Westin Tops Upscale List With Amenities, Services

<B> Westin Tops Upscale List With Amenities, Services</B>

By Maria P. Vallejo

Continuing a four-year winning streak, Westin Hotels & Resorts stood alone at the top of the upscale category this year without sharing the title with Hyatt Hotels as it did last year.

Westin finished 1997's survey with three category wins, including business centers, business amenities and in-room amenities. Westin doubled the number of categories it swept this year. The company expanded its area of expertise to include quality of food, helpful and courteous staff and overall price/value relation. Much of the company's success resulted from the management of Westin's CEO Juergen Bartels, analysts said.

"I think he really came back and reinvigorated that change," said Robert Mandelbaum, New York-based PKF Consulting's director of research. "He's really made the company come online."

Bartels spearheaded programs that concentrated company efforts and dollars on renovations and employee programs. Company officials said the program combination, costing about $500 million in the past two years, allowed Westin to regain its first place position. "We focused on our employees and on renovations," Bartels said. "These are two things we can influence--the people and the physical part of our hotels."

The "Service Westin Style" program involved a mandated initial eight-hour orientation training for all associates. Managers then completed an additional 16 hours of solid skills training, preparing them for the millennium. It included a packaged tool box containing training materials for pre-and post-shift meetings.

Analysts unanimously agreed that Westin held an advantage this year over Hyatt Hotels by maintaining high service levels at the majority of its properties. "I think their service levels are more consistent than Hyatt," said Ted Mandigo, president of Chicago-based T.R. Mandigo & Co. "Westin has delivered a little more consistent quality."

After hedging up to Westin's lead, Hyatt Hotels planned to reinvigorate its programs directed at corporate travel managers after a three-year hiatus. Hyatt lost ground in both categories it won last year: ease in arranging individual travel and frequent traveler programs. But it captured the timely commission payments arena in this survey.

The slip into second place in part resulted from Hyatt's need to emphasize serving corporate travel managers through the corporate office. Hyatt previously concentrated on improving relations with meeting planners, but now plans are underway to create a similar program for travel managers, to launch this year. "One mainstay of Hyatt's corporate relationship is its relationship with meeting planners," said Tom O'Toole, Hyatt's vice president of marketing. "Particularly now with the hotel industry changing, with such dynamic transition in the industry, meeting planner interaction is more important than ever."

Since 1996, Hyatt has hired Gallop to continuously survey and interview meeting planners who recently worked with Hyatt to determine their concerns and compliments. The initial results of the survey conducted in 1996 were tackled last year. The results prompted Hyatt officials to launch a meeting planner newsletter, "The Standard," to concentrate on seamless handoffs of meeting plans and improve database conductivity. The technology provides sales staff with current profile information on frequent clients, while allowing them to directly book meetings from a client site.

Not disregarding the importance of meeting planners, this year the Hyatt sales and marketing teams will focus on improving delivery and interaction with corporate travel managers. For the past two years, most travel managers have dealt directly with individual hotels rather than through the corporate office. Although this system provided negotiation possibilities, travel managers were unable to leverage travelers' frequent stays at one property for better rates at different locations.

Hyatt actively is canvassing nationwide for key corporate accounts that will be routed through one of three regional offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. An improved system monitors the number of frequent travelers' stays, regardless of the rate they paid, will be launched in the second half of 1998. Currently, travelers who stay at Hyatt hotels but do not ask for their company's negotiated corporate rate are not included in the company's profiles. "We can put our hands around every business, regardless of rate booked," said Joan Lowell, Hyatt's vice president of individual travel. "These sales don't always get identified as a piece of business belonging to a corporation in the database."

Travelers sometimes book rooms for weekend rates or special packages that are not counted into overall stays provided by each company, she said.

Aside from efforts targeted at the corporate travel buyer, Hyatt officials said they invested "hundreds of millions of dollars" last year in renovations and capital improvements. About 40 hotels underwent renovations last year. The Hyatt Regency in Los Angeles refurbished guest rooms and the Atlanta property improved the ballroom. "In the hotel business there is no substitute for capital investment and capital improvements," O'Toole said. "The technology is changing so rapidly, making sure things are functional and up-to-date."

Improved coverage through new hotel openings also helped Hyatt maintain high rankings against its other competitors. Hyatt spent about $140 million in opening new hotels in Wichita, Kan., Chicago and Valencia, Calif.

Although most analysts expected Marriott Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Hotels Corp. to move up in the upscale category this year, they also questioned the relatively poor showing of suite hotels in this year's ratings. Marriott maintained its third-place position and won second place in frequent traveler program.

Marriott's reward program introduced its "Counter Points" offer this year. It allows members to earn program points whenever they use United Airlines, British Airways or Hertz. Marriott Rewards, launched in May, extends to all six of Marriott's brands.

Hilton followed Wyndham directly up the line into their fourth and fifth place position from last year's twelfth and thirteenth spots. Last year, suite hotels did not rank within the top five hotel chains, but analysts expected a greater positive movement in this year's survey. They attributed this year's absence of suite hotel brands from the top ranks to perception problems and the current economical cycle impacting the hospitality industry.

Suite properties, although segmented into the upscale and midpriced categories, often are considered mid-level accommodations, analysts said. Earlier perceptions of alternative housing at a cheaper rate may have caused the lower rankings of such hotels. The introduction of Residence Inn and other hotels still bring to mind "alternative garden hotels" for the business traveler.

"It's a perception problem. For the most part, suite hotels are perceived as midmarket products," said Linda Novey, president of Sarasota, Fla.-based Linda Novey Enterprises Inc. "I think of them as an alternative to highrises. The market itself is garden hotels and I still think that sticks in the mind of the populace."

In the depressed market, suites represented great price value, but the current high rates moved business travelers to conventional hotels based on availability, Mandelbaum said. "With occupancy so high, you'll get a room where ever you can. People are just utilizing the more conventional hotels more often.