Face to Face: Phillip Andreopoulos, Marriott
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Marriott recently held its trade show in London to showcase its hotels, destinations and latest technological innovations. Travel Daily spoke to the hotel chain’s Phillip Andreopoulos to find out what is happening at the hotel giant.
Q) Marriott International continues to increase its brands. How is the group now looking?
We now have 18 brands under the Marriott group and this has grown to 20 now that [South African chain] Protea is part of our company. I don’t think we could ever have too many brands as our customers are so diverse and you cannot pocket people into a particular demographic.
MOXY is the newest of our brands and blends business and leisure but at an affordable level.
The public areas in these hotels are accessible and the focus is on an open lobby that guests can use how they like. Few hotel chains are really giving this a go but MOXY will have the scale of this open concept. A lot of MOXY hotels are due to open in a short amount of time, there are six confirmed and other sites being looked at, and there is space in the market for a design-led hotel for the younger demographic.
Q) You also recently launched the EDITION brand. Is there ever a concern that all your brands could be too confusing for customers?
EDITION has a similar ethos to MOXY but of a higher standard. In London the hotel has been very popular particularly its restaurant.
Numerous brands can be confusing but it is our job to differentiate each and show why they are for different types of people so that customers know what they are getting when they arrive at one of our hotels.
Q) There is growth across all your brands though, isn’t there?
Our pipeline for the next few years is looking strong and across various countries and brands.
Protea will certainly give us a lift when the joint venture kicks in today, while we’ve had a few additions to the AC collection but there has been organic growth too.
The Autograph Collection is a group of independent hotels but it is one of our main brands. I think hotel chains are perceived as ‘cookie cutter’ in their approach but AC allows hotels and customers to have that independent experience with a global chain’s standards behind it.
We have twice as many Courtyard hotels than any of our other brands, so the mid-market is actually a huge part of our business.
Q) Where are you looking to grow?
There is certainly an opportunity to grow in Europe and Marriott needs to develop and expand here to change the perception of our group so they are more comfortable with our brands.
In the US all our brands co-exist on the same street and all have a place for our customers, but in Europe people are not so aware of what we do yet.
In 2010 we set a target to double the number of rooms we would have in Europe to 80,000 beds by 2015 which we are on track to do and I think could exceed. We are even opening hotels in places like Macedonia, Russia and Poland.
There is growth everywhere really especially in South East Asia, and in China we are opening a hotel a week such is its scale.
We’re seeing more people head back to the west and east coast of the US and when overseas visitors stay in our hotels over there it helps to spread brand recognition and perception.
Q) Earlier you mentioned a new open lobby concept your hotels are looking to adopt. Can you tell us more about that?
We’re really excited about our ‘great room’ concept for our lobbies. It has come from the understanding that the needs of the business traveller has changed.
More of them are doing their work in a public space or colleagues get together in these spaces and we have to create an area of that.
We are mindful of solo travellers too and even families are using them more particularly the larger ones who might have separate rooms.
These spaces are like living rooms now but obviously larger and we try to take that homely connection too.
We’ll also be looking to move the executive lounges from the higher levels to off the lobbies so the premium customers can feel the buzz of the area too.
Q) Is this also why Marriott does not offer free WiFi in its rooms?
There is free WiFi now in our public areas and paying for internet is the biggest complaint we receive.
We need to tackle this head on which is why we have introduced free WiFi in lobbies for guests.
It is not free throughout as technology moves quickly and lots of the hotels are old infrastructure and/or owned by third parties so it takes time to implement.
It is certainly a hot topic at our company and we think about it a lot.
We are doing all we can to make WiFi free as much as possible moving forward.
Q) What other technology measures are being put in place at Marriott?
Some of our hotels have been trialling online check-in and check-out an that will now be rolled out to all our brands by the end of the year.
The only thing that can slow this process down is the passport check, but otherwise the app and function has made it easier for people to arrive.
Marriot also now has apps where guests can order room service and we are looking at a function where they can guarantee their room location which we hope will solve the problems when people look to book a double, twin or inter-connecting room.
Our Meetings Imagined website has also now launched which is a fantastic tool to pull together inspiration for events and be more creative. Our Amsterdam and Munich hotels have been trialling the system along with a new meetings app and it’s really encouraging to see the results.
Many employees now have less time together and they miss the social element so at conference and meetings it’s up to hotels to create spaces for water cooler moments and the social side.
I think the industry is a way off for keyless entry yet. The trials are limited but there are some security issues and at the moment mobile check-in is the way we’d approach this automated process.
We have to be careful though as it means losing a touchpoint with our customers and we need to retain the same service and deliver personal attention.
Q) Are there going to be any changes to food and drink outlets?
Definitely. Our restaurants and bars need to adapt as the day goes on. Breakfast needs to feel different to dinner and develop the spaces into being more multi-functional.
There is a creation lab underground at our headquarters in the USA where anything goes and there are some really creative concepts and ideas there. Most of them will never come to light but for
F&B they are looking at flip panels or tables that will change the feel of our restaurants.
Hotel F&B had become too focused on breakfast and we want our restaurants to be different, and especially reflect the local neighbourhood with local flavours.
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