Blurring lines between the upscale and upper upscale tiers—and even, in some cases, the luxury tier—have prompted hoteliers to enhance amenities and service in order to ensure their product remains distinct to corporate travelers.
Although upper upscale and upscale still are considered separate tiers for market-analysis purposes, they are becoming harder to distinguish from the traveler perspective, said John Fox, senior vice president for PKF Consulting in New York. Business Travel News this year merged the two tiers in the 2007 annual U.S. Hotel Chain Survey
(BTN, March 5). It's because of a larger shakeup, Fox said, as even midprice and economy properties enhance offerings and make rate gains.
"All of these lines of differentiation and categories are starting to blur, and it's across the board," Fox said. "From the lowest price point to the highest price point, to define the hotel by some broad category is just inviting omission of properties that do belong or addition of properties that don't."
Hoteliers said they judge largely by price point, but even that has become a difficult gauge because of such markets as New York that are running high occupancies, Fox said.
"At one point, you could look at services and facilities," Fox said. "As we see this sort of brand proliferation, it muddies the water."
Despite all this, upper upscale hoteliers said they continue to set their brands apart from the upscale chains. Within Marriott International, for example, there is a distinction between JW Marriott properties and the upscale Marriott properties amid across-the-board enhancements throughout the company, according to Mike Jannini, Marriott's executive vice president of global brand strategy and innovation.
"The JW brand is our luxury performance brand, and that's the customer who we call the master performer," Jannini said. "They're related, but JW takes it up to luxury—just not the old status-driven kind of luxury. It's understated."
Much of that—and hoteliers from other upper upscale brands agree—comes from tailoring an approach directly to that higher-end traveler, he said. For JW Marriott, that has included jettisoning the traditional hotel gift shop in favor more focused retail shops with food and beverage options based on guest buying patterns, Jannini said.
Omni Hotels has gone beyond the typical bed and bath wars of the upscale segment, according to John Hackett, the brand's corporate director of sales for business travel. The brand has changed its minibars to provide gourmet food options and other unique treats like miniature gardens and also eschewed a traditional frequent traveler program to provide regular guests with gifts immediately upon their arrival, he said.
"Every property and management team looks for ways to make that experience a little more memorable," Hackett said. "If we don't create a memorable experience, we know a guest could forget us."
Starwood Hotels & Resorts' Westin brand's focus has been to become the lifestyle brand within the company, said senior vice president Sue Brush. In that regard, Westin has designed recovery kits for travelers suffering from ailments like jet lag, put an emphasis on happy hour at the hotel and added such take-home amenities as white tea sets and music downloads, she said.
"Our guests are very vocal," Brush said. "They let us know exactly what they want, and we're constantly doing our research on people's travel habits."
Both Omni and Westin also have designed premium rooms specific to particular guests as well. Omni's Hackett said corporate accounts are using the rooms—enhanced with such features as Italian linens, DVD players and IPods—for their VIPs.
As upper upscale properties make these enhancements, deluxe hoteliers also are mindful of some encroachment on their territory
(BTN, Oct. 9, 2006)."The single biggest one we look at is service, but those finishes and those touches throughout the property, particularly in the guest room, are all really important," said Matthew Sparks, senior vice president of development in the Americas for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International. "Having that extra stone in the bath and the extra quality to the linen—there's several aspects of that playing themselves out in terms of the guest experience."
Most deluxe brands, however, have a built-in advantage over the upscale tiers when it comes to service, according to Sean Hennessey, president of New York-based Lodging Investment Advisors.
"If you look at the typical size of luxury hotels, they're generally 200 rooms or so, and upscale hotels are 400 or 500 rooms," Hennessey said. "That's a big factor in being able to project a different service level. There's some overlap, but there's probably a better defined distinction between those two."