UPDATE: Walmart has refreshed its image a few times in its history before today. Originally when I looked up information on their logo, I was only able to find one logo - the one that Walmart currently has on their stores. Today, with the annoucement of the new logo, Walmart posted a page on their website which includes the evolution of the brand from 1962 until today.

I wanted to put down my thoughts on this - even though it really has nothing to do with Real Estate or Hotels, it has to do with branding, so my underlying point of this post can easily be translated over to the hotel industry.

What differentiates Company A from Company B? Branding.  It’s what will set you apart from the rest and hopefully make the customer search out for your product. This is especially prevalent when the customer KNOWS your product is inferior vs the competition, yet still buys your product because of the brand. Sad, but true, and just goes to show the power of branding over our subconscious.

New WalMart logo to be reveled this week

This week Walmart is due to announce that they are going to be changing their logo for the first time since they opened their doors in 1962. That says a lot for the Walmart brand, mainly that it is so powerful that it hasn’t really needed to update its look as time has gone on, similar to Coke, Ford & GE. There are really very very few companies who have been leaders (or close to being the leader) in their industry for decades and do not update their logo - a logo is something that sticks in the consumers mind, so unless its a very minor variation, its a big deal for a company to change the logo - they are throwing out all the subconscious awareness that has been built up time after time.

But sometimes - the best thing a company can do is to change their logo.

Previous Walmart Logo & Slogans

Walmart’s slogan throughout the 80s & 90s

Walmart’s new slogan starting in 2007

I think that’s the position that Walmart is in.

Walmart is a unique company in that it’s both loved and hated by a lot of people, yet the reason its loved and hated is usually a contradiction - some people only do their shopping at Walmart, due to its low prices and high selection, some people refuse to shop at Walmart because they feel Walmart doesn’t treat their employees fairly, and that WalMart does more harm to the economy than helps it - via running mom and pop shops out of town, to forcing major manufacturers to lower prices, forcing them to lower wages or look for alternative means for produce the goods. And some people dislike Walmart, yet shop there anyway because there is no other choice where the live! (Anyone remember back in the late 80’s early 90’s when Walmart was all about “Made In America”? You cannot find one single solitary sign in Walmart anymore about Made In America… That should tell you something)

What I think is the ultimate contradiction of Walmart are the stores located in the rural areas of America. Since Walmart offers products so inexpensively, they have forced a lot of the mom and pop, smaller chain stores and out of business. But what happens to the residents worked at those mom and pop stores? Now their only option is to work at Walmart - the place that caused them to lose their job. Only there are two problems.. #1 Walmart doesn’t need that many employees, and #2 Walmart pays less than their former job, and offers less benefits.

So tell me - who wins? Walmart does more harm than good in that case - and it’s something that’s been repeated throughout America.

Walmart is currently on the cusp of still being thought of as a cheap place to shop, cheap meaning the quality is poor, and the service is poorer so in order for them to take the next step in their growth - they need to get rid of that stigma, to reach new, higher wealth customers.

The first way to do that is to make the brand more inviting, by making an individuals first interaction make everyone feel warm and comfy inside. There is no scientific method as to how this is achieved, its simply a a lot of feedback, alterations and a lot of back and forth. Which font is used, what color is used, will there be a graphic, will it offend people, will it remind people of either another brand, or symbol? There’s a lot too it.

I know my question about the new logo is what exactly is that on the right? Supposedly it’s a sunburst, but why? Why add a symbol that really doesn’t have anything to do with what your company is or does? While looking for more information about the new logo I came across a website called “AlmostDesign” who created a new logo for Walmart (I believe it was an unofficial project - something he did on his own time). Personally I think this logo is better than the official Walmart redesign! (Except for the colors) The circle around the W is a great design element - and just that a design element, not a symbol of a sunburst which really has nothing to do with the Walmart brand.

