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anycontentposter · 4 years

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Looking back: 10 years of change in the hotel industry

One of the things I love most about staying in a hotel, whether in my home city or in some remote corner of the world, is the familiarity.

For years, the blueprint for a hotel was more or less the same, whether you were staying in a $100 room or a $1,000 suite. But that model — a cozy lobby with a front desk and a concierge; a room stocked with miniature toiletries and a turndown service that concluded with a folded duvet and a single chocolate on your pillow — has been transformed.

Related: We’re calling it now — The 20 hottest travel destinations of 2020

As this decade closes, we’re reflecting on how much has changed in the hotel and hospitality industry. And how, even to veteran travel reporters and road warriors, the hotel industry has become almost unrecognizable at times.

(Photo courtesy of Sheraton)

Long-loved brands have disappeared or been acquired by larger chains. Amenities we’ve come to rely on have been removed or replaced by a new set of features designed to benefit a younger generation of travelers.

The very footprint of a hotel room has evolved to accommodate changing needs and tastes.

What will the hotel industry look like in another 10 years? It’s hard to say, though we’re willing to bet that at least a few of our predictions for 2020 will materialize throughout the next decade. Until then, we’re looking back at the biggest ways the hotel industry has changed since 2010.

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(Photo courtesy of Gramercy Park Hotel) Chain reaction

There may be no more obvious harbinger of change in the hotel industry than the dizzying number of mergers and acquisitions that have swept up, consolidated and reconfigured some of the most iconic hotel brands. According to hospitality industry data from STR, nearly two-thirds of all hotels in the U.S. were independently owned in 1990. Two decades later, that number has dropped to 40%. Chains now dominate the industry.

In 2015, Marriott International announced it would buy up Starwood Hotels & Resorts to form the world’s biggest hotel chain. It took years for the ink to dry and their loyalty programs to be unified, but it completely altered the hotel and loyalty landscape. Yet the cascade of acquisitions and mergers in the latter part of the decade began long before Marriott committed to buying Starwood.

(Photo by Nicholas Ellis/The Points Guy)

In 2014, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) reached an agreement to buy Kimpton Hotels for $430 million — a move that marked the brand’s commitment to expanding its influence in the desirable boutique market. And, in 2019, IHG added Six Senses hotels and resorts to its portfolio.

In 2015, Accor bought Fairmont, Raffles and Swissôtel, deeply improving its high-end luxury hotel offerings, and then purchased an 85% stake in 21c Museum Hotels in 2018.

(Image courtesy of 21c Museum Hotels)

In 2017, Hyatt acquired the Miraval Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona. As Miraval continued to expand — opening a property in Austin in February 2019 and a resort in the Berkshires slated to open in the spring of 2020 — World of Hyatt members found their points unlocking rooms at a number of new destinations. A year later, Hyatt announced plans to acquire Two Roads Hospitality, the group that owns Thompson Hotels, Joie de Vivre, Destination Hotels and Alila Hotels & Resorts.

(Photo by Melanie Lieberman/The Points Guy)

These mergers and acquisitions haven’t just expanded and broadened the portfolios of the world’s largest hotel brands. They’ve also made it easier for travelers to use points and miles to stay at their favorite boutique hotels and resorts.

Like the companies that manage them, loyalty programs have changed tremendously in the last 10 years. We’ll get into that more in a separate piece, but it’s clear that a major shift throughout the industry has been to off-peak and peak award redemptions, and though it may be harder to predict how much your hotel stay will cost, sweet spots remain.

Related: How twin jets took over the world: The 2010s in aviation

Going green

A printed newspaper at your door. A single chocolate on your pillow. An arrangement of tiny toiletries on your bathroom vanity. These trademarks of high-end hotel service have, in many cases, gone the way of the dinosaur over the course of the last decade.

(Photo by Andrea Rotondo/The Points Guy)

Those mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner, at least, could be gone before 2021 at major brands including IHG, Marriott and Hyatt. The shift to refillable bulk dispensers is one of the most obvious indicators of the way hotels have altered their service and amenity offerings to provide a more environmentally friendly experience for travelers — and to simultaneously cut costs.

(Photo by Mint Images/Getty Images)

Guests, for example, are now offered incentives to skip housekeeping and reuse towels. In May, Hyatt began offering points to guests who decided to forgo housekeeping services, and hotels are now replete with signage encouraging guests to keep towels off the floor so they won’t be laundered.

At one Staybridge Suites in New York City, a $5 housekeeping fee now appears on folios when guests don’t decline the service. And across the entire IHG portfolio, guests with reservations for more than one night can participate in “A Greener Stay” program and earn IHG Rewards Club points when they opt out of housekeeping.

Related: Ways to earn points and miles while saving the Earth

New purpose

It’s not just what’s inside a hotel room that has changed a lot in the last decade. The entire layout of a hotel may feel unfamiliar to a guest who hasn’t booked a stay since 2010.

Desks and closets have shrunk and, in many cases, been removed. Even the front desk has been replaced at some hotels by a tablet or in-app check-in. Conrad launched the first hotel-branded app in 2012, and hotel apps have become crucial for many travelers. In many cases, travelers can now avoid speaking to a human at all when checking into a hotel.

(Photo by d3sign/Getty Images)

With the Marriott Bonvoy app, for example, travelers can book, track and modify reservations; use mobile check-in to let the hotel know they’ve arrived; receive notifications when the room is ready, and, where available, use a mobile key for keyless entry.

