Articles tagged “sheraton”

Sheraton is trying to accomplish a lot: Win "hearts and minds" of business travelers, revitalize a brand, and grow beyond 450 properties — all while its parent company is preparing to merge with another hotel giant.

Although Starwood is sticking with Sonifi, the nod to DirecTV acknowledges consumers' desire to have a firmer hold on the in-room entertainment experience.

Macau is an example of an emerging meetings destination that will see U.S. market growth on the backs of its U.S. hotel partners like Sheraton and St. Regis, but the challenges are significant due to the region's reputation as the "Las Vegas of the East."

Sheraton is making big changes to what was referred to as a "tired brand" by its interim CEO earlier this year and has since announced a five-year plan to reinvigorate the brand. Though the brand needs reinvention, is a $100 million marketing campaign striking the right balance between the messaging and taking action?

A couple of months following the announcement of the Sheraton 2020 plan, Sheraton launched its latest brand, Sheraton Grand, which is so far comprised of 10 existing hotels. But it remains to be seen what the Sheraton Grand labeling actually means for properties and the guest experience.

Sheraton Hotels is going be embracing local hospitality trends more thoroughly, but can Starwood deliver real change at the hotel level?

Sheraton needs more than a new marketing campaign. Hopefully substantive changes will be part of the plan.

Other hotel brands should copy Sheraton's ideas as a way to attract meetings and conventions and build deeper marketing partnerships with local businesses.

In this day where user-experience triumphs everything, a forward-looking brand like Starwood is doing itself a disservice by forgetting the commonsense 101 on keeping survey friction at minimum, and using the digital tools to make feedback loop easier, not harder.

Will this be the season Draper's agency lands the big airline they've always dreamed of? Travel and design geeks hope "yes."