper was limited in scope; therefore, further research should be directed at determining more elements to attract guests through sustainability of hotel business besides service and design.
Keywords: Fashion brand image; Luxury; Customer relations, Customer satisfaction; Bulgari Hotels and Resorts; Milan 2010 International Hospitality Research Centre. All rights reserved. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Introduction Nothing is able to satisfy 100 percent of people with money in the world of high fashion. There are various items probably never heard of, such as the Chanel boomerang, Chanel fishing rod, Chanel surfboard, Louis Vuitton skateboard and Ralph Lauren basketball (Diana 2010). Today perhaps no one will be extremely surprised by the fact that fashion brands have hospitality establishments. Gucci runs a coffee shop with its retail shop in Milan (Woollard 2005). Roberto Cavalli opened the Cavalli Club in Florence and Dubai (Proctor 2010). Surprisingly, there is also Dolce & Gabbanas restaurant Dolce & Gabbana Gold (Yossawat 2010). In addition, Maison Moschino joined the new boutique fashion hotel business in central Milano as well (Lo 2010). Moreover, in recent years, great attention has been paid to the fashion brand hotels. Giorgio Armani opened the very first Armani fashion hotel in Dubai and it has received attention in not only the hospitality industry but also the fashion industry. Besides Armani hotel, Missoni and other high fashion brands such as Versace run their own hotel

establishments. The companies aim at suggesting true lifestyle by its design (Dittrich 2006). The design is representing its brand image. Jobber (2007) states that to be successful, managing the brand is as important as management of the product. It is because depending on brand superiority the company is able to maximise its revenue in sales. Therefore price premiums leads to power of distribution. Furthermore, a brand will contribute to loyal customers who are typically less sensitive about price, and it is able to respond to competitive action. For these reasons, a brand name is one of the most important factors among a companys most valuable assets and smart companies today realize that capitalizing on their brands is also necessary to be successful (Kotler et al. 2006). Todays brand name is one of the most important key factors which satisfies customers because the brand tends to be regarded as a human being. So there is a term called brand personality which is about the trait of a brand name (Mooij 2004). As fashion brands have a chic trait why are hotels not able to provide fashionable hospitality? Due to the fact that luxury fashion companies have emphasised design, it is possible for fashion hotel

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management to consider making a balance between service and visualisation elements. Visualisation, for example, Mulberrys home, which is a hotel by Mulberry design, which has a beautiful display in the lobby (Dittrich 2006). Dressing the hotel, the designers passion and it seems that the popular designers easily tend to be hotelier by designing property. On the other hand, as a legendary hospitality company, the RitzCarlton defines the world-famous philosophy of the luxury hotel experience in Europe and all over the world (Ritz Carlton Hotel Company 2009). Now the reliable hotel, which has a great service philosophy, has emerged in the fashion field. The global chain Marriott International has been developing the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts in cooperation with Ritz-Carlton. Reciprocally Bulgari hotel intends to give more trustful feelings to audiences since it has been run by RitzCarlton under the Marriott umbrella (Dittrich 2006). The philosophy of design and service seems to have common, yet these are two different factors to effect on customer decisionmaking processes. Since the luxury fashion brands have played a significant role both socially and economically, the present research has emerged from recent boutique hotel trends. Central to this paper are two ideas: Customers have long been following fashion brands as they extend their reach way beyond garment creation. Todays customers in hotels possibly need to be satisfied not only by service but also visualisation or emotional factors such as brand image and entertainment. The purpose of the present paper is to offer an analysis of if aspirational brand hotels lead to guest satisfaction through other factors than hospitality service. Moreover, the emphasis in this paper is on the sustainable business for boutique or design hotels. This research is partially animated by a curiosity about the concept that combines both fashion design and hotel. Since the authors education background is from interior design in Italy as well as hotel management in Switzerland, this study seeks to open up a new perspective of fashion hotels. So this research is inspirited by the authors interest in Italian interior design. In addition to the fact that the author studied in Institute European of Design in Milano, the author had seen many cases during college life that fashion brands have opened hospitality sectors such as cafe, night club and hotels in the city. Salvatore Ferragamo, Moschino, Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni and Versace and other fashion brands have already made their first steps into the hospitality industry. The writer has also tried to attempt to outline the importance of quality service in the hotel business to achieve guest satisfaction. It is the main key point of the hotel industry that service is the major product. But the interior design of the hotel has become one of the most important factors since it tends to fulfil customers visualisation needs. Therefore, aspirational brand hotels such as Bulgari, Armani, Moschino, Ferragamo and Versace possibly bring about guest satisfaction through different factors than hospitality. However, service is not only one main point to fulfil guest needs today. Fashion hotels have a high potential to be more creative by holding different parties and events, thus these entertaining sources tend to amuse guests, resulting in full