Even the days of plastic key cards are quickly slipping into the rearview mirror.

The hotel lobby, in reality, is far less transactional now than it was 10 years ago. As technology makes it possible for travelers to bypass the front desk and the concierge, hotel lobbies have become social and coworking spaces.

Coworking and social space in the lobby at The Hoxton, Williamsburg, NYC. (Photo by Darren Murph/The Points Guy)

While many hotel brands are partnering with coworking companies to formalize the spaces, others are simply changing the floor plan. If your en suite desk has disappeared, for example, you might be encouraged to head downstairs to elbow up to a communal table.

Technology is also making complimentary, high-speed Wi-Fi an expectation among travelers, not a “nice to have” amenity. It means outlets have multiplied, and USB ports have begun appearing by bedsides. And it also means you often control your hotel room without putting down your cellphone.

Home away from home

In a little over a decade, Airbnb — founded by Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky in August 2008 — completely disrupted the way we travel.

According to a 2018 report from the Boston Hospitality Review, Airbnb supply across 10 key hotel markets in the U.S. increased more than 100% year-on-year between 2008 and 2017, causing hotel revenue per available room (RevPAR) to decrease 2% across all hotel segments. For the luxury sector, that loss was closer to 4%.

(Image courtesy of Airbnb)

For travelers, that means there are now more than 6 million new places to stay than there were just a little over a decade ago. That includes unconventional accommodations like tree houses, Airstreams and igloos. And that doesn’t even include inventory exclusive to other vacation-rental platforms like Vrbo, which has been around since the 1990s and was acquired by HomeAway in 2015. Both took advantage of the internet to bring short-term rentals to travelers. But neither revolutionized the sharing economy quite like Airbnb, which focused on resident-owned/managed rooms, guesthouses and apartments in urban markets.

(Photo courtesy of Airbnb)

Suddenly, an empty bedroom in an apartment became a viable — and popular — place for travelers on a budget to stay in a new city. According to VRMintel, a 2016 Phocuswright report on private accommodations in the U.S. found that the number of travelers who stayed in vacation rentals surged from one in 10 in 2011 to one in three in 2015.

As the vacation rental market has taken off, even traditional hotel brands have been forced to follow suit. In 2016, Accor bought luxury home-sharing brand Onefinestay and Choice Hotels began offering vacation rentals. In fact, more hotel brands than ever are offering home-sharing and vacation-rental properties for travelers. Both Four Seasons and Marriott launched collections of home and villa vacation rentals in 2019.

Bottom line

In the next 10 years, technology will continue to minimize and, in some cases, eliminate the need for human interaction. Robots haven’t taken over the hospitality industry yet, but there’s no telling just how common they might be in another decade. Perhaps the check-in desk will have a great resurgence — but it will be helmed by droids, not humans.

(Photo by Samantha Rosen/The Points Guy)

And hotels are just one aspect of the travel industry caught up in monumental change. Instagram (and social media, in general) is increasingly responsible for influencing the way travelers make decisions about where they go — and it’s become a valuable component of hotel marketing. In aviation, technology and social media have changed the way airlines and their customers interact.

What do you think will change in the next 10 years? Sound off in the comments below.

Feature photo by Summer Hull / The Points Guy.

Read more about this at thepointsguy.com

https://blogsandtravels.com/looking-back-10-years-of-change-in-the-hotel-industry/

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touristguidebuzz · 6 years

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Marriott CEO: Don’t Expect Us to Play in the Midscale Space

Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson (L) appeared at the Skift Global Forum in New York City September 27, 2017. He spoke about his company's larger strategy for growth on the company's third quarter 2017 earnings call. Skift

Skift Take: Are 30 brands enough for one hotel company to have? They might be, for now, but we wouldn't rule out the possibility of wanting to add more in a year or two, especially in that red-hot midscale space.

— Deanna Ting

At a time when its peers are using the midscale hotel category to add more brands to their portfolios, Marriott International would rather focus on the upscale to luxury segment — even if its pipeline is already dominated by limited-service hotels.

A focus on the high end of the market, coupled with the ongoing integration process following Marriott’s $13.3-billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in September 2016, is part of Marriott’s larger overall strategy as it heads into 2018.

“We’re not playing in the midscale space at all,” said Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson on a call to discuss the company’s third quarter 2017 earnings. “Even in our limited-service pipeline, 50 percent of those assets in the United States are really urban and much more complicated, but that also means higher-rated hotels than the prototypical suburban hotel that you might think of when you think of limited service.”

It was a strong quarter for the company, which beat Wall Street estimates. The company also raised its estimates for its full-year profits for the third time this year, including a new estimate of a rise in global revenue per available room in a range of 2 to 3 percent, versus an earlier forecast of 1 to 3 percent. Third quarter revenue jumped 43.7 percent to $5.66 billion and net income rose to $392 million, compared to $179 million in the third quarter of 2016.

Sheraton Remains a Work in Progress

Marriott’s work to turn around the troubled Sheraton brand, which Marriott inherited in its Starwood deal, is “making real progress” according to Sorenson. So much so that by the end of this year, Marriott will have seen 6,000 Sheraton rooms leave its portfolio, with another 4,000 rooms leaving in 2018.

