April 30, 2015 by CallisonRTKL

Three-Star Cool

When I was very young, my parents would take my two older brothers, my younger sister and me on a two-hour car ride to visit friends in Memphis, Tennessee, and we would always stay at the Admiral Benbow Inn. Wow, what fun! This was the coolest place. There was a pool with a slide where all the kids hung out, and my siblings and I spent many an hour making good use of it—splashing, sliding, letting all our worries fall away (oh, I had so many worries back then).

But the Admiral Benbow Inn was just an inexpensive, suburban, family-friendly hotel that allowed my family to travel without paying a fortune for accommodations. The rooms were standard motel fare: three-story walk-up exterior hallways, through-wall air conditioning units, quilted bedspreads…and, well, you get the picture. That worked for them, and it worked for us. Affordability with playfulness built in.

I’ve since grown out of pool slides, but I still look for a unique experience paired with affordability. Doesn’t that seem natural? The amazing thing is that this very basic tenant of marketability has increasingly been overlooked by three-star hotels, also known as the “select service” segment. They chose to forego activities and amenities that would render a guest stay memorable in favor of a “you’ll always know what you’re getting when you stay here” mentality, which translated to an easily replicable formula implemented across the industry, no matter what the locale.

It seems lacking in flavor, but this formulaic approach was conceived through an extensive prototyping of design and operations that was, and is still, mind you, what makes this product type so profitable. A simple, easy-to-run operation that delivers a reliable outcome. Sounds like a winner, and it has been: the three-star hotel has delivered top results in the segment for over 25 years since select service hotels were first launched by Marriott and Hilton.

But the world knows that when you stay at a budget hotel to save a few bucks, you’re usually sacrificing the coolness factor—the coolness factor that translates into a rich experience. The coolness factor that can be changed on a daily, weekly or seasonal basis. The coolness factor that is designed with locale and authenticity in mind. The coolness factor that can align itself with the interests of the target market demographic, like music or fashion. Why does the experience have to suffer? After all, if a public area is designed to be inviting, guests will gather and mingle, work and socialize there, making the space vibrant.

Fortunately, a new brand of three-star hotels is injecting the coolness factor back into the affordable hotel stay. What I like to call the “three-star cool” brands—like AC Hotels by Marriott, the joint venture between Antonio Catalan’s AC Hotel brand in Spain and Marriott for the North American market, EVEN Hotels from IHG with its emphasis on health and wellness, and citizenM, which is just plain cool—are upping the ante for a prototype that was once boring and expected.

Guestrooms may still maintain a prototypical arrangement and feel, but a new focus on the social spaces—the lobby, the bar, the lounge, the meeting spaces—helps deliver an experience to those travelers looking for more than just a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in. For instance, F&B (food and beverage) has been replaced with B&F, with cocktails before and after the dinner hour. This creates new revenue sources that, in conjunction with an efficient set-up of guestroom massing and public area arrangements, has the potential to drive the select service model to new heights. As architects and designers, we understand that the way that these spaces are designed can make or break the coolness factor, which is the driving force behind social interaction and increased revenue.

Ultimately the goal has been achieved when all of these stars align. These brands are offering an exciting experience, generating revenue from spaces previously lost and doing it all in an affordable envelope: three-star and cool!

Maybe the Admiral Benbow Inn was cool after all.

Image via Steve Diggs

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CallisonRTKL

For more than five decades, Callison and RTKL have created some of the world’s most memorable and successful environments for developers, retailers, investors, institutions and public entities. In 2015, our two practices came together under the Arcadis umbrella, expanding our sphere of influence and the depth and breadth of our resources. Our team is comprised of nearly 2,000 creative, innovative professionals throughout the world who are committed to advancing our client’s businesses and enhancing quality of life.