Marriott International's wellness-focused Westin brand has been undergoing a shift in response to guests placing an increased importance on their well-being when they travel. It's not about getting from Point A to Point B—it's about their health and happiness along the way.
Lifestyle brands are meant for interactions among like-minded people, according to Jennifer Connell, VP and global brand leader of Marriott's Premium Distinctive and Collections brands. “It's basically meeting someone where they are in their life,” she said. With new expectations from guests and new opportunities for experimentation, the company has been taking steps to adapt, particularly in terms of design.
Wellness, Design and Lifestyle
“When lifestyle brands began, decades ago, the emphasis was on design and the aesthetic,” said Aliya Khan, Marriott’s VP of design for lifestyle brands. “Now it's a world of understanding the guest and the consumer and what they want and what are the touch points in the journey that are going to be memorable.”
Connell cited the brand’s bedding selection and workout gear lending program as ways to promote wellness in a guestroom, and Khan noted the role lighting can play in helping guests relax—particularly when dealing with jet lag. “In addition to the physical experience of the bed, how do you represent this image of serenity?” she asked rhetorically.
Similarly, making sure a hotel room reflects its location can help a guest feel more grounded. “As you move from location to location, Charlotte [N.C.] feels like Charlotte [and] New York feels like New York,” Khan said. Even textiles can play a role in evoking a destination, she added, especially if the material and pattern have a recognizable history. “It gives us an opportunity to tell one very small part of a large story.”
As Westin hotels come up for renovation, Khan and the team are looking at the brand’s pillars to guide new looks. Bedrooms may scrap “artwork and heavy detailing” in favor of a simpler vibe, she said. “This is your little moment of respite," she said. "I'm going to offer you something that is calm and serene. It's going to be easy to use. You don't need a Ph.D. to turn on the light.” (Intricate technology, she added, can be the “antithesis to wellness” if it causes angst in the end user: “It's not restful.”)
Lobby Aesthetics
As lobbies and public spaces become more multipurpose, maintaining a sense of wellness that meets different needs can be a challenge. “We want our lobby to have places where you can meet in the little alcoves and niches, off the center of gravity,” Khan said, clarifying that a lobby should attract a wide range of people to different hubs for different purposes. “We're hoping with all of what we're doing in design—be it around food and beverage or the design itself—we can make it a center of gravity for the guests.”
But guests also want some measure of privacy when in public spaces, and the Marriott team is considering a range of ways to provide that. “Is it drapes? Is it high-back furniture? Is it a mix of things?” Khan said, noting that drapery allows for quick updates as the day goes on. “I can pull it back. I can light it in a certain way. I can create privacy, but I can also update or change it with relative ease without tearing down every other thing around it.”
Similarly, the use of dappled light—like sunlight through trees—can be intense or soft as needed, and can also help get a guest’s circadian rhythm in balance.
The Westin Anaheim [Calif.] Resort opened last year with all of the new initiatives, Connell said, and the brand launched in Yokohama, Japan, earlier this year. Urban hubs can benefit from a wellness-focused hotel, she said, especially with elevated outdoor spaces and gardens to provide a sense of nature in the middle of a city’s intensity.