Walmart Logo by AlmostDesign

Even though I’m not too sure what to think of the sunburst symbol, I’m still excited to see this new branding to be rolled out to Walmart stores throughout the country. The one thing that always drives me crazy about Walmart is how cheap their signage is and how it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. For example the Walmart by my house, was built only a few years ago, yet the sign on the street is at the top of a pole, with two spotlights hanging off the side of the pole providing illumination at night, the signs on the building are just letters with once again - spot lights illuminating it. No backlit signage like pretty much every single solitary other business in the world has. I understand that Walmart tries to do things as least expensive as possible to save on costs, but don’t be cheap on the first thing that people see as they enter the property! It will leave a bad impression on their mind before they even set foot in the building, and even though a lot of it is subconscious it still makes an impact on the customer.

Will this new branding change the course of Walmart’s future? No, there is more to it than that, and I think its very difficult to put a dollar number on how much additional business has been gained because of new branding - but it has the power to change the subconscious - which is the most important part of branding.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Rendering of Pier Village’s Bungalow Boutique Hotel

Here’s something I never expected to actually happen - Pier Village, a development built right on the ocean in Long Branch, NJ is getting its own Boutique hotel!

I live a few towns away from Pier Village, and I’ve watched its development from the first days that they started taking down the old water slides from the former amusement park, until the day the opened the apartment rental offices - and I was convinced that I would be living there (then I saw the monthly rental rates. Yea. Not yet).

Pier Village is developed and managed by the Applied Companies - a company that residents of Hoboken or Jersey City, NJ are probably very familiar with as they are one of the largest owners of luxury apartment complexes in those two cities. Now before anyone has the impression “oo.. luxury apartments - you mean buildings built 20 years ago w/ a new paint job” no, these are LUXURY apartments. The Applied Companies is also the developer/owner of the W Hotel & Residences Hoboken - so any frequent reader of my blog would understand, I’m pretty familiar with the firm.

Pier Village has taken a decrepit area of Long Branch, and completely turned it around, building hundreds of apartment units, excellent boardwalk restaurants and nice little retail boutiques. For decades this area was supposed to be built out - in fact Hilton built a huge resort hotel and conference center right on the beach, located just north of where Pier Village is currently located in the 80s that was called the Ocean Place Hilton, yet in the 90s due to the area not really seeing the renaissance that was originally supposed to occur, the Hilton name was removed and the hotel was sold and then renamed simply - Ocean Place Resort. PS: For those who love The Sopranos.. An episode was filmed at the Ocean Place a few years back - in the show it was supposed to be a Miami hotel, but as they walk into the elevator, you can clearly see the logo of the hotel on the elevator door. Also, the episode was filmed in November when the weather was about 40 degrees, yet the scene was supposed to take place in Miami - when the weather was 80. They pulled it off very well!

In addition to Pier Village there is a huge condo development just to the north of the Ocean Place which was built by both the Applied Companies and Matzel & Mumford (a division of K. Hovnanian homes) and just to the south of Pier Village was supposed to be an even larger development built by K. Hovnanian, yet the project was put on indefinite hold a few years back due to the slowing economy (this was in 2003 or 2004, imagine what their thoughts are now!)

Pier Village is one project that has not been scaled back or changed at all since it was initially envisioned. The main reason is probably due to it’s being an apartment development rather than Condo. The master plan for Pier Village is to build the complex in three phases, and they are just finishing up Phase 2 - which will include a very small, 24 room boutique condo/hotel. Phase 3 is due to include a larger 100 room hotel, but construction wont commence for a few more years.

Not much as been said about the location of the hotel, its decor or even its name - until now. I was browsing around the rental site (www.PierVillageLiving.com) and at the bottom of one of the screens it said a boutique hotel Bungalow is one of the amenities of the development! I quickly looked through the press release from the beginning of this phase of development and found out that the hotel is supposed to be a 24 unit condo/hotel.

A condo/hotel is where one buyer purchases the condo unit, (vs. multiple buyers purchasing one unit in a timeshare) yet are only allowed to live in it for a certain number of days a year - the other days the unit is put into the hotel pool and the unit owner receives a portion of the daily room rate. This is one of the methods that became so popular in Las Vegas and Miami, yet most have failed or been changed dramatically because buyers have been few and far between, or they have not seen the types of returns they were expecting, leading the unit to go into foreclosure.

