Sony Partnership Helps Gansevoort Stand Out
South Beach property is literally first on the block with new technology.
By Adam Kirby, Associate Editor -- Hotels, 6/1/2008
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The 593-key property has a cross-branding partnership with Sony to outfit the hotel top-to-bottom with the company’s latest electronics—in some cases, months before they are made available to the general public. Gansevoort Hotel Group COO Elon Kenchington goes so far as to call the hotel itself “a Sony product.”
The hotel was the first in the world with Sony’s new organic LED TVs. The units, which at 3 mm are astonishingly thin, greet guests behind the front desk with a video showcasing the property.
“Part of the establishment of a great brand is co-branding with established brands that are market leaders and luxury brands in the field that they represent, such as Sony,” Kenchington says. “We spoke to them and realized a partnership sort of made a lot of sense with what we are trying to establish as being a luxury hotel operator.”
An unexpected result of the partnership has been the repurposing of existing Sony technology by hotel staff. For instance, the hotel asked Sony to create technology that enables PlayStation Portable video-gaming devices to be used as makeshift pagers; if a guestroom is unavailable upon check-in, the guest is loaned a PSP and, using the device’s built-in Wi-Fi capability, the front desk alerts the guest once the room is ready. And in the meantime, it serves as a handy time-killer.
Speaking of video games, Sony’s PlayStation 3 game console is available in the hotel’s presidential suites, in the business center and upon guest request. Also available to guests are Sony’s Reader Digital Book devices and Vaio notebook computers.
As for the hotel’s business center, Kenchington thinks of it as more like an entertainment room where business tasks can be performed. “It has the computers and printers you expect, but it also has PSPs and a full entertainment center,” he says. All guestrooms have Sony LCD high-definition televisions, DVD players and Sony’s Dream System Stereo.
Condo owners at the property get some pretty good Sony perks, as well. Upon closing on a unit, owners are given a Sony electronics package valued at US$25,000 or US$40,000, depending on the size of the condo. Additionally, owners will have the opportunity to purchase new Sony products before they are made available to the public.
Incidentally, the Sony partnership also paved the way for Gansevoort South to be a part of sports history. To help promote the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament in March, the hotel hosted what is believed to be the world’s first professional tennis match on water: Tennis stars Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal took to a water-covered transparent court built over the hotel’s rooftop swimming pool. From a marketing standpoint, Sony will use film from the event in a global mobile phone commercial, giving the hotel some prominent publicity.
The two companies are in the process of extending the partnership to Hotel Gansevoort in New York City and Gansevoort West in Los Angeles.
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