Hotels Try New Features With Test Rooms

New York Times, April 29, 2008 — It is known simply as the X-room. Set up last November at the Courtyard by Marriott in partnership with the University of Delaware in Newark, it is a test guest room. It is equipped with everything from waterproof mattresses to the experimental technology of wireless electricity (no plugs) to a specially designed Nintendo Wii game console for travelers. There is also a digital door display that lets guests see who is in the corridor.

Hip cafes make way to lobbies

USA Today, January 8, 2008 — As major hotels compete to create hip scenes in their lobbies, they're adjusting menus to deliver more and better food options for guests who like to hang out there.

"The energy they're seeking is that of a cocktail party," says Jody Pennette of CB5 Restaurant Group, a Greenwich, Conn.-based firm that designs restaurants for hotels.

Hotel Chains Grapple With Meaning of Green†

Marriott, Starwood Face Confusing Products, Standards In Bids to Make Lodging Environmentally Friendly

Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2007 — As director of Element, a brand of environmentally conscious hotels being developed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts World Wide Inc., Nicholas Lakas picks his way across a landscape of so-called green products each time he steps into his office.

Among the items: salt and pepper shakers billed as 100% recyclable; piles of towels and sheets made with organically grown fibers; boxes of organic snacks; and a countertop slab made from recycled materials.

"We get so many products, so many phone calls," Mr. Lakas says. "I have nowhere to put it, and we are always looking at it and evaluating it." He is shopping for environmentally friendly products — from plates and light bulbs to heating and air-conditioning systems — to be used in the first hotel in the... continue reading

Strange Bedfellows: Marriott, Schrager†

Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2007 — Lodging giant Marriott International Inc., one of the industry's most conservative companies, has struck a deal to develop a boutique chain designed by Ian Schrager, the entrepreneur known for his style-driven hotels. The agreement, to be announced today, is intended to give Marriott a presence in the boutique segment of the hotel industry, which it has been unable to crack even as rivals like Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. have found a lucrative vein with brands such as W.

Room Service, Send Up Some Slime

Want a night with SpongeBob? Marriott and Nickelodeon will accommodate you

BusinessWeek, June 11, 2007 — The idea of putting a brand name on a hotel has attracted everyone from Hard Rock Cafe and Walt Disney (DIS ) to Giorgio Armani, L.L. Bean, and possibly Martha Stewart (MSO ) and Ralph Lauren (RL ). Is there room for Nickelodeon?

Designer Hotels Hit the Hot Spots

Armani in Dubai, Missoni in Kuwait, Bulgari in Milan—fashion houses are teaming up with Ritz, Marriott, and their ilk to provide luxury rooms with a label

BusinessWeek, April 6, 2007 — Coco Chanel, the late grande dame of French couture, said she didn't do fashion—she was fashion. An apt metaphor, perhaps, for the latest trend among the titans of fashion and luxury. No longer content merely to design haute couture and accessories, they are branching out into the "experience" business by lending their design style and brands to top-of-the-line hotels and resorts around the world. Love your outfit from Bulgari, Armani, Missoni, Versace, or Moschino? Now you can wear it in surroundings conjured up by the same designers.

How P&G, Kimberly-Clark, and Marriott Are Getting Back to Basics in Customer Experience

Marketing Profs, March 20, 2007 — There's no use longing for the return of the good old days. The new world of electronic information and global competition is here to stay. Customers will no longer simply gravitate to the brands, products, services, and organizations their parents trusted. Instead, they will continue to experiment, change, talk back, and exercise their newfound freedom of choice in ways that make life for organizational leaders increasingly challenging.

The Branding Game

Call it about time, but hotel companies are mastering brand refinement

Lodging Magazine, October 6, 2006 — When Jean Thomas switched industries in 2002, leaving Kraft Foods for the Cendant Hotel Group, her first impression of lodging was the depth and breadth of customer information—most of it freely given up at check-in and check-out. Her second impression was how little of that information explained why customers did what they did.

Hotels go to the matresses†

Wall Street Journal, January 25, 2005 — Marriott is Latest to Make Huge Bet on Better Bedding; A Pledge to Wash the Covers