Lower-Priced Rooms, With Boutique Style
Michelle Higgins, New York Times, 2/25/2007
Travelers who are tired of paying top dollar for trendy hotel rooms may soon get a break. A new wave of hotel chains, designed with fashionable but price-sensitive travelers in mind, is on the rise.
The hotel companies creating the new chains, which they often refer to as lifestyle hotels, aim to marry the stylish sensibilities of so-called boutique hotels with the low prices normally associated with budget brands. With a focus on modern design, the latest in technology and cool lobbies with social scenes, the hotels cater primarily to young business travelers. But with room prices expected to be $150 or less — well below the going rate at other hotels emphasizing contemporary design — the new chains may be a welcome alternative for vacationers, too.
Hotel rates have increased steadily since 2002, with some midrange hotels charging as much as $300 a night in cities like New York or Los Angeles. The average daily room rate across all hotel categories was $97 last year, up 18 percent since 2002, according to data from PricewaterhouseCoopers. In New York, average room rates soared 39 percent over that time, to $240 a night. Room rates are expected to rise again this year.
The new concept is to offer more bang for your buck by providing "the features and services of a more upscale hotel at a lower price point," said Bjorn Hanson, global hospitality leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Each room at Cambria Suites, a new all-suites brand from Choice Hotels International, will offer MP3 plug-ins, a CD and a DVD player, free high-speed wireless Internet and two flat-panel television sets. The first Cambria Suites is scheduled to open in April near the airport in Boise, Idaho, and others will follow later this year in Savannah, Ga.; Green Bay, Wis.; Appleton, Wis.; and at the Akron-Canton airport in Ohio.
NYLO Hotels, a new brand created by a group of veteran hoteliers including Michael Mueller, a former senior vice president of development for Starwood, will offer similar electronic features along with loftlike accommodations with high ceilings, exposed brick, and large windows. Each hotel will have a business center, a 24-hour restaurant and a gym with showers and steam rooms.
Stephane DuPoux, who designed the Nikki Beach Club in Miami and the Buddha Bar in New York, is designing the rooms and the furnishings. Daniel Vosovic, the runner-up in 2005 on Bravo's television series Project Runway, in which up-and-coming fashion designers compete for $100,000 to back their own clothing lines, is creating the staff's uniforms. The first NYLO is scheduled to open in Plano, Tex., in November and the second in Warwick, R.I., in April 2008.
Another new brand, Starwood's Aloft, is being marketed as "carrying the DNA of W Hotels" with "stylish design, accessible technology and a hip urban attitude." The hotels, which will begin to open in 2008, will feature exposed beams and blackened steel. Rooms will have nine-foot ceilings and bathrooms with oversized showers and toiletries created by Bliss Spa. Public spaces designed to draw guests from their rooms to interact include splash, an indoor or outdoor pool; the re:mix, a communal lobby area and bar where guests can grab drinks with friends or work on their laptops; and the backyard, an open-air area for socializing.
Of course, for these hotels to offer such chic accommodations on the cheap, something has to give. For starters, the new brands are focusing on secondary markets like suburbs and airport locations rather than metropolitan downtowns, because the real estate is typically cheaper and the hotel markets less saturated. They're also finding ways to cut back on everything from construction costs to labor.
Open floor plans, designed to let guests mix and mingle, allow employees to see from the bar to the kitchen to the retail shop, enabling them to serve multiple areas during off-peak hours. Eating options are generally self-serve. And barebones building materials can both look stylish and translate to operational savings.
NYLO, for example, said the exposed surfaces of brick and polished-concrete walls not only lend the brand its urban loft aesthetic, but also save labor and resources. "With no internal sheetrock, no base or crown moldings," said John Russell, NYLO's chief executive, "we are saving about 5 to 10 percent." Concrete floors are also easy to clean and, he said, help stabilize indoor temperatures, reducing energy costs.
New technology will be used to keep costs down by automating tasks normally handled by hotel staff members. At Hyatt Place, a new brand from Global Hyatt Corporation that opened its first hotel in Lombard, Ill., last year, guests can check in and get room keys at a lobby kiosk or grab snacks from a takeout area by punching in orders and swiping keycards to pay. Although hotel employees are still nearby, the do-it-yourself approach is less labor-intensive. It's also a more efficient use of space, said Jim Abrahamson, a senior vice president at GlobalHyatt. "There isn't a large nonpublic area or back of house, which allows us to invest more into the size of our guest rooms," he said.
Citistay Hotels, a new concept aimed at the young and middle-aged adults of Generations X and Y, with plans to open its first property in New York or Miami by the end of this year, is developing a computerized system to perform the function of a concierge. The system will link guests to businesses outside the hotel like restaurants and car services, as a concierge would, said Gregory Tubeck, founder of Citistay Hotels and, at 24, a Gen Y'er himself. The idea, said Mr. Tubeck in an e-mail message, is to "streamline both the guest and the operators (us) experience."
Bottom line: If you're a traveler who likes someone to carry your bag to your room, rings for room service upon arrival and just likes to be fussed over, these new hotels aren't for you. But they may be just the thing for a traveler on a budget who wants a hotel with all the basics and a bit of flair.