Major Hotel Chains Move To Embrace Concept Rooms
<B> Major Hotel Chains Move To Embrace Concept Rooms</B>
<I>Bass, Hilton, Marriott and Sheraton Deploying Rooms With High-End Business, Fitness and Relaxation Amenities</I>
By Maria P. Vallejo
Guestrooms are becoming more than just a haven for sleep-hungry business travelers. Hotel chains are offering new concept rooms to meet their guests' needs, from meeting space to fitness and relaxation.
Exercise buffs can do their workouts in private, tense executives can kick off their shoes in stress-proof suites and small groups can meet in comfort. Bass Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels Corp., Marriott International and Sheraton Hotels are among the chains providing travelers with some of these innovative room concepts.
Bass, for example, last month announced a new all-suite concept room for its Holiday Inn in Orlando. Seven different suite concepts will be available when the $80 million property completes construction in December, said Terry Whaples, operating partner and president of Holiday Inn Family Suites Inc., a franchisee company. The concept suites, first developed in 1994, include fitness, business, residential, cinema, classic two-bedroom, sweetheart and kids themes.
Although the beta test site is a resort facility, the company plans to roll out some of the suite types, primarily the business and fitness suites, to major business destinations nationwide, Whaples said. Costing about $129 a night, the suites will include a buffet breakfast for each guest.
"You can take any of these suites and put it into a commercial property," Whaples said. "We can change the theming almost overnight. I can see this business suite anywhere in a pure commercial setting."
The business suite offers a separate conference room that includes a four-seat conference table and extra chairs, a television with a videocassette recorder and a work station with a separate modem line.
The fitness suites may prove equally popular with road warriors. Bass's version includes a workout room with a recumbent bicycle, adjustable abdominal bench, floor mats, free weights and a VCR with exercise tapes. A new Orlando convention hotel will be one of the next sites for the all-new-build properties.
Courtyard by Marriott is expanding on the sleeping room concept by hiring sleep expert James Maas, a Cornell University psychology professor and author of "Power Sleep," to consult on new guestroom designs to enhance sleep and relaxation.
"When you look at trends in the behavior of customers, it goes back to people looking for ways to retreat," said Marsha Scarbrough, Courtyard's brand team vice president.
Fifty-six percent of all adults in the United States suffer from one or more symptoms of insomnia, according to the 1999 Omnibus Poll by the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, D.C. The poll surveyed 1,014 adults nationwide.
Maas visited Courtyard hotels around the country to study the current room design and now plans to change the pillows, mattresses, lights and drapes in 50 test rooms in five properties. The rooms will get new sconce lights developed by Maas which will slowly dim to help induce sleep at night and brighten to wake the traveler in the morning.
"Some other hotel chains have put together sleep-right rooms, but a lot of it requires some work on behalf the guest. They have to drink tea or put on eye shades," Maas said. "We're making the bedroom as passive as possible with these innovations."
Marriott plans to develop the new proto-type room within two months, Scarbrough said. Meanwhile, Maas is providing general managers with tips on improving guest sleeping experiences, and creating a survey on sleeping patterns for frequent guests. Between 500 and 1,000 travelers will take part in the survey.
The Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston also is developing the "Hotel Room of the Future," creating three traveler lifestyle centers. The program, associated with Hilton Hotels Corp., will focus on sleep disorders, stress reduction and other concepts to improve business travelers' stays. Some technologies being considered may border on science fiction, such as keyless locks that scan a guest's finger, palm or retina; windows with computer-generated relaxation scenes from which the traveler can choose; white noise machines to help travelers unwind; and electronically controlled mattresses to change the bed's level of firmness and support.
In October Hilton launched its "lifestyle guestroom" research. It converted 16 rooms into Health-Fit and Stress-Less rooms. Health-Fit rooms include total body workout machines, fitness magazines, resistance tubing for exercises, nutrition bars and exercise videos. Stress-Less rooms include massaging seat toppers, calming pools, sound and light therapy, pulse magnet belts for self-massage, foam bed lounges and and other relaxation amenities.
For the ecologically concerned business traveler, Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel in Philadelphia is offering an environmentally smart hotel. The hotel offers bamboo gardens to oxygenate the lobby air, organic "sleep systems" and recycled furniture. Bedding is made of 100 percent organically grown cotton and pure wool.