Hotelier Interview: Tuncel Toprak of Witt Istanbul Suites

Tuncel Toprak

In just one year, Tuncel Toprak has turned his new boutique hotel, Witt Istanbul Suites, into one of Istanbul’s most acclaimed hotels (currently #2 of 545 hotels in the city according to TripAdvisor). In the interest of full disclosure, Tuncel has hired Gradigio to enhance their digital media marketing campaign. But Tuncel has an fascinating story, and I think many of you would be interested in hearing how he did it. Let’s get started….

Josiah: Seth Godin talks a lot about product design being the foundation of marketing. You’ve focused on that from day one, studying design in New York, then hiring Autoban to design the hotel. Are you seeing a link from your emphasis on design to the press and referrals you’ve received?

Tuncel: Yes. When we were starting we didn’t have a set budget for different categories – we just wanted to create things we liked. So everything from the linens (commissioned from Denizli) to the bathroom fixtures (part of Ross Lovegrove’s Istanbul Collection) – are things I would want in my house. I would love to live in a house like my hotel. That was the concept of the design process.

Image courtesy of WittIstanbul.com

Nothing is ‘hotel furniture’. There is a whole industry of hotel furniture, and I hate it! All our furniture is designed for us and built for us by Autoban. When we were renovating the former Ogilvy & Mather offices, we could have installed 30 rooms. But we wanted the suites to be large, so we ended up creating 17 60-square-meter suites. Now we’re able to offer a spacious luxury suite for the same price as a standard 5-star hotel room.

People are sick of staying in chain hotels that are the same everywhere. For example if you’re staying in the Hilton Dubai you probably wouldn’t notice the difference from Hilton Tokyo – it’s the same concept. People like our large, home atmosphere with a unique design.

Image courtesy of WittIstanbul.com

We were the first hotel project for our architects. They are very young, but have won many awards from international magazines. There are a group of journalists that are following their work, and so when they did this project, they came to us to see what the result was. We didn’t pay these people…it was word of mouth buzz. One journalist would write a story about our hotel, then a few more would, and so on.

What other marketing tactics have performed well for you?

My aim has always been simple: try to get good online reviews. I know word of mouth is very important, so I never want a guest to leave unhappy. I don’t want to pressure our guests into writing a review, but I do try to talk with all our guests. If they say something positive, I try to refer them to TripAdvisor (or a similar site).

Image courtesy of WittIstanbul.com

So you’ve only focused on online reviews so far for your marketing?

Yes, we have a guestbook at our reception desk. If someone writes something in there, we encourage them to post a review to TripAdvisor or the online booking site they used to make their reservation.

It’s not easy for someone to write a review online. They have to go to the site, log in, and then write their thoughts. Typically people that have negative experiences at a hotel are far more likely to do this than people who have a good experience. This makes earning positive reviews harder.

Is there anything special you do for the Turkish market?

No, we actually don’t focus our marketing here. Some big local corporations find us online, and contact us after reading our online reviews. So they are coming to us, we don’t market to them.

I think we’re going to see more and more of that in the future. Improving ‘findability’ will give a better return on investment than outbound sales efforts. Having an impressive online presence pre-sells potential guests before they even contact you.

If they believe the reviews are authentic and true, and it contains a good third-party endorsement, then it’s more reliable information than self-puffery by the hotel.

We find our visitors are very informed when they arrive at our hotel…they even know the names of some of our staff. There are some reviews on TripAdvisor saying [name] was great, and so they arrive feeling like they know us a bit already.

What type of information do people want to find about (or from) you online?

Our guests don’t want to be tourists here in Istanbul. They want to know insider tips and information. So providing that to potential guests is a good way for us to help them. When I go to a new restaurant, I want to write my own review and take pictures so I can share that with my guests.

Do you know what method your guests want to access this information?

I believe blogs will be the platform of the future for hotel websites…continuously being updated with information. I don’t like the old, static web page format. It’s boring for the website visitor.

Finally, employees play an important role in any hospitality business, but your people are one of the biggest reasons people give you positive feedback. What’s your secret to finding and recruiting a great staff?

I look for people who love finding new things to do here in Istanbul, and can then share their first-hand findings with our guests. I want people on my staff that are travelers at heart, and can live the lifestyle that we try to provide for our guests.

Great! Thank you for your time, Tuncel. For more information, visit WittIstanbul.com or see their photos on Flickr.