satisfaction. In this paper, not only the current hotel trends but also the modern customers will be mainly discussed. Todays customers want to have a feeling they are not wasting money by using a product (Kapferer 1992). Yet, it is important to point that aspirational brands are highly priced so that sometimes companies might have only specific market segmentation (Jobber 2007). However, the customers are satisfied not only by value or price. Through the research, the author will investigate interesting points about what makes fashion customers satisfied with fashion hotels hospitality which might not be the same as satisfaction from brands handbags or watches. Furthermore, the research is expected to contribute to the development of marketing strategies not only in fashion hotels as well as other non-fashion hotels. The aim of the research is to investigate if luxurious fashion brand image satisfies customers with both emotional brand marketing and qualified service in Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. In order to achieve the purpose of the research the following objectives are core points to be met: to analyze the effectiveness and limitation of how a fashion brand influences the customer decision making processes; to examine what factors of brand positioning leads to customer satisfaction. To evaluate the importance of the relationship between brand name and the high level of service in Bulgari hotel. 2. Literature review Strong brands are leaders and brands are important to both companies and customers. Due to the fact that strong brands act as a form of quality certification and create trust, customers tend to make a choice relying on the brand name. On the other hand, successful brands have negative aspects. Customer satisfaction must go with the brand. The quality of product must fulfil customers needs (Kotler 2006). Branding is important since it gives a first impression to the customers and it defines the perception of product or service in the market. Branding also indicates customers preference, believability and relevance. In the companies point of view, brand is relatively able to develop an accurate profile to customers who will choose the companys product or service. In other words, it also indicates how to survive in a high level of competition (Oestreich 2006). Thus brand name relatively reminds customers about the image of brand and perceptions of the brand. It is impossible for a brand to survive without its customers. No customers, no brands. It is clear that brand matters to the customers decision-making process (Chernatony and McDonald 2007; Robert et al. 2006). Before getting into analysis of customer behaviour, there are several relative significant elements to branding such as brand loyalty, Country-of-origin and brand personality. 2.1 Implications for branding 2.1.1. Brand loyalty

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Loyalty defines a part of customer behaviour that is a tendency to return to a certain brand. Jobber (2010) points out that depending on values of the brand that are related to the fact that customers appreciate the brand values, the customers are able to establish a long-term relationship with the brand. For one thing, how long loyalty will maintain sustainable business to the companies is quite questionable since there are so many competitors appears in the market today. Without a doubt, customers tend to change decision depending on situation. There are several consequences of a good brand position and branding strategy of organisation. One of the implications is the loyalty that defines segmentation based on customer loyalty (Kotler et al. 2010). The brand loyalty relatively indicates a relationship between the company and customers (Chernatony and McDonald 2007). Companies are possibly able to use loyalty as a good way to achieve goals, however brand loyalty also could be fragile under increasing external threats (Brassington and Pettitt 2006). The brand loyalty as psychological investment by a company includes longevity of the brand life cycle (Mercer 1992). Thus, customers who like a particular brand name hotel tend to be frequent guests, which lead to sustainable business for the hotel (Kotler et al. 2010). However, there is no guaranteed loyalty to the one brand due to the high level of competition today. 2.1.2. Country-of-origin effect (COE) Furthermore, there is term called Country-of-origin effect (COE) which includes the country of manufacture or design. It leads to possible positive impact, for example many fashion customers trust products made in France or made in Italy. On the other hand, it also has negative perception of product such as the case of many products from China that are well known for having unreliable quality (Cateora and Graham 2007). Thus, customers tend to have doubts whether to trust this brand or not. And the customers want to know which country the product comes from (Chernatony and McDonald 2007). Dinnie (2008) stated that there are many customers today who pay big attention to the country as a brand. Chernatony and McDonald (2007) also point out that besides the brand where the brand comes from is one of the most important factors that build a good relationship between the brand customers. For instances, customers are willing to pay 150 and up for a piece of scarf Made in Italy by Ferragamo, yet it has a Made in China label in it. It is because the silk is from China or the company factory is located in China so that it is made in China (Cateora and Graham 2007). However, to some customers, the design of the scarf by Salvatore Ferragamo is the most important. On the other hand, Brassington and Pettitt (2006) claimed that customers who think the product purchased is not identical they tend to be more sensitive about the price rather than brand name or COE. But the value for the price is depending upon the customer.

