Not much has been said about these new positions – the information was gleaned from an interview that Derek Gale, a writer from Hotels Magazine had with W’s Vice President of Brand Management.

W’s marketing focus will move even further toward events, with more fashion programming (like W’s backstage lounge at New York’s Fashion Week) and music release parties in cities across the globe.

The fact that they are willing to hire someone to be a music curator and a fashion director – for a hotel brand – speaks volumes about the direction Starwood sees W going in. It’s similar to what Starwood did with the LeMeridien brand when they started LM100, and its no coincidence that W’s new boss is Eva Ziegler, whose previous position was brand director at LeMeridien.

Alot of people may ridicule the W brand because of their attempt to be trendy and as well as their “commercialization” of the boutique hotel concept, but no matter what anyone says – they are very successful at it. Unlike some hotel brands that attempt to open hundreds of hotels a year, W sticks to opening just enough hotels that its still able to capture the feeling and the essence of W.

Some boutique hotel companies may do the boutique feel a little better – Thompson Hotels is the first that comes to mind, but their individual hotels are not part of one name-brand. Indigo Hotels is another brand that claims it’s a boutique and tries to give the boutique look and feel – but the segment the brand is in, and the acceptable standards that the hotel has would never reflect a true boutique brand. Not to say that Hotel Indigo is not a quality brand – it is, but it doesnt have the amenities that W would have.

For the majors, Starwood, Marriott, Hilton, Choice, Intercontinental, Wyndham - Starwood is still the only hotel company that has a real boutique hotel product in the market today. Hilton’s Denizen seems DOA, Marriott’s Edition is taking so long to get off the ground I’m wondering if it’s going through some major modifications, Wyndham & Choice don’t even look to be interested in a high-end brand, and Intercontinental has Hotel Indigo.

It’s going to take a lot of catching up to do for any new or existing hotel brand to eclipse the W as hotel brand that’s easy to replicate (relatively speaking of course) and has so many tie ins and marketing kicks that one-up W in the marketplace. The experience and the knowledge that Starwood has on W is tremendous – and a perfect example of that is the value placed on it in the pending Starwood/Hilton lawsuit.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Hilton has announced a press event during the conference about their “new development concept”, and one of their executives has stated how the announcement may be one of the “worst kept secrets in the industry”. Hilton took Ross Klein from Starwood Hotels earlier this year to spearhead the creation of a much needed boutique brand.

Hilton is in the minority at this time by not having a boutique brand – every one of Hilton’s competitors has a boutique brand and it is a market that Hilton is noticably absent from.

Is Hilton Too Late?

With the economy and the credit markets in the toilet (to be nice about it), why would Hilton want to announce a brand new hotel brand? The boutique hotel customer now has alot of choices both high end and low end (NYLO/aloft), and with Marriott & Schrager’s Edition – the possibility arises of competitor who will once again re-define the boutique hotel industry. What can Hilton and Klein possibly offer? 

Everyone knows that this economic downturn will not last forever, and in order for companies to grow in the future – they have to plan for the future, and anticipate what their guests and customers will want in the future (unlike.. GM… Who still has zero clue as to what their customers want.) so Hilton is making the right move by developing a boutique product and even announcing it in this type of market. Yes, they are very very late – W Hotels has had a 10 year start, but in 20 or 30 years it wont matter, and developers who like working with Hilton will want a boutique product from them.

Not much has been said about the brand, but its been the worst kept secret because everyone knows they are going to announced a boutique brand, but thats about all the industry knows. I’ve found out that the food and beverage service will probably be outsourced by a well known chef or culinary company. That’s a great idea if they pick a high caliber name, but it also runs the risk of diluting the brand of whoever they choose, making it not as exclusive as they’d want. 

I’ve also been able to find out that the brand will be 4.5 stars and each property will contain on average 200-300 rooms. Lastly, it will be very “conversion friendly” which is great for Hilton because it will allow new hotels to be added to the system very fast since a renovation will take much less time than a completely new-build hotel. By going that route Hilton walks a thin line because a hotel may have originally been designed as a Sheraton, or a Hilton, or even a Courtyard so that the layout and building construction fit that brand identity – being rebranded as this new brand may confuse and dilute the brand identity they are trying to achieve. One of the most important parts of creating or building a brand is having the same look and appearance in their buildings – picture a McDonalds in a building originally designed for Wendys, or a Taco Bell in a building originally designed for a Dunkin Donuts.. It can happen, but it’s going to look funny. 

I’m very interested to see how this will pan out – focusing on conversions will ensure a quick and relatively inexpensive growth, but the core DNA of the brand may be hurt.