I went to the site a few days ago to see the progress of the hotel, as well perhaps find information about it. The hotel is in a great location - in fact I have been watching the progress on the building for a few months now, but I never realized it was a hotel, I always thought it was retail building. The Bungalow Boutique Hotel will be located right at the main entrance to Pier Village, viewable to everyone who drives up and down Ocean Ave, so it is a great location, but I really question the size - 24 rooms? What’s the draw to the hotel going to be? Is it going to be a very high-end hotel ($300, $400, $500 a night?) or is it going to be less?

Pier Village’s Bungalow Boutique Hotel Under Construction

There are still a lot of questions to be answered - the least of which is if it will actually be a condo/hotel or not. No where on the Pier Village Living website does it make any mention about purchasing a condo, or even finding out information on a condo at the hotel. And I even went into the onsite management office to see if I could have some information on the hotel, and the person sitting at the front desk said “currently there is no information available, but I know for a fact that it is purely a hotel, there are no condo units in the hotel”. So either the person is very misinformed, or the developers have decided to change the business model of the hotel.

We’ll have to see! I’ll post more as I hear/find it! But nonetheless its sure to be an interesting hotel, as one of NJ’s first real “boutique” hotels.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Major Update Below: Please make sure you read down to the bottom of this post!

Wow, this is kind of odd - the Seattle Times- a pretty regionalized newspaper, obviously not of the same stature of the New York Times, wrote not one, but two articles on Starwood Capital and their 1 Hotels & Residences brand yesterday. Seemingly before anyone else!

1 Hotel & Residences Vancouver Island at Wyndansea

The first article (copy of the Press Release here) is about how 1 Hotels will open in Vancouver, BC in a development called Wyndansea which is a master planned golf resort that is currently under construction. The 1Hotel & Residences Vancouver Island at Wyndansealocation will be the first 1 Hotel outside of America (I guess you can call it 1 Hotel’s first international location) and like the 1 Hotel in Cleveland, it fits in well with the Wyndansea development being a LEED Certified project.

1 Hotel & Residences Vancouver Island at Wyndansea

The rendering (above - click to enlarge) that is currently on the Wyndansea website doesn’t exactly specify that that is the final design for the 1 Hotel & Residences. Currently it is listed as “a international luxury 5-star hotel brand”, but to me a giveaway that it is very close to the final design is the green roof - something that is becoming a feature on all of the 1 Hotel designs so far. The design is very unique as it fits right into the surrounding terrain - I doubt you’d ever be able to see a building that fits this close to the terrain being built in the US today. Yet the building still does not seem to destroy the natural area that surrounds it, meaning it fits in very well like a puzzle piece. Also, I love the pathway that intertwines the property and is built right on the rocks. I hope that stays in the final product!

In addition to the hotel, which will contain 180 hotel/condo suites as well as 95 beach and golf villas, the Wyndansea development will be located right on the ocean, will have a Jack Nicklaus designed golf course, deep water dock for large yachts to be able to dock, as well as a resort clubhouse and a 30 “Signature Circle” home sites where people will be able to build a custom home on the property. In addition, the 1 Hotel will contain a restaurant and spa, making the entire development a complete resort property.

The press release does not state anything about an opening date or when construction will begin, but it does say that “customer generation has now begun fort he initial release of 1 Hotel condominium suites so I think its a good guess that we can see construction beginning soon (if it hasn’t already) with an opening in the next two years.

It’s interesting that in the press release, it states that LEED is now a global standard. That’s great news that other countries are now taking LEED Certification seriously even though it was created by the US Government. I hope that all governments will start to recognize and promote the LEED Certification so that buildings will help the environment rather than what we see in China right now.

The second news item that the Seattle Times broke today hits a little closer to home for the newspaper..

Starwood Capital has taken over the development of the 1 Hotel & Residences Seattle by purchasing the remainder of the ownership from Avalon Holdings! This is great news because while it doesn’t exactly specify what Starwood Capital is going to do with the development (a few months ago it was announced that the condo portion will be substantially cut back - leading to a building design change) it’s now pretty much a sure bet that development will continue and hopefully soon, as this was supposed to be the first 1 Hotel to open - and now it looks as though Atlanta, Cleveland and Washington DC 1 Hotels  will open first (probably not in that order though) - two of them were not even announced when the Seattle hotel was initially launched!

