In their book, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (Harvard Business School Press, US$26.95), Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine examine the emergence of today’s new guiding economic paradigm, the desire for authentic experiences. The duo co-founded business think tank Strategic Horizons LLP, offering plenty of ideas about what makes a successful hotel in today’s marketplace.

HOTELS: Why is authenticity important from a business standpoint?

Gilmore: It is the new purchase criteria of consumer sensibility. We argue that in every wave of economic history, there has been a certain purchase requirement and criteria. In an agrarian economy, quantity was the main criteria. With the rise of the industrial economy, cost became the most important thing. With the rise of the service economy, quality emerged as the main criteria. Now, with the rise of the experience economy, authenticity is what fuels the consumer—the desire for real.

When you have hotels pumping aromas in the lobby to simulate flowers when there aren’t flowers there, then what is real? In the hospitality industry, there is a place called Atlantis. There’s a place called Las Vegas. Branson, Missouri. With the rise of these kinds of hubs of experience, all of a sudden people want a real hotel and a real vacation. It is not just about cost anymore.

HOTELS: So why is Las Vegas, which is full of resorts imitating other famous places, so successful?

Gilmore: Anything man-made by definition is inauthentic, but manmade structures, even in Vegas, can be seen as real—that’s the amazing thing. The key is acknowledging its inauthenticity. Referential authenticity is something that people perceive as authentic, even though it references somewhere else. The important thing is doing it well. You can’t just theme. Anybody outside of Vegas who points to Vegas and says it is fake is wrong. It’s all about self-acknowledgment.

HOTELS: So what do consumers seeking authenticity really want in a hotel?

Gilmore: When you’re purchasing based on authenticity, you are purchasing based on conformity to self image. The things people desire in a hotel are the things they desire in themselves. Cost is relative within each segment, and increasingly, people are thinking to themselves, 'Can I see myself staying there?’ When people stay at a W, for instance, they wear that on their chests.

HOTELS: What are some particularly authentic hotels?

Gilmore: Chip Conley of Joie de Vivre Hospitality is our favorite themer—we’re big admirers. His new Hotel Vitale in San Francisco may be my favorite hotel. And the redesign of Sheraton—it seems kind of non-glamorous, but when they redesign them, they are wonderful.

Boutiques have really made an appeal to authenticity, with people forgoing their Starwood and Marriott points to stay at a place that is truly authentic. I think the next thing could be underground hotels. Ian Schrager sort of winked at that with his boutiques, where he didn’t put the addresses on the buildings—you just had to know where it was. There’s nothing more authentic than a hotel that’s a secret.

HOTELS: Are there any hotels that really miss the boat on authenticity?

Gilmore: The themed places that are overly kitschy, that think the environment is the experience. I don’t want to pick on anyone.

HOTELS: Is it possible for a historic hotel to come off as inauthentic?

Gilmore: If a historic hotel thinks [it has] some innate claim to authenticity, well, [it is] actually just old and historic. Some hotels do struggle with this—the Greenbriers of the world. They’re fabulous, wonderful facilities, but they do have to take steps to honor their past in authentic ways. It is not as easy as just putting the plaques on the wall and honoring the presidents who have stayed there. In some ways, I think it’s more challenging to be an older property.

HOTELS: In the book, you laud Ian Schrager. By teaming with Marriott, does he risk his authenticity?

Gilmore: He definitely does. Boutique hotels have largely not had the same kind of operational prowess as the major hotels, so it makes good business sense. But you’re right to identify the risk. It is certainly there. If a hotel company like Marriott wants to operate another brand, they’ve got to humble themselves, do it very understated—otherwise it will backfire.

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