Hilton has alot on their plate right now – I think one of the biggest issues is public perception and the difference between some of their brands and the individual identity of those brands, specifically Doubletree, Waldorf=Astoria & Conrad. According to their CEO, that is something they are aware of and working on – in 2009 Hilton is expected to increase the brand identity of Waldorf=Astoria & Conrad – hopefully that will go for the Doubletree brand as well. Now more than ever branding is important to ensure that customers will keep coming back to your locations – and pay more for your services because of their perceived value.

Prior to Blackstone’s purchase of Hilton, the company never seemed to have a clear direction – demonstrated by the fact that until just prior to the Blackstone acquisition, the Hilton in North America was different from the Hilton in the rest of the world – severely limiting the growth and the ability for the different hotels to work together. Now with Blackstone Hilton is finally getting back on the right foot – including the creation of a boutique brand.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

As I reported earlier today on HotelChatter, Ross Klein left Starwood Hotels last Friday. I’ve heard rumblings that he was unhappy – but I personally had no idea. I was able to meet him last year in November and he looked like he was having the time of his life and was completely with the brand and Starwood. His right hand man (who I also met for a brief second) also left with him – to go to Hilton!

The Wall Street Journal filled us in on a little more details as to what was going on – and FINALLY, it seems as though Hilton will be creating a boutique brand and it looks as though Ross will be heading the team that creates the brand.

From the article in the WSJ it sounds as though the intial hotels will all be conversions from Blackstone’s LXR Resorts hotels, of which 44 are due to be converted from LXR Resorts to a Hilton Brand, 12 of those are to be existing Hilton brands, the other 32 could be the new Hilton boutique brand. I checked out LXR’s website, and I don’t see 44 hotels under the LXR brand, so we’ll see what ends up happening, but from the outset, it sounds as though the LXR Resorts brand will disappear (at least in its current iteration) and be mainly rebranded as Hilton’s boutique brand.

There really is no official word from Hilton (yet), but there is a large hotel investment conference going on in NYC this morning and tomorrow, so its a good possibility that it will be announced there.

If its true that the new boutique brand will be launching with 34 locations throughout the world – that’s one heck of a launch for a new brand! It will quickly launch Hilton into the largest operator of boutique hotels from the major hotel chains (although Starwood’s W will once again quickly eclipse, as they have 75 hotels opened or opening in the next 5 years).

Although I’m a big fan of Starwood, and especially W Hotels, I’m glad to see that Hilton has finally joined the bandwagon and is going to be opening a boutique hotel brand. I hate to admit it, but Starwood lost a great leader with the resignation of Ross Klein, and I hope that they can pick up the pieces and continue on. Ross brought alot to Starwood, and the way you see W Hotels today – can be traced back to Ross. Barry Sternlicht created it and set the foundation, Ross continued and built up.

We’ll now have to see what Starwood’s Chief Branding Officer is all about as he took over Ross’s position.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Last night while I was fast forwarding through the commercials on my DVR, a different logo for the DoubleTree Hotels flashed on the screen for a quick second – I rewound to the beginning of the commercial and it seems as though DoubleTree Hotels has a new logo.

New DoubleTree Logo

Current DoubleTree Logo

It seems to be the thing that’s occurring throughout all of the major hotel brands in the past year or two is a refresh, or a modernizing of the logo. Everyone from Four Points, to MicroTel, to Days Inn, and Super 8 have been giving their brand logo’s a zippy, modern edge.

The logo change was made in their new TV commercials that can be viewed by visiting www.doubletreepromo.com or clicking here where DoubleTree seems to finally be taking on its own brand identity, something Starwood has been doing with their brands for years.

The commercial doesn’t really say much, it almost seems to be setting up a major ad or branding campaign – showing images of DoubleTree hotels with some funky music in the end – ending with the new logo, and what I would assume is their new slogan “Calm – Cool – Relaxed”

Sounds a little like Westin huh?

The interesting thing about this ad campaign and DoubleTree’s logo change is its one of the first visible changes that have been made to any of the Hilton brands since Blackstone purchased it last year. Blackstone purchased Hilton with the intent (so they say) of continuing to grow the brands and expand them, and while they have started Hilton’s worldwide growth by announcing DoubleTree by Hilton, and Embassy Suites by Hilton in the East, not much has been done domestically – where most of their hotels are located.

Blackstone needs to do something, and they need to do something soon, starting with creating a competitor to W Hotels and Edition Hotels – every major hotel brand has a boutique brand except Hilton.

Secondly, Blackstone really needs to begin giving each of the Hilton brand names their own identity, something that will set them apart from other Hilton brands as well as their competitors and most importantly something that will make a customer want to stay at a hotel with a specific brand vs whichever is the cheapest that night.