2.1.3. Brand personality A brand is name, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these elements that is intended to identify the products or services (Kotler 2006). Customers tend to buy a product or service related to their personality. The human personality is used as a metaphor in strategies. If a brand creates a sophisticated advertising campaign, it is also about the description of the brand personality in terms of human characteristics (Mooiji 2004). Brand personality is a matter of importance for customers to choose to consume as well as brand identity. The brand personality is indicated as the set of human characteristics associated with a brand (Aaker 1997). For example, customers who purchase Rolex watches consider not only the function of the watch but also the brand image. So the image is about who is wearing Rolex (Chernatony and McDonald, 2007). Aaker (1997) pointed out that brand personality has five dimensions that are Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness.

Figure 1: Five dimensions of brand personality (Aaker 1997, 349)

Sincerity involves an honest and cheerful image. Excitement includes being spirited, imaginative and up-todate. In fact, fashion customers focus more on this dimension since fashion trend is changing fast. Being up-todate is important to the fashion people to be at the head of a trend. A brand has to be reliable to be successful. (Jobber 2010) This is the Competence of brand personality. Sophistication indicates upper class and charming characteristic. A number of luxurious brands, perhaps, have an edge on this factor. Ruggedness explains the outdoorsy and tough tendency of the brand (Aaker 1997; Enz 2010). The personality of brand makes the brand capable of expressing its emotional side and values. For the manufacturers, brand personality is a great tool to build differentiation between the company and competitors. For the customers, brand personality intends to reflect the image of customers who choose the brand (Chernatony and McDonald 2007). Even when the customers purchase products, the customers will consider not only the quality of material but also values of symbolism and meaning over the brand image (Jobber 2010). Yet, on the one hand, there are a

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number of customers today is sensitive about the price that is worth to the quality or value of the product rather than iconic image or the brand. 2.2.2. Customer behaviour of a luxurious brand One of the most important reasons why todays many hotels intend to advertise their companies with brand name is the fact that visualisation strongly affects the decision making of customers (Kapferer 1992). The visualisation is not only about design of the brand logo but mainly about the emerged image of the brand. Significantly, the images make customers desire the products. The customers as attributor have a question for themselves Who am I? (Mooiji 2004). Thus, if the customers are loyal to a particular brand, it relatively means that the brand image represents ideal self image. Furthermore, there is no doubt that if the product is defined as a luxury product, it must be sensitized to provide luxury experience in the use (Stevens 2005). Luxury Customer Tracking Study reports what the luxurious customers bought and how the luxury brand companies are responding to how they feel about their current and prospective financial status (Danziger 2010). It is not only about clothing, fashion accessories but also travelling and dining. Customers in luxurious hotels are more likely look at personal needs that are satisfied by the brand position or image. It is also relevant to the fact that the brand name is clearly vulnerable and fulfilling customers psychological needs (Kotler et al. 2006). It is possible to say that customers want to reflect their identity in the brand identity. The customers decide on a brand by taking into account the brand identity of a company (Chernatony and McDonald, 2007). According to figure 2, customers values and culture are key aspects of customer behaviour. The customer associates the value or the product or service by relying on the brand name (Doyle 1998). In a certain society, people tend to be more integrated thus they notice and learn the values of the society. The values are a powerful source that is able to change behaviour of people (Jobber 2007). However, there are many customers who focus more on price-conscious than value-conscious.

Apparently, the name has a symbolic meaning, which is also related to interactions with other members of society where the loyal customers belong. It is more likely to show by using a certain brand that the customer is at a certain level in society (Chernatony and McDonald 2007). On the one hand, it is true that brand name reflects social classes. On the other hand, there are many possibilities to purchase luxurious brands for some customers although customers are not cable to buy the goods. For instance, many young customers purchase a certain luxurious brand since the customers due to the family preferences or the financial power of parents. Remarkably, fashion brands and especially aspirational brands likely represent customers lifestyle. The lifestyle is shown which society customers are from. The lifestyle defines society but also individuality, symbolism, meaning, interpretation, pleasure, and seduction as key words. (Kapferer 1992; Mooiji, 2004) For instance, the Modern Rich as one of lifestyles is an important group promoting positive image of luxury brands. Again, customers are influenced by decisions of other groups or also for referenced quality (Jobber 2010). Despite the fact that Brassington and Pettitt (2006) claim that customers tend to be more price-sensitive if they think the product is not identical, aspiratinal brands are strongly competitive in general. As mentioned in figure 2 income is one of the significant matters in the customer decision-making process (Mooiji 2004). To summarize, lifestyle and income relatively indicate brand identity as well as customer behaviour. There is another customer behaviour model about motivators (Lewis and Chambers 2004). There are four major aspects, which affect buying behaviour such as cultural, social, personal and psychological (Kotler et al. 1996). Social class is part of a cultural determinant that is related to brand power. Luxurious brands mostly target high-class members of society. This also is continuous with the lifestyle factor. However, todays luxurious brand has a variety of types of customers since the price is affordable on special promotion season. Socially, customers tend to be influenced by decisions of other groups or also for referenced quality (Parsons and Maclaran 2009). In addition to the influence of social value, there is personal value that includes image and personality. Customers tend to purchase products or service that is suitable for their own personal identity. If the products or services are able to bring the representative image of customer, the persons physiological need is fulfilled as well (Kotler et al. 1996). With the exception of these elements, does personal preferences influence to the customer behaviour the most? Most obviously, the decision making process is influenced by not only one factor.

