FEATURE ARTICLE, DECEMBER 2005

STARWOOD DEBUTS NEW SELECT–SERVICE BRAND
Starwood makes its entry into the select-service market with W Hotels aloft.
Nicole Thompson

Starwood launched the official name and concept details of its latest brand this fall at the Lodging Conference, marking the hotel company's entry into the select-service market. W Hotels aloft, as the brand will be called, will target established markets in which the predominant select-service brands, such as Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn, already have a presence.

“It started from a lot of input we were getting from the development community requesting Starwood to consider entering the select-service market as an alternative choice,” says Ted Darnell, president of the Real Estate Group at Starwood. “Oftentimes, driven by the fact that there's already close to 550 Courtyards out there, and there really wasn't a lot of brand alternative for them to enter markets where a Courtyard and/or Garden Inn are in existence. We took that feedback, and did a little bit of market research ourselves, and studied the opportunity. The developers are basically being left with few choices other than continued extension product under the same brand,   as opposed to having a purpose-built select-service product that was on the Starwood systems.   When we chose to move forward with developing a select-service product, we also wanted insure that it had a lot of the innovation and lifestyle branding features that are really kind of the cornerstone of Starwood culture.”

W Hotels aloft will share with the other Starwood brands the distinctive urban feel and energy that marks the chain. The brand will feature loft-like guestrooms, landscaped outdoor spaces for socializing day and night, an energetic lounge scene, and innovative   public spaces in addition to state-of-the art technology, allowing guests to relax and watch flat-panel TVs in the common area, or plug into their guestroom. The guestroom centerpiece will be an ultra-comfortable bed for which Starwood's brands are known. A well-designed workspace, as well as an MP3 docking station and a flat panel television will further differentiate the aloft guestroom. Large stylish bathrooms will feature oversized walk-in showers and amenities created by Bliss. Starwood's product development process for W Hotels aloft was driven in a large part by its experience with W Hotels.

“We broke the paradigms of not having a rectangular room, we've added ceiling height to give it more of an urban loft feel, more windows, better bath components, and totally reinvented what we call the common areas, which is most normally called the lobby. What we're hoping to do is introduce a product that has energy and has a style that is more than just functional in the segment, that represents an ability to have a little bit of energy and a little bit of fun.”

Other components of the hotel are   ReFuel, a 24-hour one-stop area offering up food, snacks and drinks to grab and go. For workouts, Train fitness centers or Splash, the indoor or outdoor pool, will be available. The aloft sites will also feature flexible meeting and function space and offer 100 percent wireless Internet access throughout the properties.

W Hotels aloft will be primarily franchised, and will have comparable development costs and staffing levels of other select-service brands in the market. Starwood currently has five company-owned sites in various stages of the entitlement and development process, including one in Lexington, Massachusetts, and one near the Philadelphia airport.

Depending on the market, a typical W Hotels aloft will range from 90 to 250 or even 300 guestrooms, and will serve transient guests as meeting space will be limited.

To develop the new hotels, Starwood is working with development and operator partners with proven track records, certifying first the company, then the site that the developer has chosen. While Starwood will depend primarily on local developers in site selection, the company does have some basic ideas about location. One trend Starwood is looking at the for new brand is locating near lifestyle centers.

“W Hotel aloft works very well in lifestyle centers,” notes Bill Linehan, vice president of marketing and strategic partnership development of Starwood's Real Estate Group. “Even if a property owner is not a hotel owner/operator, we are still interested in knowing about the opportunity or the site, and if it is something that we would certify and want our brand in that market, we would then take that site and bring it to one of these approved operators.”

For Starwood, an established market is one of the most important aspects of location of the new brand.

“We're not looking for greenfield markets out of the box with this brand, markets that haven't been established yet,” says Darnell. “We're actually more focused on established markets that have continued to see growing demand and just need more inventory in general, so you've got a combination of growing demand and a product alternative.”

According to Linehan, Starwood has identified about 200 trade areas in which it is interested.

Starwood anticipates the first hotels to break ground in early   2006 and open in early 2007, with 500 properties worldwide expected by 2012.

The expansion of Starwood brands, which include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W Hotels, and now W Hotels aloft, will probably extend past the new brand as time passes, according to Darnell.

“We made a decision 2 years ago that we want to have a much broader range of offerings, so I think you're going to see us over the next 2 years, introduce not only this select-service, but into segments such as upscale extended-stay and even possibly the midscale segments,” says Darnell.



©2005 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.




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