Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, will debut a new hotel brand to provide style, design and energy at comfortable rates.
Currently referred to as “Project XYZ”, the brand is being developed by the team that created W Hotels, widely regarded as the most successful new hotel brand in decades.
Sharing some of the characteristics of what the industry refers to as select service, XYZ will create a new category leveraging its W lineage and delivering a unique lifestyle experience which has been historically absent at this end of the hotel spectrum. Starwood is unveiled an experiential room to introduce the new brand to select real estate developers attending the New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference. First “XYZ” Hotels scheduled to open in 2007 and more than 500 by 2015
Starwood’s XYZ concept was born of demand by developers looking to build a W-inspired product at a lower price point in cities like Raleigh-Durham, Tampa, Minneapolis, Palo Alto and Cambridge, MA. Even before formally announcing the concept, Starwood has received letters of interest from more than a dozen of the industry’s premier hotel developers to build more than 100 new XYZ hotels. The first XYZ hotels are anticipated to break ground early next year and open in early 2007.
At XYZ, guests will have all the comforts of home, and then some. Each new hotel will feature anywhere from 90-180 loft-like guest rooms designed more like a downtown dwelling one might see in a shelter magazine than the tired décor typical in today’s select service hotel rooms. Guest rooms will incorporate a sense of whimsy with architectural features including oversized windows and cool built-ins offering storage space and housing lighting and sound systems. The centerpiece of the room will be a signature, ultra-comfortable bed for which Starwood’s brands are well known, plus a workspace that exceeds the market in design and function. Large bathrooms will feature oversized walk-in showers and amenities by Bliss Spa.