Opening a second location is a milestone for any hospitality or F&B brand. The menu gets replicated, the interior language gets carried over, the staff training gets documented. But one thing that rarely makes it into the expansion plan is the music, and that gap tends to show up quickly. Customers who visit multiple branches of the same brand notice when the experience feels different in ways they cannot quite explain. The food is the same, the design is familiar, but something about the atmosphere is off. More often than not, that something is what they are hearing.
The issue is not a lack of care. It is a structural one. When music is managed informally, which for most single-location businesses means whoever is working that shift has some degree of control over what plays, that informality scales poorly. A second location means a second set of decisions being made independently. A third means a third. Each branch ends up developing its own sonic character, not because anyone intended it, but because no one set up a system to prevent it. Loyalty research shows that the quality of music is the second biggest driver of return visits after loyalty programs, with 50% of guests citing it as a factor in whether they come back. That number only holds if the music is doing its job consistently, across every visit, at every location.
What multi-location brands are increasingly moving toward is centralized music management: a single system that controls what plays across all branches, with the ability to schedule by daypart, adjust by zone, and update playlists across every location simultaneously without anyone on site needing to intervene. For hotel brands with properties in multiple cities, this also opens up a more nuanced conversation about how much to standardize versus how much to localize. A consistent brand tone and energy level can run through every property while still leaving room for each location to reflect its own setting and guest demographic. The brand voice stays coherent; the expression adapts. That balance between consistency and flexibility is what makes a music strategy feel considered rather than corporate.
For Indonesian hospitality and F&B brands beginning to expand beyond their first location, this is a timely thing to think about before the problem becomes visible. The sound of a brand is easier to build intentionally from the start than to correct after it has already fragmented across branches. Guests form a sense of what a brand feels like through repetition, and music is one of the most consistent contributors to that feeling. Getting it right at one location is a good start. Making sure it travels is what turns it into a brand.
Sources: SoundMachine. (2026, May). How to manage music across multiple business locations. SoundMachine Blog. | Hotel Online. (2026, May). How music strategy complements the rise of experiential tourism. Hotel Online. | Custom Channels. (2026). Music for hotels. Custom Channels Blog.