“We are working to increase accountability, quality assurance, and capital investment while applying Marriott systems and programs to drive the top line and reduce costs,” he added. In the last 12 months, Sorenson said that Marriott has signed a total of 3,500 new Sheraton rooms to its portfolio.

Asia and China Are Bright Spots

The Chinese travel market, as well as the Asia-Pacific travel region overall, performed exceedingly well for Marriott in the third quarter. In Asia-Pacific, not including China, Marriott’s revenue per available room grew 8 percent and in the Greater China region, that growth was 11 percent.

Sorenson also said that Marriott’s partnership with Alibaba, often considered to be the Amazon of China, “is off to a great start.” That partnership, which was announced in August during Marriott’s second quarter earnings call, is going to provide “great lift” Sorenson said. He said the two companies are working together on loyalty, in getting “great sign ups with the kinds of Chinese consumers we want to have,” as well as on “technology tools that are essential to drive even better performance going forward.”

He later said, “Our index performance in Asia has been spectacular.”

Global Impact

While the three recent North American and Caribbean hurricanes — Harvey, Irma, and Maria — resulted in the closures of five hotels in Florida, five hotels in Texas, and the damage or closure of 18 hotels in the Caribbean, the net impact, at least in Texas and Florida, was positive.

“Fairly quickly, within days, recovery efforts began, and people looking for housing were filling up hotels,” he noted, referring to Houston, Texas, a market that has long been sluggish because of weakened oil and energy markets.

Sorenson also echoed statements he recently made in reference to the United States’ share of international travel arrivals of travelers outside of the U.S., as well as corporate tax reform.

Sorenson said that while a variety of sources are trying to determine just how much international arrivals to the U.S. have been in the past year, he said that “it does look like there was a modest decrease in 2017” which is “really not all that surprising.”

At the same time, however, he said that outside the U.S., there’s been an increase of 7 percent in the number of global international arrivals.

“The U.S. is losing share,” he said. “Does that change in 2018? You know we have to see. I would guess we have to see pretty powerful tailwinds which are driving growth in international travel.

“We would love to see the U.S., while focused on security which is perfectly appropriate, also continue to make sure that the rest of the world hears the voice that travelers are welcome to come to vacation here and do business here. Hopefully, the U.S. won’t continue to lose much share.”

Last week, he also said that Trump’s travel ban and rhetoric has driven group business away from the U.S. and into Canada.

Sorenson is hopeful that proposed corporate tax reforms will help create more cash flow for U.S. businesses, shifting their “cautious” approach to spending and leading to more hotel stays from corporate clients.

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rollinbrigittenv8 · 6 years

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Marriott CEO: Don’t Expect Us to Play in the Midscale Space

Skift Take: Are 30 brands enough for one hotel company to have? It might be, for now, but we wouldn't rule out the possibility of wanting to add more in a year or two, especially in that red-hot midscale space.

— Deanna Ting

Sheraton Remains a Work in Progress

Asia and China Are Bright Spots

He later said, “Our index performance in Asia has been spectacular.”

Global Impact

Sorenson also echoed statements he recently made in reference to the United States’ share of international travel arrivals of travelers outside of the U.S., as well as corporate tax reform.

At the same time, however, he said that outside the U.S., there’s been an increase of 7 percent in the number of global international arrivals.

“The U.S. is losing share,” he said. “Does that change in 2018? You know we have to see. I would guess we have to see pretty powerful tailwinds which are driving growth in international travel.

Last week, he also said that Trump’s travel ban and rhetoric has driven group business away from the U.S. and into Canada.

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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Wellness Executives Question Hotel Chains’ Capabilities in the Sector

Six Senses Hotels CEO Neil Jacobs is paying close attention to the increased focus on wellness in the hospitality sector. Six Senses Hotels

Skift Take: Everyone in hospitality, it seems, is focusing on more wellness offerings, whether through mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, or enhanced programming — but what do the wellness vets think? Does this trend have staying power or is it just a fad?

— Deanna Ting

Wellness is one of those catchall terms that encompasses a number of things: health, fitness, nutrition, mindfulness, you name it. But it’s also a sector that’s being closely watched by many of the biggest names in the hospitality industry, too, as well as destinations such as Beverly Hills, California.

Earlier this year, for example, Hyatt purchased Miraval Group for a $375 million in an effort to expand the company into “adjacent spaces,” according to Hyatt CEO Mark Hoplamazian. Miraval is a wellness resort and spa company best known for its destination Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona, and Hyatt has big plans to incorporate Miraval programming throughout its portfolio of brands.

In December, AccorHotels announced it had formed a strategic partnership with Banyan Tree, a Singapore-based company known for its luxury properties and spa offerings.

Veteran wellness/hospitality executives think the time is right for the industry to focus on this part of the guest experience, but they also question whether the big brands have the expertise and knowledge to pull it off.

“Hotel companies have no business doing the wellness programs we’re doing,” said Six Senses Hotels CEO Neil B. Jacobs. “We’re really passionate about it and it’s not so easy to pull off. Ask 100 people to define what ‘wellness’ means to them and you’ll get 100 different responses.”

Likewise, Canyon Ranch chief operating officer Tom Klein echoed Jacobs’ sentiments in a separate interview. “You have to ask yourself: What really is wellness? When you see these strategic acquisitions and partnerships, you realize that these aren’t their core businesses but it’s an important part of satisfying guests’ needs. It’s a core business for us, though.”

