Q&A Sidebar: Vacation’s Next Generation
Courtesy Starwood Hotels
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (HOT) plans to open as many as 100 hotels this year in destinations ranging from Urubamba, Peru, to Chennai, India. Here, CEO Frits van Paasschen discusses the rise of today’s digital culture and how it’s influenced the strategy behind the company’s two newest brands, both launched in 2008: Aloft, a select-service hotel, and Element, an extended-stay chain with an eco-friendly theme.
How is today’s digital culture changing the way Starwood does business?
We’re seeing the emergence of a generation that takes quality for granted in brands and is focused on design and sustainability. Because of this generation’s digital upbringing, people have more in common with one another across geographies than ever before. I’m just old enough to remember the 1960s and the generation gap. The change in society today is at least as fundamental as that change was. Television for that generation is digital communication for this one.
This change affects how we think about positioning our brands, like Aloft, which is all about design at an affordable price. When you used to launch a hotel, you’d get critical mass in the U.S. first, then look to Canada or somewhere else. We started Aloft in 2008 and today have 40 properties around the world, including in Abu Dhabi and China, with plans to open six in India in the next three years. We can do this partly because of our long-standing presence in these markets. We’ve been in China since 1974 and in India since 1973. But it’s also because Aloft connects with young digital travelers, wherever they may be.
Why did Starwood launch Aloft and Element as established competitors were upgrading their amenities to capture market share?
Aloft and Element will be as revolutionary for their segments as Westin and W were when they were introduced in 1930 and 1998, respectively.
Westin was originally known as Western Hotels. The name changed in 1980 for its 50th anniversary. Starwood assumed ownership in 1998. When we were developing Aloft and Element, we’d say our biggest advantage is that we don’t exist. We can invent ourselves in the image of the traveler of 2010.
Competitors who are upgrading a large set of legacy properties look like I would walking into a nightclub meant for people of a different age. They’re trying to be somebody they haven’t been for a very long time. My view about brands is that you don’t want everyone to like you. When people tell me they’ve been to Aloft and didn’t quite fit in, part of me is happy to hear it because there’s another guest who had been to a hundred soulless properties in select service, then walked into an Aloft and suddenly felt at home. To have a brand means to say no sometimes and to not do everything opportunistically. It’s part of the creative tension that makes the job fun.
