Written Analysis of Case

On

Onefinestay: Building a Luxury

experience in the Sharing Economy

By
GROUP- 2
Prathyusha Chokkapu(18021141030)
Vikram Goenka(18021141043)
Meghana KSP(18021141055)
Mohd Yusuf Hanzala (18021141070)

Guided By
Dr.Tanmoy De
Q) What are the ways to improve brand awareness? Is it by creating a brand around hosts
or guests? Should it position itself as a hospitality or property management industry ?
The case talks about positioning fledging brand against brands was a challenge, because
Onefinestay viewed itself as a pioneer in the emerging sharing economy for hospitality. It was
unclear about the competitive frame of reference. It was forging a unique path as a handmade
and personalized hospitality service provider. Onefinestay clearly lacked at defining itself
from its competitive set. Only when they define and position correctly, it could help the
prospective customers better understand what the company offered and help the company
prioritize its initiatives and investments.
The company’s “unhotel” moniker explained the customers what the company was not, but
it didn’t specify what it exactly it was and how different it was from it’s competitors. The
better way is to position themselves as an upscale two-sided marketplace and it’s both host-
centric and guest-centric. It’s a vertically integrated service-enable market, providing a variety
of value-add on top of a brokerage piece. It’s a hospitality company and also a very complex
logistics company behind the scenes. So, in any marketing or advertising strategies
Onefinestay should reach the potential market as a blend of Hospitality cum Property
Management industry.

Q) Is it a right product or service marketing strategy to delight upscale customers and the
market potential ? What is the right path to growth?
The few ways in which Onefinestay can delight the potential upscale customers is through:
1. Define the core need that they are serving and understand where the competittors
like AirBnB, Home Away etc. are operating and then accordingly position and segment
the market.
2. The services that they are providing is something really unique and new that no
competitor had ventured into. So, Onefinestay has an edge over the competitors in
the market. But it’s lacking behind in marketing to the customers.
3. The market segments explained in the case – family, prestige, explore, and work are
the ways of travellers who prefer to stay in properties of Onefinestay. The family and
work groups are majority in number. Most of the times, it was a mix of both families
and work. And for this segment, they wanted to stay in a property which almost felt
like home, or nothing less than a home away from home. Onefinestay owned
properties of this sort which are in the upscale market.
4. The competitors like Four seasons, Ritz-Carlton etc.. are operating under a typical
hotel room kind of business. So they wouldn’t be a hurdle to Onefinestay.

The right path to growth is that Onefinestay should currently focus on increasing brand
awareness in the existing markets and stabilize themselves and act according to their value
proposition.
Even though their listings in New York and Paris have reached 100 in 4 and 5 months
respectively, which is a good sign, but they have to build themselves as a brand first and
stabilize. In these lines, it’ll be great idea if they start venturing into new markets by 2023.
Meanwhile brand building, brand awareness are the key areas to concentrate on.