Marriott to turn lobbies into "great rooms"

NEW YORK — After having modernized its rooms and overhauled its bedding, Marriott International plans to abandon traditional notions of the lobby as it retools the hotel chain in pursuit of more sophisticated comfort.

Speaking at the company's annual media open house, executives from the hotel operator detailed plans to transform their full-service hotel lobbies into "great rooms," mixing work, relaxation and socializing in one place, without formal boundaries.

"If you look at the hotel and see the way we do business, with a front desk and a bell stand and a concierge desk, and a gift shop and a business center, and lobby and lounge and restaurant — there's really a much better way to do it," said Michael E. Jannini, executive vice president of brand management for Marriott, which manages hotels for their owners. "So we're blowing the whole thing up."

Marriott's move away from conservative consistency is part of the changes sweeping the hotel industry, which was largely caught off-guard by the rise in the late 1990s of boutique hotels, with their ultramodern lobbies and furnishings by leading interior designers. The boutique-hotel offerings cut into the bottom lines of big chains, which scrambled to catch up.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which owns and operates Sheraton and Westin hotels, opened the chic W Hotel in 1998, with lounge music blaring throughout open spaces designed in cool, earthy tones by architect David Rockwell. The W Hotel brand, which has more than 20 locations including Seattle, also packed its rooms with hip furniture and expensive bedding, a move then matched by larger hotel chains, including Marriott. Guests have enjoyed the furnishings so much, some are buying them for their homes.

Now the focus for hotel chains is on lobbies. Last week, Starwood and Yahoo launched an initiative called Yahoo Link at Sheraton. Guests enter the lobby and drift into a communal lounge area with comfortable furnishings, a plasma-screen TV, refreshments, and multiple Internet-enabled workstations with wireless and printing access. A special Yahoo Web site provides guests with quick access to local information and attractions. The feature debuted at Sheratons in San Diego and Boston.

In collaboration with Palo Alto, Calif., design firm Ideo, which says it designs environments and experiences, Marriott executives said they are taking lobby innovation even further, intending to be an industry leader. Though the executives were not particularly loquacious when describing how the great rooms will look, they said the traditional lobby would be replaced by free-flowing spaces: a welcome zone with new ways of checking in, incorporating high-tech information access and personalized services; an individual zone with cubbies and perches; a social zone with intimate tables for quiet meetings or a glass of wine (or both); and a business zone with a multifunctional boardroom.

"This is such valuable real estate, where people want to be alone but in the presence of other people," Jannini said, noting that the chain's hotel guests typically went to Starbucks for a similar experience.

Now Marriott hopes to keep guests in one place, spending money on drinks, gourmet food and other services. Marriott officials think the opportunity for increased revenue and potentially higher room rates will be enough to persuade property owners to spend money on upgrades.

The property owners can decline to make such changes, but competition among hotel companies encourages everyone to stay fresh. In new hotels, Jannini said, the changes would increase lobby design and construction costs by 15 percent.

One traveler here last week said that such design was fine with him, as long as he could quickly find where to check in.

"It sounds cool," said Brad Rau, 34, a jewelry buyer from Minneapolis who comes to New York about six times a year, "but sometimes when you go into the W, there are so many people walking around in the lobby, you can't figure out who works there and where you have to go to just check in."

Jannini said that three or four years ago, the company began hearing from guests that the chain "needed to dial up the style and fashion."

"We were told we were a logical choice, but not a loved choice," Jannini said. "That we were a rational brand, but not one that people felt was an emotional part of their lives."