Starwood Capital was working with Avalon Holdings on the project and it seems as though Avalon has run into problem after problem, now the latest one seems to be financing for the property - which is unfortunate since supposedly there have been quite a number of deposits already placed for condo/hotel units, as well as leases signed for some of the commercial space within the building. It sounds to me as though Avalon was having difficulty, and Starwood Capital got fed up with how it was being run so thus decided to completely take over the project.

This is interesting because while Starwood Capital does have the experience in developing a hotel, it is not the route they have been taking with any of their 1 Hotel & Baccarat Hotelprojects thus far.. Every hotel is being developed by another company who is paying for most of the development costs for the project, in fact, I have not really been able to determine exactly if Starwood has any interest in their 1 Hotel & Baccarat hotel properties thus far. I’m sure they do have a standard percentage that they like to have as the properties come on-line - but nothing has been said publicly yet.

Whew! What a day for 1 Hotels! Starwood Capital is one company that never ceases to amaze me with their capabilities.. Normally a hotel firm would walk away from a project like this - but Starwood instead decided to develop the project itself - proving many many skeptics wrong who predicted the 1 Hotel & Residences Seattle will never open.

Update: An article from GlobeSt.com sheds a lot of new light on the 1 Hotel Vancouver Island at Wyndansea project.

The 1 Hotel Vancouver project will break ground in early 2009 and will take three years to complete, although some components will come on-line as they are completed, so that leaves an opening hopefully beginning in 2011 with the 95 beach villas scheduled to break ground in 2010.

As I mentioned originally, the hotel design fits in very well with the surrounding hillside - if you look at the renderings, the hotel looks to be 3 stories, but due to unique architectural tricks its actually a 7 story hotel. Wow! This is what you call smart development. Something that fits very well into the surrounding area and is not very intrusive, yet makes very good use of its space.

I also mentioned how the hotel will be located right on the edge of a rocky cliff area, right on the pacific ocean, and how that type of development would NEVER be allowed in the United States. I’m not the only one who noticed that as GlobeSt mentioned:

“It’s definitely a one of a kind in the world,” emphasizes Sarah Evans, vice president of marketing for S&P Destination Properties LLC of Vancouver, which has been at the developer’s side since designing began. “To have this much land on the long beach peninsula and two-thirds of the peninsula as the Pacific Rim National Park is unheard of.”

Starwood Capital has been working with the developer for about a year on this project, and apparently were in competition with alot of other 5 star hotel firms, yet the 1 Hotel always stood out because of its eco-centric basis. Imagine that! Starwood Capital was always the front runner because of what the brand stands for. If that doesn’t say something to the hotel industry - get with the program on LEED Certification & environmental friendliness - I don’t know what will!

Also, the entire project is going for LEED Gold Certification - meaning everything from the concrete to the roads to the windows and the sea-water geothermal system are all being designed with that in mind.

Lastly, the entire Wyndansea project intends to build a second hotel at a later time.. Ooo.

Wow. All this news makes an already great project even better…

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Morgans Hotel Group is finally revving up the expansion machine that they have been talking about for so long with the announcement that they are going to be developing the Ames Hotel in the Ames Building located in downtown Boston.This hotel designed by the Rockwell Group will be a complete conversion of a former office building which is the first high rise in Boston (it was built in 1889). Part of the design that Rockwell will integrate will keep the original styling of the building rather than turn it into a completely contemporary design.

Perhaps this will be the beginning of the growth of the Morgans Hotel Group?

Morgan’s is uniquely able to lay claim to creating the first boutique hotel - but after almost 22 years, they still have only 10 hotels throughout the world, younger upstarts such as W Hotels, has almost triple the number of locations in a quarter of the time. Ever since Ian Schrager left Morgans, it seems as though the company has had difficulty getting back up on its feet in the development arena - not that the existing hotels have been suffering (they have become even more popular!) but the growth of the company just was not there. In the past few years the only things that have come out of Morgans are it’s ex-CEO’s infamous firing, purchase of the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas & the creation of the “Mondrian” brand, which Morgan’s seems to want to turn into its own chain - yet I don’t understand what makes all Mondrian’s alike vs Clift & Royalton.. Each and every Morgan’s hotel is designed differently from top to bottom, whereas if Morgans is trying to make Mondrian in to a brand, what will the brand be “known” for?