Wellness Is Best Left to the Experts

Both Jacobs and Klein said that because their respective companies have a long history of working in the wellness space, they’re focused on differentiating themselves from other emerging players.

Six Senses was founded in 1995, and has resorts and spas located throughout the world. Jacobs joined the company in 2013 after a long tenure with Starwood Capital and Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in Asia-Pacific.

“Wellness is more about just having a spa,” said Jacobs. “It’s about having a truly integrated wellness program that’s meaningful. The barrier to entry for true wellness is expensive and the yields for it aren’t as strong as they would be for traditional hotels.

“Having wellness be a part of the hospitality experience does drive average daily rate in hotels and it does increase the length of stay, but to do this well, you’ve got to do the right thing and know that you’ve got the opportunity to change people’s lives.”

Klein of Canyon Ranch notes that the wellness industry is estimated to be a $3.7 trillion business worldwide. “Wellness is a part of the DNA of Canyon Ranch and when we first started, there weren’t many players out there,” Klein said. “Today, there are 20 to 30 competitors in the space. But we’ve always integrated science and medicine into the wellness piece and taken a more integrated approach. I think it’s great that wellness is now at the forefront.”

Canyon Ranch, which is best known for its two resorts in Tucson, Arizona and Lenox, Massachusetts, as well as its SpaClubs at Sea with various cruise lines, has undergone a major leadership transition after nearly 40 years in business. Founders Melvin and Enid Zuckerman, as well as Jerrold Cohen, have retired and the company is now being run by Goff Capital, with a new CEO, Susan Docherty.

Six Senses CEO Weighs in on the Increasing Competition

Jacobs, in particular, had some thoughts to share regarding the future of his own company, as well as the recent moves being made by players such as AccorHotels and Hyatt, and he thinks the increased focus from big hotel players in the wellness arena is a “trend that will continue.”

“We’re not really interested, at this point, in being acquired,” he said, referring to Six Senses.

Of Miraval, he noted that the company’s former CEO, Steve Case, had wanted to merge with Six Senses a few years ago, but instead the company was purchased by KSL Group, a private equity firm.

“The interesting thing to watch is what Hyatt is going to do with it, but I must say, it’s hard to make money just from having destination spas or resorts.”

“AccorHotels,” he added, “is shopping. They have plenty of money and they are all about world domination. Banyan Tree just has a different view on the world and it’s expanding the way their model works, where they have their own real estate. It’s hard to do that and move from being a regional to a global player.

“Banyan Tree is a lovely company, but I don’t know that they’re really all about wellness … I would suspect Accor will ultimately own the entire company — their strategy is to come in at 5 percent and come back for more. I think Banyan Tree will become another one of their brands.”

What’s Next for Six Senses and Canyon Ranch

At Six Senses, Jacobs is focused on expanding the brand on a global scale. Upcoming locations for the brand include Bhuatn, Bali, Cambodia, and New York City. The company is also looking at applying its integrated wellness programming for children as well.

At Canyon Ranch, Klein said the company is taking a closer look at developing more urban wellness spas, as well as growing its contracted business with companies to bring their executives and employees to their resorts and spas.

“The demand in urban centers for more wellness programming and offerings is becoming more important,” he said. “There’s more interest in wellness living communities these days and people are realizing that wellness goes beyond a spa treatment. It’s really at the forefront of people’s minds today.”

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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CEO Interview: Barry Sternlicht Is His Own Biggest Critic

Barry Sternlicht, the real estate investor who founded Starwood Hotels & Resorts, continues to expand his 1 Hotels eco-luxury hotel brand. 1 Hotels/Starwood Capital Group

Skift Take: Being a perfectionist isn't always a bad thing, especially if Sternlicht's hotel history is any proof of that.

— Deanna Ting

Barry Sternlicht has a lot to be happy about these days.

Just minutes after we spoke to the former founder and CEO of Starwood Hotels, who is now the founder, chairman, and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, Sternlicht officially opened his latest hotel, proclaiming it to be the “most exciting, greatest hotel I’ve ever done.”

And with panoramic views of Manhattan and an enviable location in the heart of New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge Park, it’s hard to disagree with him.

But as you’ll see in our following interview with Sternlicht, as happy as he is with his newest hotel, 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, he isn’t completely satisfied just yet.

For the billionaire real estate investor, everything is always a work in progress. There’s always room for improvement. There’s always room for more innovation.

Skift spoke to Sternlicht about what it’s like to build a new hotel brand from the ground up today, how the industry has changed, and what hospitality needs to do today to avoid becoming just a commodity.

Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Skift: Well, it’s been about two years since you opened the first 1 Hotels property in South Beach, Miami. In that time, do you think things have changed a little bit with the brand? I know you mentioned that, when you first opened it, that 1 Hotels was more of a cause than a brand.

Sternlicht: Oh, it’s still a cause. I think we’re getting better at it. We keep learning from our mistakes.

This hotel, I think, is the greenest of the hotels because we got to build it from scratch. We reclaim water, for example. We do a lot of things that you can do with a new building to start out. Wanting to build a green building, with all of this glass, and having these systems that are state-of-the-art … I feel that, from that perspective, I think this is our laboratory as a showroom.

