Accor chief operating officer Simon McGrath has urged hoteliers to be "genuine" in their approach, insisting consumers can no longer be "conned" into spending their money with a business.
Although the last decade has seen pricing, distribution and marketing become the major focus for a multitude of hotels, McGrath insisted those functional aspects, though important, are "very much yesterday".
Instead, he underlined the importance of "emotional connectivity" in creating real relationships with customers.
"It's how people feel about the brands and how they emotionally connect with the brands," he told delegates at the No Vacancy conference in Sydney today. "You want them coming in to your hotels because they want to be there, not because you've conned them into being there with marketing and pricing."
Instead of responding to criticisms on new social forums such as TripAdvisor, hoteliers should instead simply "ensure service is great", he continued.
"We need to have a better understanding about how people tick," he added.
