Skift Q&A: How JW Marriott Is Targeting the Accomplished Traveler
Photo Credit: Mitzi Gaskins, JW Marriott's global brand manager. JW Marriott
Skift Take
Some may consider JW Marriott a bit stodgy, but the luxury brand knows what it is and who its guests are, and it is busy curating experiences to win their passions. With only 63 hotels currently, and another 35 on the way, JW Marriott must be doing something right.
Luxury brand JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts is all about attracting "Accomplished" travelers, and exercising their "passion points," which global brand manager Mitzi Gaskins describes as "culture, culinary and wellness."
To execute on these goals, JW has partnered with the likes of the Joffrey Ballet and Christies, and is in the midst of redesigning spas and curating in-hotel experiences to make things both more accessible and customized at the same time. Skift caught up with Mitzi Gaskins to discuss trends at JW Marriott, and excerpts from the interview follow:
Skift: What’s keeping you busy these days? What are some of the big brand initiatives that you are working on for 2014?
Mitzi Gaskins: Probably the biggest thing that keeps us busy right now, outside of the brand initiatives, is our growth. We have 35 hotels in our pipeline with 63 existing hotels. When you are opening that many hotels we are doing a lot of design reviews and just getting these hotels ready so the