It’s just lots of little things that we didn’t quite get right [before]. It’s really a challenge to keep your designers focused on sustainable, renewable materials, and resources and they drift, you know, because they just wanted [something like this], and I tell them, “No, no, no, don’t drift.”

And even here, I think there are some things that are a little too perfect. It’s a little too complicated, and nature is not perfect. I mean, in a way it’s perfect, but it’s also raw, and so I still want to do things that are … well, you’ll see the next hotel.

Skift: You mentioned mistakes, or things you wanted to do differently. Were those primarily just having to do with design or the overall guest experience?

Sternlicht: Both. Like in Florida, we used too much stainless steel, and I didn’t catch it. I didn’t see it before I saw it when it was installed, and that’s a material I don’t really want to see in our hotels.

On technology, we tried to actually leapfrog a lot of existing technology and develop our own customer relationship management software and we call it the “Field Guide.” And it was too complicated for the guests, and it was probably a bridge too far for a startup. I thought it was, but we were pregnant, so we tried it, and the guests liked the concept, but we got with frustrated with it. So, the single control, which looked like an iPhone, handled everything in the room, including the order menus, and it was supposed to be backed by a database, which would let us customize experiences to you. The database never showed up, and so we couldn’t personalize the guest experience the way I would have hoped.

So here [at the Brooklyn Bridge hotel] we’re using a different technology, and I tried it last night and it seems to be working well. But you know, you can do the design, you can do the attitude, but in today’s world, we really need to learn to anticipate our guests’ needs. Technology will let you do that, but you have to have a system.

Some of the systems in these arcane, heritage, legacy systems, some of them in the hotel industry — I ran Starwood Hotels, as you know — they’re not really flexible. You have to do what they say as opposed to what we’d want to know about you. And you would like me to know about you; it’s not supposed to be like Big Brother.

It’s supposed to be you love tomato juice, and you love it every time so when you come, you order it, and I want to get it in your room and I want to [know to] ask, “You want tomato juice in your room?” It’s the software that drives the hardware of the box and it helps our staff really make you feel like you’re our only guest and, at the end of the day, if we’re going to achieve the rates we want to achieve, and the occupancy is in the performance and the brand, we have to get both sides right.

I think we’re making up for our service flaws with tons of enthusiasm. And they’re super dedicated staff and it’s interesting because, if you read our reviews on TripAdvisor, people love our design but they love our people, and that’s really exciting for me.

Skift: 1 Hotels was really marketed as an eco-luxury brand, and I remember when hotels were really jumping on the eco bandwagon …

Sternlicht: I was one of them.

A living room suite at the new 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. Source: 1 Hotels

Skift: But now it’s been at least almost a decade now since that’s happened. Do you think a lot of consumers just expect things to be eco-friendly or is it still a challenge for them to find those types of experiences?

Sternlicht: Unfortunately, I’d say that, in general, I don’t think it’s a [desire] for the mass travelers; it’s still not a selection criteria, and [that’s also] because I think a lot of hotels went “green” for cost. We decided we weren’t going to wash your towels, and we said we were, you know, “We’re doing it for eco.” We were saving money.

I was one of those companies. I ran Starwood, so, I think the customer got that. It was like what we call “painted green,” as opposed to “be green.”

So here we are [with 1 Hotels], from the ground up, and we’re going to start [being green from the start]. All of our hotels will be LEED certified. The first two were both massive renovations to existing assets, so a lot of compromises had to be made.

I was very surprised when Miami got a Silver rating from LEED because it was such a difficult box. It had an old system, and it was hideously expensive to replace some of it, so we spent a ton of money, but we didn’t replace everything, so I was really pleased.

Here, I think we’ll set a new standard, but a lot of this stuff, isn’t just the materials. A lot of this furniture was made locally, and the locavore [movement is reflected here]. The food will be grown locally, and the stones are sourced locally. Like this beautiful white stone [Sternlicht pointed to a large bar area on the second floor of the hotel, with ridged white marble], you might think is from Italy, but it’s from here. I think we’re getting better, and we’re doing a better job, and now I have to run it really well.

I also think our customer self-selects. Just like people wanted to be at W because they wanted to be cool, now I think as we grow, people say they stay at the 1, and it says something about you. Not everyone will care, but we’re just trying to make it incremental. Europeans care a lot more than we do, and we’re going to get there, we’re going to care. Despite the current administration, we’re going to care.

Skift: You have such a history of developing such iconic hotel properties. Do you think of 1 Hotels as almost like the W, but more grown up?

Sternlicht: Yes, exactly.

Skift: This hotel is fairly symbolic of the way that people’s expectations of hotels have changed, and also cements Brooklyn as a new center in New York City. Do you feel that way too?

Sternlicht: Yeah, I mean think USA Today said Brooklyn was the hottest neighborhood in the country, and that was probably nine or 10 months ago now.

Yes, I thought this was a really cool spot to launch your best product you’ve ever done. What I love about it is how original it is. You haven’t seen it before, so people will come here and their jaw should be on the ground.

The W is for me in my 30s, and this is for me later in my life, right? My children all were involved in environmental studies in school, and when I was coming up with what was I going to do, that influenced me.

That’s why I came up with the word ‘One,’ you know, “one world, we’re responsible for each other,” and said “the world didn’t need another brand, it just needed a better one.” I never get to use that line, which I made up.

