I’m a few days late with this article – but things have been hectic and I haven’t exactly had the time to sit down and sort through the articles and put together my thoughts so a decent story can come out of it.

This has been a pretty busy week for the LeMeridien brand from Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Since the LeMeridien brand was purchased by Starwood in late 2005, fully integrated into the Starwood umbrella in 2006, not much news has come of it besides the normal – we intend to grow the brand and expand its locations – especially in North America where they only had three or four locations when the deal was closed.

As I initially pointed out a few weeks ago Starwood’s LeMeridien brand is undergoing a brand transformation, perfectly timed because the LeMeridien brand was the only Starwood brand that doesn’t exactly have its own branding concept. As I’ve mentioned numerous times in past posts, all of the Starwood brand’s have their own concept, or “feel” as I like to call it, and this is something that really sets Starwood Hotels & Resorts apart from Marriott, Hilton, Choice, Intercontinental, etc. I always thought it was odd that the LeMeridien brand wasn’t really known for anything except luxury (French luxury – since it was originally started by Air France almost 20 years ago) and most of their locations were in outside of North America.

LeMeridien is now promoting the LeMeridien Lifestyle – named LM100, which is for the 100 different consultants, or lifestyle creators that LeMeridien will have that define different aspects of the LeMeridien experience – such as dining, art, architecture, design, music, dessert, scents, and so forth.

LeMeridien is attempting to create an experience which will be like no other, when you go into a LeMeridien, you’re going to leave with a little more culture – be it an artist exhibition, new tastes for food, a different style of music, a new love for architecture and design, etc. It seems as though each location will offer different features compared to the last, yet, some items may be rolled out throughout the entire system – such as dining concepts by Jean Georges Vongerichten and coffee bars by Illy.

Another way that LeMeridien is attempting to redefine their experience is via a website re-design. This isn’t a simple change a few colors here, add a new feature there, and call it a totally new website – its a website that in addition to the normal functions of a hotel website (reservations, hotel information, local area information) it aims to give you a little culture, and educate you, as well as give you more than basic information about the hotel’s location. It also offers a unique feature which gives you locations based on your mood, or gives you experiences to discover, then based on which experience you want to explore – gives you hotels which have that experience.

It’s not too often that a hotel sells an “Experience” on top of a great location, and a nice night’s sleep. I’m sure that alot of the customers of the hotels may not even take the time to notice what LeMeridien has done – some people use hotel solely as a place to rest, and are gone by 6AM the next day – but for those who have a free moment in the lobby, or are delayed due to an airport being closed and don’t want to leave the hotel – well, there will be plenty to experience while your there.

This week LeMeridien also announced the first expansion of the LeMeridien brand in North America since they initially took control of the brand name – HEI Hospitality, the owners of the only other LeMeridien opened in America since Starwoods ownership which is in San Francisco, has announced the opening of two other LeMeridien’s in America: The LeMeridien Cambridge, and the LeMeridien Philadelphia.

This is pretty big news because it shows that the LeMeridien name is getting respect in America, and it will be the first LeMeridien in both Boston (Cambridge is right outside of Boston) & Philadelphia. The Cambridge location is actually the Hotel @ MIT, and is located right on the MIT campus. – It has an active info page on LeMeridien’s website, and starting December 5th, it will begin taking reservations as a LeMeridien. According to the press release the hotel will be changing over to the LeMeridien branding over the next month, and over the next year will be going through 7.3 million dollars worth of renovations, throughout which time the hotel will stay open.

The LeMeridien Philadelphia is an interesting project because it is in the former YMCA on Arch Street. I’ve always been interested in YMCAs since I was young and used to have swimming lessons there – the buildings always seemed to be huge, and everytime I went I could swear I saw a new room or a new hallway that just seemed to go on forever (then again I was 5, and everything looks big to you when your 5). But the Philadelphia location was picked since it was vacant for a number of years, supposedly has some very unique architecture inside, and is uniquely setup to be a hotel (possibly has something to do with the fact that the YMCA used to rent out rooms). This location is not scheduled to be opened until Spring 2009, so we’ll have a little time to wait for that.

I’m very excited to see Starwood expanding another brand of theirs in America, I’m very eager to see what else is next on the Starwood roadmap.
Here’s a quote which I think perfectly sums up Starwood’s goals for the LM100 program:

“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.” – Jawaharlal Nehru

andrew@alconic-inc.com