A hotel's brand is an experience more than a logo. Guests meet it on a booking site, in a confirmation email, on the sign at the gate, on the breakfast menu and in the photos they take home. Brand guidelines make sure all of those feel like the same place.
Big hotel groups have long brand standards manuals. A small hotel or guesthouse needs something much shorter. Here's what to include, using Encosta Lenta, a seven-room guesthouse in the Douro valley and one of our example brands.
Photography comes first
For a place to stay, photos do most of the selling. Encosta Lenta's book has a section called The house, with the rooms, the stone sitting room, the house among the vines and the valley at different times of day.
Your guidelines should set the photo style:
- Light: natural, warm, never flash.
- People: with or without guests, and how they appear.
- What to show: rooms, details, views, food, the surrounding area.
- Editing: consistent color and no heavy filters.
Booking platforms, travel magazines and your own social accounts all need photos. A clear style keeps your listing from looking like five different places.
Colors from the place
Good hotel palettes often come from the location. Encosta Lenta's comes from the house and the land:
| Color | Role | HEX |
|---|---|---|
| Wine | Primary: buttons, headings, signage | #5E1F2B |
| Stone | Background | #F2EEE7 |
| Schist grey | Panels and footer | #3F3E3B |
Wine for the region's port, stone for the walls, schist for the hillside. Colors with a story are easier for staff and designers to use correctly.
Type with character
Hotels often use an elegant serif for names and headings and a simple sans for practical information. Encosta Lenta pairs Cormorant Garamond with Jost. The serif carries the mood, and the sans keeps menus, signs and booking details easy to read.
Signage, print and stationery
Physical touchpoints matter more for hotels than for most brands. Cover:
- Signage: the gate, room numbers, directions. Minimum logo size and which version works outdoors.
- Printed pieces: menus, welcome cards, maps, stationery. Include CMYK codes for the printer.
- Business cards for the owners and staff.
Voice from check-in to checkout
A guesthouse's voice shows up in booking replies, welcome notes and house rules. Encosta Lenta's traits come from its own website:
Unhurried. "Stay a little longer."
Plain and rooted. "An old schist house above the Douro, with breakfast from the garden and wine from the terraces below."
Write a few lines for the moments that repeat: confirming a booking, giving directions, explaining house rules. House rules are where most hotels suddenly sound cold. Keep them in the same voice as everything else.
Digital pieces
Your website, booking emails, social profiles and listings on booking platforms. Guidelines should show the website on desktop and phone and include ready-made files: social covers, a profile picture and an email signature for every staff member who writes to guests.
A hotel brand guidelines checklist
- Logo, including outdoor and small-size versions
- Colors with HEX, RGB and CMYK, ideally drawn from the place
- Fonts for headings and practical information
- Photography style with examples
- Signage, menus and printed pieces
- Voice traits plus lines for booking replies and house rules
- Website screenshots, social covers and email signatures
Frequently asked questions
What are hotel brand guidelines?
They're the rules and examples that keep a hotel's look and voice consistent everywhere guests meet it: website, booking emails, signage, menus, photos and social media.
What is the difference between hotel brand guidelines and brand standards?
Large hotel groups use "brand standards" for a wider set of rules that also cover service, operations and room design. Brand guidelines focus on how the brand looks and sounds.
Do small hotels need brand guidelines?
Yes. A short book of ten or so pages keeps photos, signs, menus and messages consistent, especially when you work with photographers, printers and booking platforms.
See your own brand as a book.
Paste your website. The scan is free and takes about a minute.