Figure 2: A framework of cross-cultural customer behaviour Source: Adapted from Manrai and Manrai, 1996 (Mooiji, 2004, 95)

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international hotel chains follow distribution systems owned by local investors, cultural difference has also become a challenge. Service companies consider interactions across culture in order to set better standards (Chernatony and McDonald 2007). Thus, branding service has possibly more complicated procedure than branding a physical product. According to Jobber (2007), unlike tangible products, services require special understanding as well as a different approach to marketing. There are many companies offering both product and service together.

Figure 3: Different forms of behaviouristic segmentation (Swarbrooke and Horner 2007, 95)

Figure 4: The physical goods-service continuum (Jobber 2007, 894)

According to figure 3, behaviouristic segmentation is explained by several factors. Each customer tends to have different attitudes to the products and the customers always takes benefits sought into consideration. The list of benefits sought is attributed to reflecting customer behaviour on the luxurious brand. In detail, status is possibly one of the most important factors if customers want to look for brand matching their own identity. Moreover, the customers know value according to the brand position and the customers appreciate super luxurious quality (Mercer 1992; Swarbrooke and Horner 2007). However, Danziger (2010) also points out that most of the luxury buyers and customers enjoy the feeling of purchasing luxurious products or service when it is for the best value. In other words, despite the fact that luxury customers are capable enough to purchase the service, the customers are thrilled to buy when the product or service is at the best sales price. Therefore, although luxury customers purchase at a high price, companies had better focus on different pricing strategy besides fulfilling physiological desires. 2.2.3. Service branding Unlike product branding, service branding depends upon human resources and customers. Product branding is a set of differentiation of perception among competitors. However, service brand strength relies on standard of service quality that possibly varies depending on who is providing the service (Jobber 2010). This reminds the important fact that service can be variable depending on the employee performances. Based on the fact that many of todays

Hotel businesses mainly provide service and guest satisfaction tend to be from mostly a good level of service. However, McQuilken (2010) doubted that todays guests might not be satisfied only by the kindness or assistance in hotel. For a high level of luxury, tangible products such as a super soft towel, well-designed amenities and a fashionable series of product necessarily support the service. Therefore if one physical good brand emerged company to the service sector, branding strategy would be distinguished from differentiate strategy of the product. 2.3. Review of case studies Meanwhile, evolution of the fashion design hotel or design boutique hotel is not only about the Bulgari brand. It is true that designerism has become the typical phenomenon in the bouquet hotel market today since hotel business industry sought to embrace this fashion trend (Horner and Swarbrooke 2004). So the designerism indicates that the designer suggests lifestyle to the customers and this is one of the major characteristics of boutique or designer hotels. An assessment of the case of W Hotels is one of the remarkable examples since W hotel is famous for its boutique characteristic despite the fact that W is an international chain. The Bulgari Hotels & Resorts is also under Marriott international which is one of the biggest hotel chains (Sarheim 2010). Besides Bulgari group, there are Ferragamo, Missoni and Versace fashion companies that run their own hotels. The Armani hotel that opened September in 2009 has become a strong competitor of modern design hotels. The purpose of looking at two more examples of trend hotels is to investigate how to be more competitive with both a design and service factor.