In any case, its great to see something happening with the Morgan’s development pipeline..

What is interesting about this is it’s one of the first projects that Morgan’s has undertaken with a major development partner being named first and foremost, in most of Morgan’s other projects, it has a majority interest in the hotel, whereas the Ames Hotel will only be 35% owned by Morgans - the reminder will be split between Ames Hotel Partners & Normandy Real Estate Partners.

An interesting fact in this whole thing is Normandy Real Estate Partners. Normandy is also a partner in The Chelsea hotel that is being built in Atlantic City by Cape Advisors, not only that - but Cape Advisors is also involved in building the Mondrian SoHo with Morgans Hotel Group. In otherwords, I’m a little surprised that Cape Advisor’s isn’t involved in the Ames Hotel since they have worked (or are working with) both Morgans & Normandy Real Estate. That doesn’t mean that every deal Morgans or Normandy is involved in requires them to bring in Cape Advisors, I just thought it was a little ironic.

I’m very interested to see what the Ames Hotel will turn out to be like - it’s the first hotel that Morgans has created from scratch that is not a Mondrian since Ian Schrager left the company. There have been plenty of rumors, and plenty of plans for additional Morgan’s hotels - mainly brand extensions of existing properties - the Delano & Mondrian in Las Vegas, Mondrian in South Beach & NYC. Call me crazy but it seems as though Morgan’s had such a great thing going by creating different hotel names - why not keep that up?

Hopefully the Ames will not get the bad reviews that the Royalton has been receiving since it was recently renovated, and as has been quoted in the news release - it will keep the same “avant garde” design as all existing Morgan’s Hotels have become famous for.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Sure sure, this is a little late - but hey - better late than never.

Well, in all seriousness, I purposly waited this long to write this post because whenever there is a major industry conference, unless there is a major announcement - the public only seems to hear bits and pieces of what industry leaders have said, so it takes awhile to put their quotes and everything together to be able to form valid conclusions.

Unfortunately I did not attend this year’s NYU Hospitality Investment Conference, and now that I realize that you didnt have to buy a ticket to network - I’m more upset!! Alot of people stood and networked in the lobby - which didnt require a pass. Ah! The contacts I could have made!

So I’ve been waiting patiently for some information from Barry Sternlicht and his Starwood Capital Group about their new hotel brands and the direction that they are taking them, or maybe at the least some updates - as everyone knows, Starwood Capital is notoriously quiet about their plans which only seems to add to the interest.

Here’s what I have:

Baccarat Hotels & Resorts

No major news was reported on the Baccarat brand - except that it is very very popular with developers and I believe they are working on 25 projects right now - a huge number! Of course, not all of them will see the light of day, especially in this market, but it still is a very impressive number from a new hotel brand. One thing working for the Baccarat Hotel & Resorts brand is it’s affiliation with Baccarat Crystal. Baccarat Crystal has more brand awareness outside of America, so thus is instantly recognizable to affluent persons worldwide.

The great reputation that Baccarat Crystal has made over the last two or three centuries (yes, centuries!) makes it very appealing and comforting, thus not much work has to be done creating a brand - it’s already been created. Barry Sternlicht & Starwood Capital did a great thing when they bought the Baccarat Brand a few years back - they bought a brand that has been very well developed, is very well known and respected, something that is very expensive, difficult and time consuming to start from scratch, then using that built up brand capital to create a world class hotel brand. Genius! As long as Starwood doesn’t fall over themselves (which they are too smart to do) it will be a great success.

Baccarat locations will mostly be located outside of America - only due to the fact that there is more brand awareness to the Baccarat brand outside of America. That is not to rule out that Baccarat will not expand in America, (they are working on a location in Atlanta), and I’m sure more are on the drawing board.