It’s not as though Hilton will have a problem – they are larger than Starwood, yet I think they are quickly becoming like Marriott – a company whose brands are becoming so standardized you cant tell what hotel you’re in without looking for a sign somewhere. If they don’t start making changes and improvements, then the brand will slowly but surely begin its ascent into obscurity.

Blackstone has a big job on its hands – but as long as they put their money where their mouth is, I’m sure they’ll grow and improve Hilton into something great – but they sure have a lot of catching up to do.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Not much information was revealed except for the usual – where the first locations would be, and the fact that each location would be unique and designed differently from the next.  Additionally they made it clear that each hotel would be named after the town or area it is located in for example “New York Edition” or “Philadelphia Edition”. It’s a great naming strategy that is a great pun on words because not only does it incorporate the location of the hotel, but it also plays with each location being unique – as each location has its own “Edition” of Edition Hotels.

Great strategy!

One thing I was hoping would also be reveled is a website and at least some direction in regards to the design and marketing of the brands – but unfortunately nothing was announced, shown or activated.

Last week on the cover of Hotel Business magazine I came across what looks to be the official Edition Hotels logo, it was contained within an article about the launching of the Edition Hotel brand – as well as examples of how they will look with the city integrated into it, I could not find an electronic version of the cover, so I had to scan in the logos. Not only that but the city name integrated logos are in such a light font that its very difficult to make it out – even on the magazine, let alone the scanned version below

 
To the left and right of the larger Edition logo are the logos for “the los angeles EDITION” and “the new york EDITION” Click on the image to see an enlarged version.

I just wonder why Marriott did not publicize the logo in their press releases about the brand – every little bit helps when you are trying to market or spread the word about a new product. I find it hard to believe that its me who is one of the first to actually show the Edition hotel logo to the world.

Where’s my check Marriott??!!

andrew@alconic-inc.com

The Chicago Edition is being developed by Monaco Development, which primarily does residential projects, in fact this Edition is supposed to have a residential component – approximately 30 high end residences, in addition to the 250 hotel rooms and some street level retail space on the bottom of the building. The 51-story building is supposed to begin construction later this year with an opening scheduled for 2011, making the Chicago Edition one of the initial Editions to open.

There are no renderings of the interior of the hotel, yet, and I don’t expect to see them for awhile still, so for the time being we will have to make do with outside renderings. All in all, it looks like a typical modern office building – rather than a hotel or residential building, but the nice touches can be seen on the top floors where there seems to be balconies, and then toward the base of the building it look as though there is outdoor dining area.

Currently the site contains a few restaurants – well known ones that the locals do not want to see demolished, and the 50 story building that is going to replace it is not being looked forward to by the locals, but I think once the hotel comes in and opens they will enjoy its presence and the additional foot traffic it brings to the area.

I’m more curious to see what the interiors of these hotels look like, Schrager & Marriott are claiming that these hotels will be uniquely Schrager, and will stand apart from any of the current competition that exists today – if Schrager’s previous projects are any indication, I think we’ll all be very impressed with Edition.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

I haven’t been able to find a working website yet, www.EditionHotels.com does not lead to anything, (as of 9:30AM 1/29/08) but I checked the WHOIS record for EditionHotels.com and it was purchased by the Ian Schrager Company on November 1st, 2008.

According to two articles today, one in the Los Angeles Times and the other in the Washington Post, the first Editions are going to be in Paris and South Beach (a renovation/re branding of the South Beach Marriott)- the Paris property being the first to open in 2010.

Choosing the name “Edition” is actually genius – each hotel will be called “Town” Edition, for example, Los Angeles Edition, New York Edition, so on and so forth, currently they are expecting to open locations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Scottsdale, Costa Rica and Madrid. No word yet on the obligatory New York city location, but with Schrager supposedly working on a hotel in the Chelsea section, it is a possibility that one may open there – although I would expect New York’s first Edition to be in a more high-profile area. Supposedly they are working on another 20 deals

There are no renderings or logo or any details yet on what what the hotel experience will look like – hopefully they will launch a website today which will provide some information on that – but it is expected that the hotels will be easily recognizable as Ian Schrager products. Until more details are provided its difficult to tell if it will blow away W Hotels, or just finally be a serious competitor to the brand – it’s only taken Marriott 10 years!

Well, so far so good with this Schrager/Marriott partnership – I seriously had doubts that their partnership would go smoothly, but apparently they have so far proved everyone wrong. As I’ve stated before, I’m not a huge fan of Marriott – not because I don’t respect them, I do – they have a great business and are very well known but, their hotel product doesn’t excite me..

The potential of Edition Hotels does.

andrew@alconic-inc.com