It gives us a center of gravity, it gives us a cause, it gives us a rallying cry. Yes, so this is my upscale W. It’s still chic and cool, but it’s sophisticated, and it’s just more expensive. I don’t think we sacrificed much of anything here. So, this is like the Four Seasons of eco.

The lobby of the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge. Source: 1 Hotels

Skift: Is there anything in particular about this flagship property that you’re most excited about or most proud of?

Sternlicht: Well, I have to be excited about a location right on the water. You know, this is a ridiculous panoramic view. Somebody was telling me this morning, “How many places can you wake up and see the entire length of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty?” And in between is this magnificent skyline of Manhattan, and the river itself, and all along a six-mile park. So, you can come here and feel like you’re in the country, practically, and you’re five minutes from Manhattan.

And then I think the building itself — we have a beautiful ballroom and a great pre-meeting space. We’re going to have a gorgeous spa, a beautiful urban spa, which you don’t typically see. We have a gym, we’ll have the screening room, we’ll have this amazing restaurant, three-meal-a-day. And then the café, and an outdoor café, and we’ll have bikes lined up. I mean, this is going to be pretty much everything you could want in a hotel, will be here. There will be something for everybody.

I was giggling this morning — you might have seen the yoga class in the conference room. I can’t imagine that we can’t provide something that you’d want here. So, I think we’re blessed, advantaged, and it’s not an accident that we have all this meeting space, and I think we’re going to be really popular,

We did an event for J.P. Morgan, actually we did the Robin Hood Investors Conference here, and I was one of the four organizers of the conference. They already booked a million dollars of business here. They loved it. They booked it, [and they told me] this is getting away, without getting away. Right? It’s perfect.

Skift: Did your early days in the hotel industry help you to prepare to develop this type of brand or to develop a property like this? How did all of those elements come together here?

Sternlicht: You have cumulative experiences. But the core of comfort, which is what I think some people miss in hotels, I took that into Starwood Hotels, and I just carried it into here.

I think we’re not trying to, as I said when we started, people shouldn’t have to wear burlap and eat carrots, in a green hotel. They should be able to take some of what we do home with them. Our research shows that our guests are doing that. A majority of them say they’ve changed something that they do at home. That’s fantastic. So, that was like, a dream, I’m surprised it’s actually happened but, I think we just make people a little more conscious.

You know, there’s no plastic. I hated all the waste of a hotel, the little plastic bottles you throw away, all the glass we consume, and all the aluminum … And again, I think this is really pretty, but it’s a little complicated, so it’s okay because we’ve built a beautiful flagship for Brooklyn. But what we’re doing in Sunnyvale and Cabo and China will be totally different.

Skift: The hotel industry has changed quite a lot in the past 20 years. And it’s also become, in some ways, a lot more crowded. There are so many different brands out there, a brand for every lifestyle, which I know pioneered at Starwood. But would you agree with the statement that it’s more challenging to develop new brands or concepts in this current climate?

Sternlicht: I think commodity brands — you know, this idea that you need two brands that, I guess, are only differentiated on price — that is a very crowded market. And the brands have exploded. Some of the brands were here but in the old days there were things called radius restrictions. So, if you built your Hilton Garden Inn or your Courtyard by Marriott, you could prevent another one from being built within 10 miles of you. The brands gained the power back and eliminated those, so now, in Manhattan you’ll find 15 Courtyards and 22 Hilton Garden Inns. It’s almost a pure commodity, and it has loyalty through the programs but not to the hotels.

And so I think Airbnb is the real issue for those guys, because it’s not really saying anything about them. That’s why they say Millennials don’t buy things, they buy experiences. This brand is an experience. You can’t do the things you can do in this hotel in an Airbnb. You can’t go to the spa, you can’t go to the gym, you can’t have a big meeting, you can’t go to the movie theater, you can’t have a cocktail or hang out with fun, interesting, dynamic, creative people. We’re like the upscale Soho House, in the hotel space.

The business has gotten very competitive and very challenging, but what’s interesting is that our first three hotels, including the Baccarat, are all beating their competitive sets in revenue, even though there’s not a giant company behind them. We don’t have global sales offices. We have amazing word of mouth, great TripAdvisor reviews.

I think the first two [hotels], people really love. I mean, [the] New York [1 Hotels property] is so cute. People go over and over and people stay 10 times, and they just go back. The comments are incredible about the hotel, and we were handicapped because the rooms are small, and here our rooms are bigger. And there’s some really cool things in this hotel, the view, the windows, unbelievable. So, it was fun.

Skift: You mentioned Airbnb. I don’t know if you saw the news that broke this morning but Airbnb officially acquired Luxury Retreats, which is based out of Montreal and specializes in really high-end villa rentals, or private homes, so it definitely signals their move into the luxury space.

Sternlicht: They dominate the home rentals. And that’s not really our customer. So, I think for vacations and retreats, they are the go-to guy. And that’s going to be super valuable for them. I still think the business traveler doesn’t want to deal with that. And it’s all about length of stay.

The average hotel stay is 1.3 nights, which is a pain in the neck to go check into somebody’s home. But for longer stays, extended stays, I do think that they’ve reorganized an industry. Most people don’t understand that most of the inventory was already available for rent, it’s just been organized in a new distribution channel.

Skift: A few weeks ago I got to interview Ian Schrager, whom I know you know very well, and he told me that he felt like hospitality today was too much of a “me too” industry. I wanted to ask you if you agree with that statement, and if you do, what are the ways that you think the industry can be more innovative and not so much like a commodity?