1 Hotels

Once again, not much was said, but it was emphasized that it is growing and they still are actively at work developing new locations. The 1 Hotel did garner alot of interest due to its green/LEED Certification. It’s amazing to me how other hotel firms have not yet gone the way of 1 Hotels and insisted on their new locations to be LEED Certified - alot of companies are all about being green and conserving electricity, but in my opinion, LEED Certification is really the only way to go if you really mean it. Sternlicht reiterated that 1 Hotels will be primarily located in the United States in the short term - down the road it will probably be expanded worldwide.

Crillon Hotels & Resorts

Finally! Something about Crillon! (Even though it’s minor) Starwood Capital is working on expanding the Crillon brand - but they are taking their time. Crillon is a brand which cannot really be opened in a few hundred locations like a Sheraton or Ritz-Carlton can, due to it being a 6-star brand. There are very very few places in the world which can pull in the constant clientele to support that type of hotel. My guesses? (And these ARE guesses) London, New York City, Monte Carlo, Havana (Give it a few years! I guarantee it.), Moscow, Buenos Aires, Dubai, and Rome. I think that Crillon’s slow growth at this point is partially due to the economic climate being as it is - it just doesnt make sense to put so much money into developing a hotel unless everything the dollars work out perfectly.

I’m still waiting to see more information about the brand though - website, initial location info, etc.

Whats next for Starwood Capital?

Ooo this is the type of stuff that I love, just thinking about the possibilities and what I would do if I were Barry Sternlicht and Starwood Capital. And I’m sure that PR people hate me for it too - since I’m making a fuss about what could end up being nothing. Sorry guys!

But nonetheless - I will talk about what I think Starwood Capital is up to next in my next post.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

I just happen to come across the renderings for the 1 Hotel & Residences Atlanta, as well as what I believe to be the renderings for the Baccarat Buckhead which will be constructed right next door to the 1 Hotel!

1 Hotel Atlanta on the left, side view of Baccarat Buckhead on the right.

Both hotels are being built in the Streets of Buckhead development - which is a mixed use development being built by Ben Carter Properties, that is turning a few down and out blocks of Atlanta’s Buckhead community into what seems to be the equivalent of LA’s Rodeo Drive and the inclusion of Starwood Capital’s two brands definitely help live up to that hype.

Both Hotels are due to be built in Phase 1 of the Streets of Buckhead development. The 1 Hotel occupies Parcel A and the Baccarat Hotel occupies Parcel B. According to the Construction Update that the construction firm has issued, work is actually progressing on both properties - Parcel A & Parcel B are currently being dug out and the deep foundations are being installed in Parcel A. If only every major development project was this forthcoming with their progress!

An interesting note is on the last page of the construction update where it states that they are still on schedule to meet the November 9th, 2009 turnover date, meaning that’s the date when the building’s construction should all be completed and it is up to the owners to start occupying it - putting in furniture, fixtures, etc. Quite an aggressive schedule for such a large project!

Not much has been said about the second Phase, but the building footprints are visible in the master plan, and if the initial plans have not changed for the project - there is a third hotel scheduled to be built within the Streets of Buckhead.. I don’t think it would be too crazy to speculate that a Crillon hotel may be built there. I have no information to back that up - but since Starwood Capital is building the first two hotels, and Crillon will only be built in very high end areas - it may be a great location for the brand..

Anyway - back to the renderings!

1 Hotel Atlanta Rendering

The 1 Hotel looks very very similar to how the 1 Hotel Washington DC is supposed to look - green ivy up and down the side of the building, the remainder of the building bathed in white - exactly how you would expect a green hotel to appear. I think it is a good assumption that this is what the typical 1 Hotel will look like. You can also see what appears to be the condo portion and the hotel portion, with the condo portion on the upper half of the building and the hotel room portion on the lower half.

If you look closely you can see people on the roof - leading me to believe that there will be some type of access to the roof - either a restaurant, bar, or pool area - or all perhaps.

Baccarat Buckhead Rendering

It’s very interesting to see the rendering for the Baccarat hotel. It’s a very stately looking building which brings back impressions of how you would expect a high rise to be constructed before the modern all-glass high rises are built today. I’m very curious to know if this is the look that Baccarat will try to bring to most of their locations, or if this appearance is unique to the Buckhead location. No matter what I think it is a very fitting look for the Baccarat brand - a brand that has a lot of history and has been around for almost 250 years.