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2.3.1. Boutique hotel contexts: W hotel in London Starwood, as one of the largest international hotel brands, has become mainstream of the boutique concept (Sarheim 2010). The evolution of the boutique hotel began in 1971, especially in San Francisco and London. In winter of 1998, W Hotels started business with enduring design-driven hotels. Moreover it has become an international chain today with the theme of lifestyle-focused hotels (Horner and Swarbrooke 2004). W brand tends to be known as one of the most famous boutique hotel sector, because boutique hotel is not necessarily small scale. Elements of boutique hotel is largely various and it contains certain feature such as Fashion, Glamour, style, chic, elegant, and cool. Arrange of boutique hotel is from luxury to affordable, urban to resort, and even modern to traditional (Rutes et al. 2001). There is no doubt that Londons boutique scene seems quite natural since London is Europes most active metropolis city. The boutique hotel trend possibly is sustainable business for contemporary sociological changes as well (Sarheim 2010). W Hotel London in Leicester Square is going to open early 2011. It has become clear that defining boutique hotels is an increasingly murky endeavour, as many of their original attributes have changed over the years. Despite the fact that the W hotel London in Leicester Square is in the pre-opening stage, it has attracted a lot of attention. The hotel has 192 rooms, 17 suites, three WOW suites and the one and only Extreme WOW suite. Its gym has a state-of-the-art rooftop and fantastic spa facility (Hirschmiller no date). The fact Jason Bruges designed the light installation is also remarkable. The light system contributes to the whole frontage so that the setting changes colour depending on the surrounding urban landscape that is photographed by cameras on the roof. (ibid) Not only the design and architecture factors, but also other factors make W hotel London flattering. The fact that the hotels bar invited Kate Moss, Liam Gallagher and many other celebrities has attracted more attention although the hotel has not opened yet. The boutique hotel is not only part of a luxury conversion but also has the advantage that the establishment can be flexible in location and architectural factors (Sarheim 2010). Furthermore, since the hotel hosts exciting events inside the hotel there are many more sources that are able to attract customers (Magee 2010). Perhaps, unlike independent boutique brands, W hotel as an international chain has more advantage and strong brand position. Yet, it is also important for W to search sustainable and creative factors that support brand image to maintain loyal customers and attract potential segmentation. 2.3.2. Fashion industry contexts: Armani Hotel in Dubai If the customers like Armanis suit, would the customers like to live in Armani style lodge? In the modern building forest Dubai, one fashion designer has reached new heights. Designer Giorgio Armanis debut as

a hotelier was impressive; moreover the designer said the basic idea is to invite guests to his home (Valhouli no date). Due to the fact that Armani as fashion designer has build a high level of reputation, the designer lifestyles hotel was paid major attention (Enz 2010). Since the opening, the guest list was also impressive because it included the president of the UAE and the emir of Abu Dhabi. Construction projects consumed a huge amount of budget including the 20 billion dollars that had been used for development expenses in downtown Dubai (Gandee 2010). Upadhyay (2010) mentionted that this fashion hotel project completed the parternership between Giorgio Armani SpA and Emaar Properties. Despite of the successful opening, however, there were some difficulties prior to opening, due to the fact that Dubais current debt with financial problems has had a negative effect on publicity and the destination (Yeoman et al. 2009). Armani defines elegantly designed hotel interiors and, at the same time, offers extensive service for guests who want to live in Armanis lifestyle (Gandee 2010). The guests of Armani tend to be satisfied by experience of the high level of quality and by intangibles such as design, style, colour and feelings (Stevens 2005). It reflects the fact that customers are willing to pays prices for the design of Armani. Armanis fashion detail was melted into not only interior design but also fixtures such as bed linens and decorative elements (Rutes et al. 2001). However, the Armani hotel is not only about the architecture and interior design. The hotel service style follows the Italian hospitality style. Surprisingly there is no traditional reception desk, since the hotel provides a lifestyle manager who will assist each guest from arrival to leaving. The lifestyle manager is quite a fresh idea of service style to offer to customers (Upadhyay 2010). Furthermore, Armani hotel pays more attention to the food and beverage service with eight restaurants. The restaurant is multi-cultural since the cuisine is from Japan, India and Italy. Armani Prive nightclub also shows that the hotel emphasizes on the entertainment and event aspects (ibid). On the other hand, even though Armani has competitive advantage not only on visual factors but also services, it is still questionable if the business will be strongly sustainable or not. Additionally, the location where Dubai is possibly influences the hotel with negative images due to the current economic crises. 2.4. Research company background: Bulgari Hotels & Resorts The Bulgari Hotels & Resorts is an Italian upper-upscale fashion hotel brand. It offers particular features such as Italian cuisine, Bulgari amenities and Bulgari style furnishings. The Vice Chairman of Marriott whose name is William R. Tiefel mentioned that the brand name Bulgari had a heavy cash flow since it has powerful name (Walsh 2001). Bulgari is a five-star hotel as well as a designer hotel, indicates sophisticated interior with the stripped-wood floors, glassfronted tresses in the room and many magnificent design details (Armstrong 2006). However, it also has the strength of a level of service based on the fact that it has Ritz-Carltons style of service. The Bulgari Hotels & Resorts is under the