Sternlicht: The industry, and this was true when I ran Starwood, it’s got a blessing and a curse. What they do at a hotel in Tokyo doesn’t impact you in your hotel in New York City. So that’s the curse. You’re not as forced to innovate. It’s not innovate or die. It’s not that way. In a way, it should be that way. The industry should always be challenging itself.

But Ian’s right, and I think that’s, again, about differentiating your product, making it not a commodity, making people think it’s a three-dimensional brand, it’s not just in and out, it’s not just my frequent night stay and I want to go home. It’s really an experience. And whether you like the way our candles smell or our shampoo smells, we really have focused on all the little details to de-commoditize the stay. And it’s interesting that people really support it. People really are interested.

And not everyone’s interested, not everybody’s interested in W, and not everyone’s interested in green, and then some people don’t want paper. Why do people spend $1,000 a night when they could stay at a hotel for $169 a night? Because they can, and they like it, and it’s comfortable, and they are rewarding themselves for whatever success they had in their lives, however they got it.

I think that Ian is right. But if that’s what everybody does, then that’s what the customer expects. So for us to step out of the that into something different, which is what we’re trying to do, and I think what Ian’s trying to do, is how we compete against bigger things, and bigger companies with bigger reach, more global customers.

We have to get companies like J.P. Morgan, which I’m sure has to deal with every hotel company on earth. So they’re leaving those frequent-stay programs to come here, because they just think it’s a better product for their employees, and it says something about J.P. Morgan. They like what we’re doing, and so they want to wow their employees and clients, and that’s what we’re here for.

Skift: Can you tell me a little bit more about your expansion plans for 1 Hotels, or what you have planned after this?

Sternlicht: Yeah, we have three [hotels] we’ve announced: Mexico, Cabo San Lucas in the harbor; Sunnyvale, which is in Northern California; and Sanya, China, which is on the beach, in what is the resort area of China. And then we have about a half a dozen that we’re working on behind that we haven’t announced. We’re trying to get a hotel in major gateway cities, and then also over in Europe. We need to be in London, Rome —that’s going to be super fun — Milan, [it’ll be] killer.

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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10 Hot Hotels Opening by February 2017

Here’s a look at the coolest new hotels opening around the world now through the end of February, including a new St. Regis in Dubai and a Brooklyn boutique with views of the NYC skyline.

1. St. Regis Dubai, Al Habtoor Polo Resort & Club

Location: Dubai

Number of Rooms: 136

Three Interesting Facts: 1. Yes, you read that right: polo resort. The equestrian sport is very popular in the UAE, and the St. Regis resides on the same expansive grass field that hosts the Dubai Polo Gold Cup. 2. Horses figure prominently into the design of the Andalusian-style resort, from the statues in the lobby to the art on the guest room walls. 3. All five dining and drinking venues are smoke-free.

Loyalty Program: Starwood

Price: From $341 or 20,000 Starpoints per night. Book with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express so you can earn up to 5x Starpoints on eligible Starwood stays.

Image courtesy of Al Habtoor Polo Resort and Club’s Facebook page.

2. Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort

Location: Kooddoo Island, one of the northern atolls in the Maldives archipelago

Number of Rooms: 68

Three Interesting Facts: 1. Mercure is an economy-chic brand from AccorHotels, which has been on a blitz in Asia lately with 700 properties opening last year in the Asia-Pacific market. 2. The brand is positioning its new Kooddoo resort as a (relatively) affordable alternative in the famously pricey Maldives, so think of it as the islands’ version of an Aloft. 3. Despite the lower price point, 63% of the rooms will be overwater bungalows, with the rest scattered along the beach.

Loyalty Program: Le Club from AccorHotels. This loyalty program works a bit differently than what we’re used to seeing in the US, with every 2,000 Le Club points earning you a 40 euro (~$42) voucher. Then you simply need to accumulate enough vouchers to score some free nights.

Price: From $490 or 24,000 Le Club points (or 12 vouchers) per night.

Image courtesy of AccorHotels.

3. The President by Akaryn

Location: Vientiane, the largest city and capital of Laos

Number of Rooms: 32

Three Interesting Facts: 1. Housed in a regal Neoclassical building, the President is the first project in Laos from the Akaryn Hotel Group, a Southeast Asian firm with hotels in Thailand and Vietnam; it’s also affiliated with Small Luxury Hotels of the World. 2. This property puts a premium on privacy; four dining venues mean an average of eight couples per restaurant. 3. Grounds include an English country house-style garden maze, great for a morning stroll or if you’re in the mood to recreate scenes from The Shining.

Loyalty Program: N/A

Price: From $380 per night. Book with the Citi Prestige card to earn 3x points on your stay and take advantage of its nifty 4th night free perk, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3x points on travel purchases — the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets you earn 2x points on travel as well.

Courtesy of the President by Akaryn’s Facebook page.

4. 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge

Location: Brooklyn, New York

Number of Rooms: 194

Three Interesting Facts: 1. This is 1 Hotels’ sophomore effort in New York City, joining the Central Park 1 that opened in August 2015. There’s also a 1 Hotel in Miami. 2. The dining situation includes grab-and-go bags filled with goodies from Brooklyn artisans, a lobby farm stand and a restaurant by chef Seamus Mullen. 3. Opening guests can grab the Get Green or Give Green package: you’ll get a $20 credit applied to your bill and whatever you don’t use gets donated to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy.

