Boutique Design - September 2013 - 22

BY MARY SCOVIAK

ANY HOSPITALITY DESIGNER

who wants to work with the world’s
biggest hotel brands is going to have
to learn to do the math. And the
marketing. And the operations.
“We have done everything possible over the last four years to move
away from designers who approach
design from a decorative prospective
toward those who address design in
a strategic fashion,” says Ted Jacobs,
vice president of global design, W
Hotels, Le Méridien, St. Regis and The
Luxury Collection, Starwood Hotels
& Resorts. “Decorative beauty is skin
deep; it’s the last problem we solve
for. We want designers who start by
solving for guest types, space and [the
building’s] mass. We also want design
partners who understand our brand
filters. They need to show us they
know what makes W different from
Le Méridien.”
On a need-to-know basis, comprehending the heart and soul of a brand
is fundamental to getting a design
firm on the short list. Hotel chains
have invested a major amount of time
and money to make sure they can
define what differentiates their flags,
and they’re more than ready to share
petabytes of information with their
prospective collaborators.
Wyndham Worldwide’s current
“brand re-invigoration” for Howard
22

boutiquedesign.com SEPTEMBER 2013

Johnson typifies the new push for
metrics. Along with a mandate to
keep HoJo’s signature orange color,
design consultant Back Lot Productions received extensive research,
including interviews with internal
staff and franchisees, consumer
studies, a competitive audit and a
precisely defined brand-positioning
statement that had been tested with
the target audience.
“For all of our brands, our design
team collaborates closely with Brand
Marketing to make sure the design
essence of the brand supports the
cornerstones of that brand,” says
George Scammell, vice president
global design, Wyndham Worldwide.
“That means getting to the level of
finding key words and phrases that
become guideposts for all the decisions that have to do with that brand,
whether marketing, operations or
design. So, for example, TRYP by
Wyndham’s tagline, ‘Own the City,’
is supported by the brand essence,
which is defined by the key terms
cosmopolitan, Mediterranean flavor
and energetic spirit."
It’s this data, combined with
consumer preference feedback, that’s
forming the framework for the brand
experience designers will have to
create. The four years of consumer
research and intelligence gathering

GLENN
WILSON
Marriott
International

1 EDG Architecture + Design layers lighting and
mixes textures to create scaleable chic for
the global prototype for Marriott’s new Goji
Kitchen + Bar.

C O U R T E S Y O F M A R R I O T T I N T E R N AT I O N A L ( W I L S O N ) ;
C O U R T E S Y O F E D G A R C H I T E C T U R E + D E S I G N (1)

International hotel brands are sending a powerful
message about the need to mix the science of customer
data with the art of sensational design.
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Boutique Design - September 2013

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