Marriott International's upscale Renaissance brand is overhauling its image, anchored by new property openings in New York and Paris along with a new marketing strategy for the brand.
Coinciding with the debuts of the Renaissance New York Hotel 57, reopened after $40 million in renovation work, and the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe, the brand detailed a new Web portal and food and beverage strategy.
The strategy marks a new emphasis by Marriott on the Renaissance brand, originally the upscale arm of the Ramada Inns brand and acquired by Marriott more than a decade ago
(BTNonline, May 18, 1998)."With more than a $2 billion infusion in hotel renovations by our owners and franchisees, and a new brand team in place, Renaissance is now positioned to be the first truly global lifestyle brand in the Marriott portfolio," according to Tina Edmundson, Marriott's senior vice president of lifestyle brands and Renaissance operations.
Besides the New York and Paris properties, Renaissance plans to open 24 new hotels over the next three years. These include another property in London, the Renaissance St. Pancras Hotel, along with the Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel, the Renaissance Malmo Hotel in Sweden, the Renaissance Doha City Center Hotel in the United Arab Emirates and the Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel in Thailand. Renaissance currently has 140 properties in 28 countries.
Renaissance also has launched a new Web at renaissancehotels.com. The brand designed the site to provide background information about destinations as well as local-based promotions and packages.
In addition, Renaissance announced a new food and beverage strategy, in which hotel restaurants will be designed to offer locally inspired food at each location.