Marriott International opened its first UK property in Edinburgh in November. Diane Mayer, vice president & global brand manager for Residence Inn, talks about how the hotel is performing and plans to expand the brand in the next few years
The first Residence Inn in the UK opened in Edinburgh in November 2011 – how has the property been performing so far?
As a brand, we are quite pleased with the hotel’s performance. It is ramping up its key performance metrics nicely as the direct sales efforts pay off and it builds awareness in the market. It is running extremely high guest satisfaction scores and getting great feedback from guests. We are optimistic that it will get even stronger as its reputation grows and as the local economic situation improves.
What has been the split between business and leisure guests at the hotel?
The hotel’s occupancy is currently doing about 50% of each - that’s a bit more leisure than the norm for Residence Inn. But this is not entirely surprising – the hotel is in a great location for both business and leisure. It is in a significantly better location for leisure guests (five minutes’ walk to the Royal Mile) than our full-service hotel in the market (which is close to the airport), so that’s one of the reasons it has ramped up strongly in leisure. The hotel also opened in November - the later months of the year tend to see a drop in business travel demand and an increase in leisure demand. The type of business the hotel is specifically designed for is longer stay, and that business takes time to seek out, cultivate and book.
Residence Inn is primarily known as a North American brand. What are your plans for expansion globally?
Edinburgh was our second European property after Munich which opened a month earlier. Currently we have 620 Residence Inns – 616 are in North America with the other two in Costa Rica and Bahrain. Later this year we will be opening another property opening in Saudi Arabia in Jizan on the south-west of the peninsula later this year. There will also be a Residence Inn in Algiers which will be part of a big mixed use project including a Courtyard hotel as well. In the longer term we will be looking at the Middle East and Latin America. One of our most exciting projects is the Residence Inn in New York which will be the tallest hotel in the city – it is currently forecast to open in November 2013.
What about further expansion into Europe?
We think there are a lot of conversion opportunities in Germany and eastern Europe. But in western Europe it’s more challenging to develop because there isn’t so much land although there are opportunities for conversions and the reuse of buildings. But generally it’s more complicated to develop here than in the US, where the majority of our hotels are prototypes rather than conversions or custom built. Edinburgh was a building that was already under construction when we came onboard while Munich was a dual property for both Residence Inn and Courtyard.
How does Residence Inn market itself compared to other Marriott brands?
Residence Inn is a three to four-star brand. Our hotels are geared for a long stay and we have designed the suite with a more residential lifestyle in mind. We class an extended stay as being five or more nights and as a percentage of our overall capacity around 60% of occupied rooms are part of an extended stay. We have lots of properties in the centre of major cities as well as being a bit more upscale and offering a little more space. We also offer free breakfast and free internet as part of the value proposition – it’s part of the residential model, these services are just there for our guests. These are the reasons that make us appeal to leisure as well as business travellers.
How do facilities vary between your properties in the US and elsewhere in the world?
In Europe, there are more restaurants and bar facilities on site because that is what is expected in this market. In the US, a three or four-star hotel would not have a restaurant or bar but that’s not the case in Europe where even two-star hotels are expected to have a bar and restaurant. The layout is also nuanced for each market – for example, the kitchen in Saudi Arabia is hidden away because guests want the kitchen but don’t want it front and centre of the room as it would be in Europe.
www.marriott.co.uk/residence-inn