- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
Comments (2)
Print
Save/Share
[+] Enlarge photo
Aloft hotels will open later this year in Minneapolis, Minn.; Chicago O’Hare, Ill.; Philadelphia Airport, Pa.; Lexington, Mass.; Ontario/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Rogers/Bentonville, Ark.; and Beijing, China, according to the Montreal press release.
I got the inside scoop on the Aloft concept back in 2007, when I chatted with Ross Klein, then president of Starwood’s Luxury Brand Group (he just jumped ship to Hilton)…
Klein credited guests of the company’s W hotels with the inspiration for Aloft. “We do a lot of events, and one of the things that kept coming up each year was ‘I live in X city and I know we’re not really big enough to have a W, but it sure would be fun,’” he said.
Seeing an opening, Klein said the company set out to combine the hipness of W with lower room rates and a different location strategy. Most Aloft properties will be near corporate or college campuses, at airports, or slightly removed from major cities and tourist attractions. Instead of Boston, for instance, an Aloft will open in Lexington, Mass., this summer.
Aloft hopes to attract W loyalists as well as point-to-point travelers looking for a more appealing place to stop for the night. “The landscape for roadside hotels was very polyester, very fluorescent, and anti-social,” said Klein. “Those things we heard from our guests were very anti-W, which is social, uses lots of natural materials, and has room products that are residential and have lots of personality.”
To test the products for Aloft, the company went so far as to build two sample rooms and public spaces in a huge warehouse in Hawthorne, N.Y., where they experimented with layout, lighting, finishes, and music.
The results: rooms with nine-foot ceilings, large windows, and platform beds, and a living-room-like lobby (complete with a pool table) that encourages hanging out. You can also expect hotel-wide Wi-Fi, a pool, a bar, and a 24-hour snack area. “We’re hoping to make memories along the way and make the select-serve hotel category memorable versus forgettable,” said Klein.
MORE HIP HOTELS
InterContinental’s Indigo and NYLO, whose first property opened in Plano, Tex., are two more chains catering to a style-conscious clientele. Read Brand News for details.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.
The best place to stay in Montreal is The Meridian.
Posted By Mrs. Martin on November 12, 2008, 10:55 PM
Thx for this article. Very good.
Posted By tanie odżywki on February 17, 2011, 3:32 PM