Marriott Signals a W Hotels Refresh Finally Under Way

Early Check-In

Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.

Learn More

With every hotel company trying to get a foothold in the lifestyle hotel space, one of the original players is out to show it can still be relevant.

The nearly 60-hotel W Hotels brand is part of the foundation to today's lifestyle hotel segment, hotels that focus on food and beverage offerings more than the average property. The brand, originated by Barry Sternlicht and eventually folded into Marriott International because of its 2016 Starwood Hotels & Resorts takeover, was known for lobbies — labeled the “living room” — and bars and nightclubs that were the pinnacle of the see-and-be-seen crowd. 

W was the hotel industry’s uber-cool sibling of the late 90s and early 2000s. But there’s a problem with being the uber-cool sibling. Younger siblings often come along and snatch away all the attention.

Accor has been the most bullish in its push into lifestyle hotels, through a mix of its own brands like SLS and Mondrian and now partnered brands like The Hoxton and Gleneagles under an Ennismore joint venture. IHG Hotels & Resorts competes in the space with brands like Kimpton — viewed as the originator of the lifestyle sector’s predecessor: boutique hotels — and Hyatt has brands like Thompson Hotels and Andaz. 

W even competes for attention within its own brand family, as Marriott has added others like Edition — the brainchild of a partnership between Marriott and hotel and nightlife legend Ian Schrager. The buzz around Edition can sound awfully like W's from 20 years ago.

Many younger brands across a variety of hotel companies ate away at the attentio