Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide last week said it is improving the descriptions of its rooms and properties that appear in global distribution systems and corporate online booking tools. The move addresses long-standing complaints from business travel buyers that these descriptors often use jargon and coding that are hard for their travelers to understand. In addition, Starwood is customizing property descriptions for some key accounts, so that travelers also will know what value-added amenities buyers have negotiated specifically for them at that property.
Meanwhile, Starwood also is the first hotel company to introduce prototypes for upscale and upper upscale hotels, with the first of the new scaled-back Sheratons and Westins now under construction.
Other hotel companies have grappled with buyer complaints about confusing property descriptions, but Starwood appears to be the first major player to tackle the problem aggressively. The code-heavy descriptors were suitable when travel agents were the ones making the bookings, but in today's online booking environment, "the travelers themselves need to be clear on the property's facilities, whether the room is king or double-bedded, smoking or non-smoking and so on," said Anne Asch, director of e-distribution marketing and operations. This information would be available in the basic descriptor. "If the hotel also offered complimentary high-speed Internet access for all guests or free breakfast or parking, that also would be included. However, if these were value-added amenities that a client had negotiated with us as part of their rate plan, we would customize the description so it was unique to that client."
Asch noted that certain constraints are built into the technology. "We're trying to take advantage of the available text description area and give more content where we can. We certainly have limitations because each of the GDSs has different field lengths and we have different character lengths."
Sam Schisler, global hotel program manager for Limited Brands in Reynoldsburg, Ohio, welcomed any change that would improve the quality of online property descriptions. "Travelers often won't book a hotel because the online descriptor is so confusing, but hotels don't seem to realize they're losing these bookings," he complained this summer at a session of the National Business Travel Association meeting
(BTN, Aug.16).Starwood's new Sheraton and Westin prototypes have significantly fewer guest rooms than usual for these brands and have no meeting space. The first Sheraton, which will have 200 rooms, is under construction at BWI Airport in Linthicum, Md., with an opening planned for late next year. The 260-room Westin is scheduled for an adjoining site at BWI and is expected to open a year later. Additional new-format Sheratons are planned for construction in Tarrytown, N.Y., Rockville, Md., and Midwest City, Okla. A second Westin will be in Richmond Heights, Ill. Secondary and tertiary destinations such as these are Starwood's target markets.
Previously, prototypes had been used to encourage developers to build budget, economy and midprice hotels, including extended stay brands. In these segments of the lodging industry, duplication of the same basic hotel in diverse locations is accepted practice. Upscale and upper upscale hotels, on the other hand, typically have been more one-of-a-kind developments that reflected the local area or specific site.
Travel buyers benefit from new hotel prototypes in two ways. Certainly, most buyers want their travelers to have the best accommodations for the price. In terms of distribution and program compliance, however, the more hotels a chain has in its system, the more successful travelers will be in being able to book that brand. This is especially true when the trip is to a secondary or tertiary destination. Buyers, in fact, look to work with chains that can meet more of their travelers' needs because it simplifies their job.
"All things being equal, new prototypes are beneficial because they mean more hotels in more locations," said Yasuo Sonoda, travel manager for Macromedia in San Francisco. "Assuming it's a brand our travelers know and trust, they're happy to stay there because they're confident their expectations will be met." This, in turn, can help buyers meet the volume projections they have made to the brand in return for favorable rates.
Starwood rolled out plans for the new versions in October 2002. The fact that it took two years to progress to the construction phase reflects the industry downturn that lasted through 2003. Demand has rebounded significantly this year and developer confidence improved with it.
For Starwood, launching the new prototypes attracts increased attention from potential developers and franchisees that are looking to build in smaller markets, where branded upscale and upper upscale hotels never were a factor. It gives the brands a way to continue to expand, considering they already have a presence in the major markets. Development of regular full-size versions of the two brands is not affected by the new prototypes.
Starwood is banking on this established name recognition to attract developer interest. "Our presence in major cities should make these prototypes attractive. We expect demand to come from loyal guests who know the brands from having stayed in them in other locations," according to Ted Darnall, who is president of the Starwood real estate group.
The lower room count plus the absence of meeting space, long a staple of upscale hotels, are chief among the ways the new prototypes keep a lid on development costs and, therefore, heighten their appeal to developers. Yet, the hotels hardly are being positioned as midprice.
Included in the Sheraton design are the brand's signature Sweet Sleeper bed and Ralph Lauren-inspired guest room furnishings. Club level rooms, a three-meal-a-day restaurant and a health club with an indoor swimming pool also are part of the plan. These are "upscale amenities typically not found in smaller markets," Darnall said. "Likewise, the new Westins will feature the Heavenly Beds and other upper upscale touches such as our-fixture bathrooms and flat-screen televisions."