Sheraton and Westin brands switch focus to lifestyle services

Vincent Ong, director of brand management for Sheraton & Westin in the Asia-Pacific region, said the relationship that consumers now had with the brands was quite different from the experience they had in the past.

“For hotels, they previously divided customers by price. All hotels, however, are very good at doing what they do best, so there is no difference among them in terms of consistency, reliability and safety. But today, consumers have become more discerning and demanding,” he said.

Sheraton is the largest of the nine hotel brands under the Starwood umbrella in terms of the number of properties around the world. The company operates 1,100 hotels, of which 418 are under the Sheraton brand and 190 are Westin properties.

Starwood now sees itself as not living in the world of hotel brands, but in “the universe of brands”, Ong said. 

“At Starwood, we want to connect ourselves continuously with customers. We need to position our brand to make it relevant to their lifestyle,” he added.

The executive said that for Sheraton, the brand had identified its customers as “social travellers”, while for Westin, the hotel brand now regarded its guests as “optimistic and successful professionals who want to renew themselves and look for other people to share their stories with”.

As part of this change of emphasis, the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel & Towers, Bangkok, yesterday spearheaded the launch of “Sheraton Social Hour in the Asia Pacific Region” as part of a global brand-wide premium wine programme developed by Sheraton Hotels & Resorts.

The programme, created by premier wine experts and the brand’s global food and beverage team, offers guests a specially selected menu of premium wines and weekly tasting events at more than 240 participating Sheraton hotels around the globe.

“Our Sheraton customers are people who believe life is better, especially when they spend it together with other people. We are creating social space for those social travellers and facilitating social interaction among our guests,” Ong said.

The Bangkok hotel launched a pilot Sheraton Social Hour programme for three months at the end of last year. Feedback was very positive, he said, adding that nine out of 10 guests said they were very likely to come back and take part in other social events and would recommend the Social Hour programme to their friends.

“We want to create a positioning of Sheraton as the world’s destination offering a great wine experience to travellers. It will help to connect ourselves with social travellers,” he said.

Another Sheraton social programme is “Link@Sheraton”, which is now available at about 90 per cent of the chain’s properties around the world. 

The programme invites guests to come down from their rooms and join with others in the lobby area. 

The hotels also provide computer terminals, flat-screen television sets, international newspapers and magazines that help people connect to their work and family, whether they are travelling for business or for pleasure, Ong said.