It always excites me to see new renderings because you finally get an idea as to what the look of the hotel will be behind the press release, and allow you to envision what it is developers have envisioned.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Quite Simply: They are creating new experiences.

As I think we’ve all discovered if you read my blog often - I started this blog as a means to get hired at Starwood Capital (or Starwood Hotels), but primarily - Starwood Capital. Last week was the NYU Hotel Investment Conference and Barry Sternlicht was part of a round-table discussion, and was interviewed in a number of financial & hotel industry press.

I came across one interview that an Editor at Smith Travel Research wrote about which perfectly explained:

1. Why I think Starwood Capital is a force not to be discounted
2. Why I want to work with Barry Sternlicht & Starwood Capital
3. How my passions can be set free (so to speak)

For those wondering where Starwood Hotels comes in - it is based on alot of the same premises that Starwood Capital is based on - has the same bones I believe..

But back to Starwood Capital -

Here’s what excited me the most about Starwood, and in one sentence summed up everything, Barry Sternlicht was asked “Who is waiting for your new hotel brands” (Meaning what type of people are waiting for Baccarat, 1 Hotel, Crillon to open). His response?

“Nobody is. There is no need for new hotels. But there is a need for new experiences.”

Barry hit that right on target - new experiences is something that will always keep people coming back, it will keep your brand(s) fresh, and always keep the hotels busy. New experiences can be anything - from something that your senses pick up as you walk into the hotel or your hotel room, from the interactions that you receive from the staff - each and every time you set foot in the hotel, or a new way of doing business.

New experiences excite me, they make me want to wake up in the morning - because what experience will I have today? I want to be a part of creating those experiences, and for a company that believes it and actually walks the talk that’s admirable.

And thats what makes me want to work at Starwood Capital.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Finally we’ve heard some word from 1 Hotels about an additional location for their 1 Hotel & Residences as well as a construction update on the 1 Hotel & Residences New York.

First, the 1 Hotel & Residences Cleveland.

The 1 Hotel & Residences Cleveland is on the right side of the curved building in the front

At first you may say - Cleveland? What’s going on in Cleveland? Why are they opening up a location there rather than, say, Boston, or Los Angeles - much more higher caliber and higher profile locations? Well, if you look into the development its being constructed in - it makes perfect sense!

Future location of the Flats East Bank

The Cleveland location is going to be the centerpiece hotel in the “Flats East Bank” which is a large mixed-use development that is being built on redeveloped industrial property on the Cleveland waterfront. The Flats apparently is a huge development that has gained a lot of attention during its planning stages. The Flats is being developed to be the nations first LEED-ND development, which stands for LEED-Neighborhood Development, which follows normal LEED Certification, but also combines it with smart growth on a much larger scale rather than one single building - it expands it to an entire neighborhood.

This is a perfect fit for the 1 Hotel brand because the cornerstone of the brand is it being a LEED Certified hotel brand - all the hotels will be LEED Certified, and the hotels are also being designed with an green environmental influence. What better a way to build the nations first LEED-ND certified development than by including the nation’s first LEED Certified hotel brand?

The 1 Hotel & Residences Cleveland will be a 16 story building with 150 hotel rooms and 50 condo units which will be located on the higher floors. There has been no word yet on when the hotel will be open - but since the entire development is scheduled to open in 2010, so I’d imagine the 1 Hotel to open up in 2010 or 2011.

1 Hotel & Residences New York

The 1 Hotel in New York City’s Bryant Park was one of the initial locations announced for the 1 Hotel brand back in 2006, yet the site which currently contains a parking lot has sat untouched since then. Every once in awhile I heard something like - it was going through the planning board, it had to be reconfigured to please the planning board, etc etc. Well it seems as though it is finally being approved and ground will be broken in August! That still leaves another two or three years until it can finally open - but at least there is progress!

Now if only they would update the 1 Hotels website!!

andrew@alconic-inc.com

I’m not at all surprised by this announcement, but Wyndham Worldwide announced yesterday that they have purchased US Franchise Systems, which operates the Microtel and Hawthorne Suites brands from Global Hyatt.

