A Different Motto: Jumeirah

Stay different. What an odd motto. What does it conjure up? Anything? It is the motto, trademark in fact, of Jumeirah. Who are? Well, they are renowned, as their website for the new Jumeirah Port Sóller Hotel & Spa tells us they are. The hotel's "use of both local materials and Mallorcan tradition" ensure the company's "promise of Stay Different (TM)".

A pity, therefore, that this isn't particularly good English. Promise of staying different perhaps or promise to stay different, but promise of stay different? As it is a motto, then we'll have to excuse them, though the lavishing of all the investment on the hotel and its website doesn't mean that the occasional other lapse also creeps in. "The resort comprises of eleven buildings ... ." Wrong. It should comprise eleven buildings. Comprise does not comprise an "of".

We also learn that the hotel's location is in the Tramuntana mountain range known for its "extense citric and olive orchards". I think we mean extensive and citrus ("citric" is derived from citrus; trees and orchards cannot be citric as such). We also discover that in Sóller's main square, in addition to its "impressive 12th century church", there are "modernist buildings". Are there? Are they modernist as in modernist architecture? Or should they be "modern"? Sort of, as the buildings in the square are certainly of more recent vintage than the original church, but whether one could call them modern is debatable. Actually, and while I'm at it, the original church dates from the 13th century.

Am I guilty of being incredibly pedantic and of nit-picking? Yes. And I think I have every right to be. Or I would have, were it the case that I was planning to stay different. I suspect I won't be. But if I were, then I might expect that a hotel of such outstanding quality could run the quality-checker over its publicity.

Does it matter, though, if there are a few mistakes in the English? Yes, it does matter. And to excuse it as not mattering is to accept that quality is a negotiable, when it should not be and should manifest itself in every facet of an operation.

The hotel management, one would imagine, will be rigorous in ensuring the highest standards. At the prices and with a pre-opening hype of hinting at seven-star quality (not actually the case), they certainly ought to ensure these standards. But a sloppiness in marketing literature is frankly inexcusable. It is the first port of call for many a potential customer. These hoped-for guests may not be pedantic, they may not even notice the slips or care that there are slips, but this still doesn't excuse the fact that there are slips.

The Jumeirah in Sóller is to be welcomed. If all Mallorca's hotels were of a similar class, then the island's woes would be banished. But they aren't and nor will they be. There can only be so much luxury. Too much of it, and a hotel would cease to stand out. To be different. One supposes this is part of the thinking behind the motto. Otherwise, I am not entirely sure what it means. The hotel (and other Jumeirah hotels) will continue to be different; is this it? The guest's stay will be different? The guest is different? Perhaps it is all of these things. But whether anyone takes any notice of the motto, trademark or not, is another matter.

I wonder how much you get for being the marketing consultant who dreams up trademark mottoes.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.