Loyalty Program: N/A

Price: From $256. Book with the Citi Prestige card to earn 3x points on your stay and take advantage of its nifty 4th night free perk, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3x points on travel purchases — the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets you earn 2x points on travel as well.

Image courtesy of 1 Hotels.

5. Le Méridien Visconti Rome

Location: Rome’s trendy, Vatican-adjacent Prati neighborhood

Number of Rooms: 240

Three Interesting Facts: 1. This property, a re-do of the former Visconti Palace Hotel, represents Le Méridien’s re-entry into the Italian market. 2. While most hotels in the Eternal City take their design cues from the Renaissance, the Méridien has a clean look that favors mid-century modern furniture, soft woods and glass. 3. At the top of the hotel, an expansive rooftop terrace is the perfect place for sipping Aperol Spritzes as the sun goes down.

Loyalty Program: Starwood

Price: From $124 or 10,000 Starpoints per night. Book with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express so you can earn up to 5x Starpoints on eligible Starwood stays.

Image courtesy of Le Méridien.

6. Sagamore Pendry Baltimore

Location: Baltimore’s historic Fells Point district

Number of Rooms: 128

Three Interesting Facts: 1. This is the second Pendry hotel in the country, a follow-up to the San Diego debut from this urban branch of Montage Hotels & Resorts. 2. While Pendry manages the hotel, it’s owned by Sagamore Development, the real estate arm of Under Armor CEO and founder/Baltimore cheerleader Kevin Plank. 3. The two restaurants, room service and banquet catering are all courtesy of New York-based chef Andrew Carmellini’s NoHo Hospitality Group.

Loyalty Program: N/A

Price: From $270 per night. Book with the Citi Prestige card to earn 3x points on your stay and take advantage of its nifty 4th night free perk, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3x points on travel purchases — the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets you earn 2x points on travel as well.

Image courtesy of Pendry Hotels.

7. Chileno Bay Resort & Residences

Location: Los Cabos’ hotel “Zona,” the highway resort district linking San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas

Number of Rooms: 60, plus 32 villas

Three Interesting Facts: 1. Chileno Bay is the second Auberge Resorts Collection property in Cabo; its sister property, Esperanza, is located just down the road. 2. Guest rooms start at 750 square feet, while outdoor showers and private terraces with pool, ocean or garden views are standard. 3. Chileno Bay is situated on a protected cove of the same name that’s one of the few swimmable areas in Cabo.

Loyalty Program: N/A

Price: From $575 per night. Book with the Citi Prestige card to earn 3x points on your stay and take advantage of its nifty 4th night free perk, or the Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3x points on travel purchases — the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets you earn 2x points on travel as well.

Image courtesy of Chileno Bay Resort & Residences’ Facebook page.

8. Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach

Location: Clearwater Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast

Number of Rooms: 343

Three Interesting Facts: 1. More than a decade in the making, this hotel is the largest development ever for Clearwater Beach, at more than 750,000 square feet. 2. Every room has a balcony with a view of the Gulf of Mexico or Intracoastal Waterway. 3. If you’ve been wondering what to do with a cache of Wyndham Rewards points, this isn’t a bad place to spend them on a quick winter getaway.

Loyalty Program: Wyndham Rewards

Price: From $295 or 15,000 Wyndham Rewards points per night.

Featured image courtesy of the Wyndham Grand Clearwater Beach Facebook page.

9. The Aloft — and The Element — Dallas Love Field

Location: Dallas’ secondary airport, Love Field

Number of Rooms: 133 at The Aloft, 91 at The Element

Three Interesting Facts: 1. Fittingly for the Love Field location, both properties will open on Valentine’s Day. 2. The dual-branded tower will feature facilities, like a swimming pool and gym, that’ll be shared between the hotels. 3. The hotels are part of West Love, an ongoing 37-acre mixed-use development of residences and retail.

Loyalty Program: Starwood

Price: Aloft from $159 or 10,000 Starpoints. Element from $149 or 7,000 Starpoints. Book with the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express (to earn up to 5x points on Starwood stays).

Image courtesy of Aloft Dallas Love Field’s Facebook page.

10. El San Juan Hotel & Casino

Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico’s Isla Verde resort district

Number of Rooms: 388

Three Interesting Facts: 1. This sprawling historic hotel (est. 1958) has been through many renovations through the years; the one completed this month — courtesy of designer Jeffrey Beers, who was behind Miami’s Fontainebleau and the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya — comes with a new Hilton Curio Collection affiliation. 2. The hotel’s new flagship restaurant, Caña, is overseen by Puerto Rican chef Juliana Gonzales, formerly of Barceloneta in Miami. 3. Isla Verde Beach, which the El San Juan Hotel & Casino fronts, was recently voted the best urban beach in the country by 10 Best.

Loyalty Program: Hilton

Price: From $329 or 40,000 HHonors points. Book with the Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express, which lets you earn 12x points on stays at eligible properties within the brand’s portfolio of hotels and resorts.

Image courtesy of El San Juan Hotel & Casino.

Which of these new hotels are you most excited about? Let us know below.

Featured image of Chileno Bay Resort & Residences courtesy of Auberge Resorts.

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