The May Fair Hotel in London has launched its own channel on Youtube as part of its marketing effort to show its classy, prestigious but unpretentious. I’m not sure that the best example of this is to showcase an interview with Paris Hilton as a “typical guest”. It suggests that a subtext of their strategy is to get the May Fair on the celebrity spotting list for London.
The May Fair is an unusual hotel in terms of overall brand personality, as I found out staying there earlier this year. They pride themselves on their unobtrusive 5 star service and most certainly the front desk staff were amongst the best I’d struck anywhere in the world. But unobtrusive is not a word which would come to mind when walking through reception to find staff opening doors for you that were simply walking past – or indeed the omnipresent outraised palm in expectation of a tip for a service you never asked for and didn’t want.
The room was fine, as was reception and the public areas of the hotel but I certainly wouldn’t get overly excited by a few leather lounges and perversely coloured fluffy cushions. They were to a standard you’d expect from a London 5 star hotel – no more, no less. So what’s all the fuss about with this hotel – I’m sure I don’t know.
I noticed on their website their image of a peacock on the front steps with a slogan of “A Hotel that mirrors its guests’ spirit” – meaning presumably peacocks who enjoy standing in dimly lit doorways. Perhaps not that extraordinary that I didn’t really feel like it was “for me”.
