Dec. 16--Perhaps you have enjoyed the complimentary breakfast buffet that comes with a stay at one of the world's 700 Residence Inn hotels.
But you haven't truly experienced the Residence Inn breakfast until eating it beneath a chandelier.
Yes -- a chandelier at the middle-of-the-road, vanilla-as-it-comes Residence Inn.
Those chandeliers are a subtle piece of Marriott's effort to make Residence Inn, its third-largest revenue generator, far less vanilla and middle of the road. The new wave of Residence Inn hotels is a bit more upscale, a bit more forward thinking, and they can be found in urban locations that include Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Ore., and San Diego in this country and in the foreign locations of Edinburgh, Munich, Sarajevo and Vancouver.
The goal, Marriott says, is to attract a new generation of travelers to a chain that its desired audience mostly associates with its parents.
The change reflects what's happening across the industry, as well as the growth of the "lifestyle" hotel -- creative food and drink options, ambitious fitness centers, comfortable communal spaces and an embrace of technology. The industry now is seeing a slow shift among veteran players that seek to redefine themselves in a new era of accommodation.
Those efforts can be seen from solid, longtime, midtier brands (Residence Inn, which turns 40 years old this year) down to the budget level (Motel 6, which is a silver-haired 53). Many of these chains use similar terms and buzz words when describing the efforts, especially "millennial" and "next-gen traveler."
The point is consistent: "We're finding that we need to evolve who we are as a brand," said Jackie McAllister, vice president of brand marketing at Marriott International.
Modern travelers are "looking for an experience that's like home but even better, so we're upping the decor and making it more upscale," she said.
The effort also includes moving toward what's charming, local and hip, which includes bringing local food trucks to some of the hotels Wednesdays and an embrace of cocktails and local craft beers. Locally owned hotels and edgy chains like Kimpton or the Ace hotels have long embraced such ideas. Residence Inn realized that it needed to join the parade and that the hotel standards for the last generation of travelers might not work for the next.
"We're laser-focused on attracting millennial and next-gen travelers," McAllister said. "They're who are coming into our hotels, and by 2019, they'll be the majority."
The leap is arguably even greater for Motel 6 and its extended-stay offshoot, Studio 6. The chain born as an economy brand in Santa Barbara, Calif., in 1962, and now perched along the nation's interstates, is in the midst of a $400 million renovation at the 45 percent of the chain that is not franchised (about 510 hotels).
Motel 6's revitalized rooms take a great leap forward from the stained carpet, stained comforters and stained couches of yore. Wood floors are in, along with sleeker furniture and flat-screen televisions. The photos I saw struck me as mimicking European budget hotels, and I asked Lance Miceli, the chief marketing officer for G6 Hospitality (which owns the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands), if that was the intention. I half expected him to laugh, but he said that was exactly what the company was after.
"We very specifically went after delivering European budget-inspired rooms: very functional, clean lines and an aesthetic that's very appealing to guests," Miceli said.
And, yes, the redesign is aimed at a new generation of traveler. So is G6's turn toward mobile-first technology that allows customers "in a minimum number of touches to go from searching to being able to book a room," Miceli said.
"This is targeted at the millennial population but not at the exclusion of other folks who share the same point of view," Miceli said. "The interesting thing about millennials is that they possess a mindset that is very deliberate, in my opinion. They want to write their own script and experience life in the here and now. And though it's been assigned to a particular age demographic, it's not exclusive to them."
Granted, Motel 6 is operating in a different sphere from most other veteran brands embracing the "lifestyle" trend; the national average daily rate is $55 nightly. But Miceli said there is no choice for historic hotel brands but to evolve.
"With the advent of technology and people accessing on review websites, expectations have risen, and the industry is working very hard to keep pace," he said. "Guests' options have grown year on year on year, and the expectation is that you're going to deliver well for a fair price. The days of just being good enough are done."
jbnoel@tribpub.com
