TRENDING
THE NEW leisure class
James Riley , group chief executive of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group , honed his perspective on hospitality via finance , and admits to being somewhat cynical in the face of the industry ’ s relentless positivity . His opinion of the future of luxury :
“ Luxury is going to be increasingly leisure-orientated . The days of luxury hotels for the corporate executive are long gone … Corporate will always be important , but it will be much more at the senior end of the spectrum and for selected executives out of a group .
“ Luxury becoming increasing leisure-orientated means that it will become increasingly relaxed , and that means that luxury hotels do need to adjust their offering . It means that the historic formality of what I would call Alpine or Mid-European hotel schools needs to gradually change . It ’ s important to remember the courtesies and formalities , which is something that I think one forgets at one ’ s peril , but at the same time , what guests are really looking for is an empathetic experience , one where they really feel they engage with colleagues and appreciate that .”
Hilton ’ s latest brand , Motto , is an “ affordable urban lifestyle ” play into the hostel space aimed , it seems , at grown-up travelers who seek efficiency and affordability without the cheeky but distracting bells and whistles of some competitors . Its differentiator : a flexible guest room averaging 163 square feet , in three types , including folding and bunk beds , accessible by connected door . F & B is similarly efficient , and the lobby has space to relax or work .
As other brands have staked their claims in the micro space — think Moxy or Public — another differentiator for Motto might be the lack of a targeted age group . “ There are one or two other companies
Hostel TERRITORY
that are trying to get into this space in a more significant way just like we are ,” says Phil Cordell , Hilton ’ s global head of new brand development . “ A couple of those companies I think are focusing or over-indexing maybe on millennials … We see ( Motto ) much broader than that .” Mottos are in various stages of signing in the U . S . ( opening next year ), Europe and South America .
The brand , hinted at for several years , is not a response to any competitors , President and CEO Chris Nassetta emphasizes . Its cool color palette , stone and wood design “ will both wear well from a design point of view and will last the test
Motto room with open folding bed
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of time because when you go too far , like what happens in the restaurant business , everything ’ s great for a while and then customers don ’ t like it and it costs a lot of money to keep retooling these things ,” he says .
So , no offense to other brands , Nassetta says , but “ we are highly confident based on the work we ’ ve done and what customers have said , that the economics of these things are going to be great .” The company is underlining that confidence with two brand introductions next year . “ Other brands make those same arguments ,” he says , “ and in the end , we ’ re growing faster than anybody , so I think the arguments are resonating .”
14 hotelsmag . com December 2018