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Marriott international umbrella and is operated by RitzCarlton. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel positions itself as offering a memorable experience and fulfils even the unexpressed wishes of guests (Kotler et al. 2006). According to Bulgari, as a luxury jewellery brand, they adopted Marriott due to its excellent hotel-management infrastructure and the fact that the luxury market is underserved hotel business (Walsh 2001). Marriott international, as one of the most powerful hotel brand houses, is going with a contemporary boutique or lifestyle concept hotel trend. Yet, as Sarheim (2010) insisted that, it is always a challenge and risk of joining or leading the main trend. Another magnificence of Bulgari hotel in Milan is its own Spa that is perfect in spite of its small size and the Spa has a tranquil steam room as well as luxurious treatment rooms. Treatments are remarkable, as it is based on the fact that the treatments are tailor-made (Armstrong 2006). The Bulgari Hotels & Resorts has another property that has 59 villas in Bali Indonesia. Due to the Italian fashion design touches, the resort also has a European style of interior that includes terrazzo and it is mixed with typical Balinese stemware. Guests can have outstanding treatments at the spa and a walk to the Private Beach Club (Spiezio no date). Admittedly, the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts has competitive strengths from both fashion and hospitality sectors. Position of the brand, loyal customers, and legendary service by RitzCarlton stimulate success of the Bulgari hotel. For one thing, because the Bulgari already had positive elements, building sustainable relationship between the hotels and customers will be the key task to do. 3. Methodology 3.1. Approach

Purposive sampling, in other words judgmental sampling, is one of honorability samplings so that the researcher may not feel it necessary select people for interview randomly (Beins, 2009). It is more reliable to sample a group of regular customers in Bulgari hotel. Yet, demographic segmentation information will define the group of age, income and occupation, due to the fact that there are some family guests who have children less than 10 years old. Thus, the sampling will be limited by age above 20 and mainly focused on single occupation and business people. 3.4. Data collection Two surveys will be used in this study. The survey participants will be asked to indicate on the questionnaire what expectations they have from Bulgari brand hotel and the relative frequency of their use. Yet, there still exists the possibility of causing measurement errors that is relative result based on poor measuring instruments or invalid consequences. However, the errors do not define the writers mistakes (Beins, 2009). In order to answers the questions that are relevant to the objectives, quantitative research as well as qualitative research will be needed. Bryman and Bell (2007) stated that quantitative research is different from qualitative research, however exaggerating both methods must be avoided. A discussion of the theoretical and empirical concepts guiding the research, the research coordinator interviewing the guests will be accompanied by an employee in the Bulgari hotel for several, if not all, of the interview sessions. Then they will conduct face-to-face interviews on their own. The guests, research coordinator and other staffs from Bulgari hotel will conduct interviews in whichever setting is the most comfortable for the guests. Guests will also be reminded that they have the right to choose not to answer questions and stop the interview at any time. 3.5. Reliability and validity Reliability is about the consistency of measurements that includes three factors. The factors are stability, internal reliability and inter-observer consistency (Bryman and Bell 2007). In order to produce reliable results, measurement must be possible and stable over time. Inter-observer consistency is that subjective judgement is involved in such activities as the recording of observations. The researcher has to be aware of there is a lack of consistency in decisions when the observer involves certain activities. 3.6. Generalisability According to Bryman and Bell (2007), key results of research can be generalized only for the group in which they are found. Therefore, the findings might not be applicable to each and every hotel. However, it is possible to generalize among contemporary fashion hospitality businesses. For instance, due to the fact that fashion brand hospitality

The idea of the research had been developed from reading journal articles as well as informal and formal source. Furthermore, it is essential to mention the curiosity of author (Beins 2009). Researching involves collecting clues and getting answers so that, based on the authors experiences and basic perceptions, questionnaires will be set as well. Therefore, the research method of this paper will consist primarily of a comparison of selected information and secondarily collecting data included in the remainder of this article. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used over a half-year time period. The research was also conducted implementing a case study approach by immersion involved interviewing and observing customers in the Bulgari hotel in Milan.The first and the last objective will be more based on the secondary research. For instance, findings from comparison and contrasts between the Bulgari case and other similar cases must be researched. To generate results of the second objective, survey and observation of guests in the Bulgari hotel will be focused on in order to see realistic points of view. 3.3. Sampling

