Marriott International’s Courtyard by Marriott brand has a new guestroom prototype for North America.
The tone-on-tone look is a break from Courtyard’s more colorful past designs, and Marriott International, Bethesda, Maryland, said that by the year’s end it should have the new guestroom prototype installed at close to 10% of its Courtyard by Marriott portfolio in North America and 25% by 2015.
To find out more about the new prototype’s rollout and how it was conceptualized, HOTELS spoke with Janis Milham, vice president and global brand manager, Courtyard by Marriott.
HOTELS: How is the new guestroom prototype connected to the earlier lobby revamp for Courtyard?
Janis Milham: With all the great work that was done in the lobby, there was a disconnect with what our older guestrooms looked like and felt like. So this is very much in keeping with that exact same approach.
HOTELS: How was the new guestroom’s design conceptualized and were there any specific features that needed to be changed and new ones that needed to be emphasized?
Milham: Everything we do as a brand starts with consumer opinion and needs and wants. So we hired IDEO, San Francisco, which does ethnographic research. They went out to our hotels and with guests’ permission entered their room and observed how they were using the room, where they were putting their suitcase and things like that.
After that some initial concepts were developed, we actually built out a full-scale model room at corporate headquarters. It was a white room, devoid of color, as color can influence people’s opinions. We really wanted them to just respond to the functionality of the pieces we had put in there. We had about 50 consumers come through the room and give feedback and from that we iterated and worked with a design firm and that brought us to the launch of this new guestroom prototype.
HOTELS: So what are the most important changes?
Milham: The insights we got from consumers were great. The design aesthetic that the emerging band of consumers Generation Y and Generation X like is very different for us. We have tended to put a lot of color in our guestrooms, with colorful sofas and chairs. What we heard from consumers is that they prefer a more monochromatic design approach, so we adapted that. It is much more tone-on-tone with different versions of grey.
Another insight that we got from customers is that while it used to be all about getting work done in the room, now much of that work is being done on the road. So it’s not the first thing people want to do in the room, instead they want to relax first and work second. So to have a sofa to relax and work on was important, so we created the lounge sofa. Another new element is this very mobile desk that is on wheels that you are able to move around the room.
The other main thing consumers told us is that the guestroom should be all about enabling the technology they are traveling with, so we made sure that there were both traditional plugs and USB plugs available.
The bathroom is also a big change. One thing we heard consumers say is that they wanted an elevated bathroom experience from hotels. The new bathroom is much more residential, much more upscale and we’ve had some fun in their with color. What consumers said was while they wanted the room to be tone-on-tone, they wanted the bathroom to be more colorful.
With the business traveler in mind we also added the luggage drop, a lower spot at the end of the desk, which is a very purposeful place to put your luggage.
HOTELS: How much did Marriott invest in the prototype?
Milham: The project was about US$1.5 million, all in, for Marriott.
HOTELS: How much will owners be investing? What is the cost per key?
Milham: The goal was to be cost-neutral to the usual renovation cycle of six years, and this prototype is about a 4% increase for owners. We met with our larger ownership group and they gave us positive feedback.
HOTELS: What regional differentiation is there for the prototype?
Milham: There will be some different décor color options and also be a custom design that anyone can do if they want to. It is a little more expensive for them to do that.
Behind the bed, we have gotten away from the traditional headboard and done a graphic wall. The graphic will vary by what area the hotel is in. For example, in Florida it may feature palm trees and in Arizona it may feature cactus.
HOTELS: Will we see this prototype outside North America?
Milham: You will see a version of it that we will have for Middle East and Africa. Europe is interested in taking some of the key elements. Probably not China, because we just got done with a project for there, but certainly it has applicability outside the U.S.
HOTELS: Do you anticipate culling any Courtyards from the portfolio that don’t want to install the new prototype?
Milham: We don’t anticipate that being an issue. Everyone expects us to come out with a new guestroom, as our quality assurance process requires hotels to renovate.
This is a game changer for Courtyard and our segment. Everybody that has seen it says this is exactly what will work for us to bring the lobby into the guestrooms.