This is a perfect fit for Wyndham, and except for the possibility that private equity firms may jump in, Wyndham was always perceived as the front runner for this transaction. Wyndham now has 12 hotel brands, and primarily in the economy, mid-market segment, and is clearly a leader.

It was not publicized as to how much Wyndham paid for USFS, but they are getting a great company, while it may not be up to par with luxury hotel brands, MicroTel and Hawthorne Suites are almost all completely new builds, thought of very highly in the developer community and just underwent a redesign of the rooms. Wyndham will easily ramp up development for those two brands by integrating it into their existing Franchise Sales department who has plenty of experience with smaller, economy/mid-market hotel brands.

Global Hyatt was always holding USFS back, not purposly, but mainly because they were focusing on their higher-end brands, they integrated Hawthorne Suites into the Hyatt Gold Passport rewards program, but didn’t even touch MicroTel, now with its integration into Wyndham, I see it MicroTel & Hawthorne quickly being integrated into the TripRewards network which will do nothing but help bring the promotion of the two brands to the forefront of the TripRewards users.

For those who are wondering - whats going to happen to their Hawthornes Gold Passport rewards, last I heard Global Hyatt said that you would be able to redeem those points at Hawthorne Suites at least until the end of this year. Obviously, if you gained all of your rewards through Hawthorne Suites - you’ll be able to use them at any Hyatt according to the redemption rules, you wouldn’t be required to only use them at Hawthrone Suites after the transaction closes. MicroTel had a smaller rewards program only for the MicroTel brand, that was never integrated with Hawthorne or Hyatt which that will most likely be completely rolled into the TripRewards program.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Over the past few months I’ve taken a number of trips - Washington DC, South Carolina and Philadelphia - and I made sure to visit the construction sites of the aloft projects being built in all of those locations. I know, I know, who actually finds an interest in visiting construction sites of hotels?

I do!

So first off was the Aloft National Harbor - I’ve written a lot about the National Harbor development, and it’s just so interesting to me to see the creation of almost a mini-town rise up from nothing but empty ground (I know, I probably just put myself on the environmentalists hate list - sorry!).

The aloft in National Harbor isn’t due to open until next year, but there still was considerable work done on the exterior and you could clearly see the aloft swish. I really like this development because while it fits in very well with the National Harbor design, it also still has the aloft signature elements such as the swish and window decorations.

 
aloft National Harbor

 
Rendering of the aloft National Harbor

aloft National Harbor from the waterfront

Next was the aloft North Charleston. This aloft can be watched 24/7 via a construction cam that is located near the construction trailer - but there is nothing like actually being there in person, and it was interesting to view for the first time the actual aloft prototype. The building outside may be a little boring - mainly a white finish, but the inside will definitely make up for it. After viewing it in person, I wish Starwood did something with the colors - maybe put in some darker colors along with the white, but hey - all that matters is what’s on the inside, so I cant complain much about that.

This aloft is scheduled to open on September 4th, and is well on its way as you can see from these pictures. Unfortunately we arrived there just as it was getting dark so the pictures are not as clear as I had wanted.

Finally is the aloft Philadelphia Airport that’s being built on Starwood’s property at the Philadelphia Airport. This property is very interesting because its a decent parcel of land that is owned by Starwood Hotels, and currently is occupied the Sheraton Suites, and Four Points by Sheraton, and then the aloft that is currently being constructed. Starwood owns and operates the hotels on this land, and I don’t see Starwood divesting themselves of this property anytime soon as part of their move to being mainly a brand owner over the past few years. Additionally there is a fourth piece of land that can still be developed - perhaps an Element?

These pictures were taken with my cell phone, so that’s why the quality is not exactly up to par.

 
aloft Philadelphia exterior

 
aloft Philadelphia entrance canopy

 
aloft Philadelphia entrance sign

There are two other aloft’s scheduled to open that I frequently drive past - but construction has not started on them yet. The one located on Route 1 in Woodbridge, NJ and also the one located in Mount Laurel, NJ which ironically is directly across the street from the new Westin Mount Laurel.

It’s a very exciting time for Starwood and aloft. It’s taken a little longer than we all have hoped to open the first locations, but they are well on their way to launching a very exciting new hotel brand!

andrew@alconic-inc.com