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business sectors such as Dolce & Gobbana restaurants and Cavalli night club can possibly see similarities from the case of trendy fashion boutique hotels. 3.7. Ethical Issues According to the Marshall and Rossman (2006) research should be reciprocated with a proper plan. In an interview, Bulgari hotel guests may be glad to give their opinions and time for interview, yet there is always the possibility to have some people who have no time. Saunders et al. (2009) pointed out that the ethical issues indicate some aspects such as the invasion of privacy and harmfulness to interview participants. To interview a sample group in the Bulgari hotel, privacy is possible to be an ethical issue since the survey will be in the hotel where the customers are actually staying to take a break and enjoy their own time. 3.8. Limitations Meanwhile, the research must take limitations into consideration, which there possibly are, such as time management limitations and less support from the interviewees and the research company (Bryman and Bell 2007). Firstly, the researched company Bulgari Hotels & Resorts might not be willing to give information that the researcher needs. Moreover, it is possible to be rejected by the guests who are potential participants for interview. The biggest concern is the fact that the interview location where is the hotel is area with privacy for the guests. Secondly, it is true that interviews and survey take a long time to get results. Additionally, due to the fact that the paper is speculation based on the available literature but not primary research, it may also become a major issue on limitations. 4. Discussion 4.1. The image of Bulgari as a luxurious brand First objective was to analyze effectiveness and limitations of how a fashion brand influences customer decision-making process. Fashion brand Bulgari as a luxurious brand gives an upper-upscale image to the customers due to the effect of luxury jewellery brand image. The Bulgari group (2010) insisted that Bulgaris culture is one of the excellent levels of quality required to achieve customer satisfaction. Since the Bulgari product includes a piece of jewellery and a watch that has a strong value of tradition and perfection, the hotel also attributes the company image to maintaining its positive reputation. Furthermore, the Italian fashion image has a strong influence on the hotel name. Cateora and Graham (2007) claimed that COE tends to attract customers depending on which country the brand is from. Thus, the Bulgari as a sophisticated Italian luxury brand possibly stimulates a bold and unmistakable image and the high level of expectation about the quality of the hotel. However, apart from design

factors, if it brings a positive image to the service aspect is questionable. It is because the Bulgari as a hotel is no longer fashion product sector. Also, Jobber (2007) doubted that service marketing is possibly not the same approach as product marketing. 4.2. Branding leads to customer satisfaction Brand positioning of Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, in a relative sense, leads to guest satisfaction since brand personality will attract customers who seek a brand that is able to represent the customers themselves. Aaker (1997) stated that the brand personality defines a human characteristic related to the brand image. It is important to mention that the brand shows a customers value and social class as well. Sophistication as one of the dimensions of brand personality represents upper class characteristics. Bulgari fashion brand perhaps has the edge in this factor and it leads to certain group of customers, because the customers believe that the brand image reflects the customers characteristics as well (Chernatony and McDonald 2007; Nasution and Mavondo 2007). Since Bulgari has a strong brand position as a fashion brand, it definitely has an effect on positioning Bulgari as a hotel. There is no doubt that CEO is also one of the remarkable factors to enhance impression of the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts (Cateora and Graham 2007). If customers in Bulgari hotel are satisfied with the brand position of a sophisticated accessory company, what is the guest expectation about the hotel brand? 4.3. The importance of service related to the brand position The last objective was to evaluate the significance of the relationship between brand and the quality guest service in the Bulgari hotel. Despite the fact that main specialized factor of a fashion boutique hotel is visualisation that is design, the good level of service is still central since the hotel is in the hospitality industry (Cadotte and Turgeon 1988). Another remarkable strength of the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts is cooperation with legendary hospitality company Ritz-Carlton (Hemp 2002; Michelli 2008). Since the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts is under the Marriott International chain, the hotel has competitive advantage compare to the independent boutique hotels. Yet, regarding the influences of the Bulgari fashion brand name into the hotel brand, there are barriers to overcome as much as a synergy effects. The level of service must be able to reach to the position of brand (Bowie and Buttle 2004). 4.4. Synthesis However, delivering a good level of service is not enough to be competitive. Besides service there are some more factors that bring competitive advantages to the fashion hotels. Due to the fact that fashion hotels are capable of holding major parties with media and big companies, events and entertainment possibly satisfies guests besides service. In

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order to search out possible elements, hotels must understand customer value (Parsons and Maclaran 2009; Zeithaml 1988). Nasution and Mavondo (2007) mentioned that the hotel sector must provide superior customer value to be competitive and successful. Yet, service provision possibly has two perspectives that are view of service provider and view of a customer. Moreover, todays customer values are even more complicated than in the past. The value is not only from individuals but also the values of society. The value is a powerful source since it influences the customers decision to choose a brand a lot (Chernatony and McDonald 2007). Clearly, there is no question of if the luxurious fashion brand name with competitive brand identity satisfies customers. Most obviously, the Bulgari hotel has synergy effect from the brand identity of Bulgari fashion brand. Namely, there is corporate identity which represents brand identity (Jobber 2010).

