Skift Take
The relationship between brands and individual property owners is a balancing act; one in which hotel groups seek the benefits that come from brand awareness without the work of day-to-day upkeep. Hilton’s seem to have found one solution to managing brand standards with a hands-off approach.
Hilton’s extended-stay brand Homewood Suites wanted older brands to upgrade their facilities and feature a fresher design, but that’s a difficult desire to push when individual property owners shoulder the cost. To encourage owners to go ahead with the needed upgrades, Homewood Suites launched the Take Flight initiative.
Take Flight is a package of design innovations retrofit for mature — read “old” – Homewood Suites properties and priced low for owners.
Bill Duncan, Global Head of Brand Management at Homewood Suites says, “The program itself addresses key areas for enhancement that not only have the most visual impact, but also the highest impact on guests’ needs. The program focuses on three key zones: the connect zone, the dining zone and the lounge zone.
Just five of Homewood Suites’ 322 properties have started to implement the Take Flight enhancements so far, but Duncan expects more to begin the process in the coming months.
The Homewood Suites in Memphis, Tennessee was first to undergo the upgrades. The owners opted to complete the full set of optimizations, which took approximately 120 days to complete from start to finish. The total cost will vary from between properties based on when they were built and how many upgrades they plan to implement.
Click through the slideshow above to see images of the Homewood Suites in Memphis before and after the Take Flight enhancements.
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Tags: design, hilton, homewood suites
Photo credit: The renovated guest room features a lighter color scheme, less wood furniture, and a larger media center. Homewood Suites by Hilton