However, the brand name must be supported with various strength of the product or service of the company in order to satisfy loyal and potential customers. 6. Conclusion and recommendations This paper has attempted to investigate if luxurious fashion brand image satisfies customers with both emotional brand marketing and qualified service in Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. To sum up, three major findings according to the objectives should be highlighted: firstly, the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts as a luxurious fashion brand; its original image has the possibility of influencing the customer decision-making process in Bulgari hotel. It is possible that the characteristic of market segmentation of Bulgari as a fashion brand is similar to the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. Yet, it has limitations due to the fact that although expectations of both the fashion brand and hotel brand are possibly similar, the ways to satisfy customers were different. Secondly, in addition to the image of Bulgari, a luxurious high brand position fulfils customer desires and wants, brand personality identifies with part of the customers characteristics. Thirdly, however, branding fashion goods were different from branding service. In order to sustain business for long-term goal, the excellent level of service must be supported since it is a hospitality business despite the fashion brand name Bulgari. More specifically, the findings explain how service as a key factor plays a significant role in the hotel business. Not only by the research but also according to the authors personal experience in Bulgari, the level of service is not able to reach both the price and the brand position of Bulgari. Thus, a great level of service maintains guest satisfaction apart from satisfying visualisation and physiological needs. As the second case study had shown, the fashion hotel is no longer in the fashion sector. The brand image influences the company, however, it is always reminding the company about the significance of service. Armani hotels life manager system is a brilliant service with special hospitality experience since the lifestyle manager provides extremely customized service. However, service is not the only element that makes the hotel business sustainable. There are more factors than service that will attract potential guests and that will sustain a good relationship between the hotel and loyal guests. To be sure, this study begins with limited factual data, which some might characterize an insufficiently reliable due to the fact that primary research has not been done. In order to complete successful primary research, the writer has to clearly indicate how to sample the research group. To define target segmentation the author needs to research, the sampling has to be done mostly by defining luxury customers. It is quite limited how to indicate luxury customers. Since, apart from income, there are always other possibilities to purchase luxurious products. Certainly, the present paper was limited in scope. Further studies on different large-scale assessments are needed. Thus, future research should be directed at determining more elements besides services that are leading

Figure 5: The five dimensions of corporate identity [the AC2ID test] (Jobber 2010, 336)

There are several dimensions that explain identity types that contribute to the brand name. Jobber (2010) mentioned that corporate identity is possible to be in detail with five dimensions that are actual identity, communicated identity, conceived identity, ideal identity and desired identity. Bulgaris actual identity is how the Bulgari group identifies its image that is sophisticated Italian luxury design as good as quality. And the Bulgari brings this image to the communicated identity that has various media channels for advertising, public relations and visual symbol (Mercer 1992). The visual symbol is logo, since Bulgari group has same logo to the hotel, which gives impression that both of them have same identity, design and quality. It is emerged to the conceived identity that involves suppliers, distributors, customers and employees. Ideal identity defines the best position for the brand in the market. Perhaps, the Milano location where is called as Fashion Capital stimulate positive effect on the Bulgari Hotels. Desired identity is about vision and organisations strategic position in the competition. Thus, if the Bulgari Hotels & Resorts works on sustainable factors that attract guests, desired identity also will be positive into the effective fashion marketing. To put the point another way, the brand identity including symbolic image influences customer relationship (Armstrong and Kotler 2007).

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to sustainable hotel business. It is needless to say that it must be based on the specialized image of the brand. How to satisfy loyal and potential guests with other factors besides design and service? This is the question for both fashion hotels and non-fashion hotels. It is important to say that contemporary fashion and design hotels have competitive service as well. Due to the fact that sustainable business is always the hot issue in all industries, todays hotels need creative and new ideas for service. Perhaps, fashion hotels have a high potential to lead to excellent hospitality by inspiring each other. Fashion and hotel service as two stimuli both contribute to hotel companies in developing their product and service. On the other hand, if the fashion hotels start to get into the hospitality field, the fashion brands must be competitive with traditional hotels with a strong service spirit that has originality and traditions. The global hotels such as W and Marriott International have also designed sectors as much as fashion hotels. Thus for fashion hotels, it is vital to establish a proper service spirit and it must be creative like its design. Ferregamo hotel, Cavalli club and Dolce & Gabbana Gold restaurant look fantastic and amazing. Yet, the level of sales in fashion goods under these brands will not match the level of sales in service. It is because visualisation has short-term validity compared to sincere spirited service. In addition to the service sector, events and entertainment will make the fashion hotel business more competitive and sustainable. Holding parties under the brand name is one of the advantages that fashion hotels possibly have. Creativity is not only about the visualisation. It is true that fashion hotels have many sources to explore with parties and events such as fashion shows. The event as a key element has become one of the most important trends in hospitality. Amusements or entertainment relatively deliver value to customers to bring full satisfaction. There is no doubt that fashion hotels already have provided innovative visualization so that further expectation to the fashion hotel can be providing creative service. Delivering more personalized service will contribute to the fashion hotel to be the best friend of the customers. Fashion brand service apartment is possible to be the next step of fashion boutique hotel as well due to the fact that the scale of boutique hotel can be flexible. To remind the importance of service, adopting advanced technology to support hotel operations is also key issue to be considered. At the very least, it is to be hoped that this paper will contribute to the trendy fashion and boutique hotels to remind us about the significance of service as well as design and branding. References
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