ASHBURN, Virginia—You might be surprised when you walk into the SpringHill Suites Ashburn. No wall-length front desk. Soft lighting, lots of textures to check out. The revamp of Marriott International’s select-service, all-suite brand is eye-catching indeed.
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Like the entrance in Marriott’s most contemporary Courtyards, the one in this new SpringHill Suites in suburban Washington, D.C., is inviting, its front desk curvy and human-scale and mere steps from a case containing snacks and drinks for the weary traveler. A little more than two years since SpringHill Suites “Gen4” debuted, this fresh look—still shadowed by the recession—is gaining traction. Launched during November 2007, the downturn set the rollout back. But now there are 38 fresh-look SpringHill Suites open with another eight to debut by year’s end. Another 100 are in the pipeline and brand leader Marsha Scarbrough said franchisees and owners are enthusiastic about the brand.
The SpringHill Suites brand has grown to 261 properties since its launch in November 1998. According to Scarbrough, VP of global management for the brand, the typical per-key construction cost for the new iteration is US$93,000, a US$6,000 increase. She noted 41 percent of the brand’s growth has been in the past three years.
A space for everyone
This hotel in suburban Washington opened last fall; occupancy is “growing,” according to GM Annie Daknes. The hotel is a bit off the beaten track and is the only building with signage in an area slowly evolving into a new, multipurpose city center called One Loudoun.
The multifunctional lobby features two “communal centers” with “soft walls” (beaded curtains) and circular design signatures. The one nearest the entrance is a variation on the conversation pit featuring crescent-shaped sofas, chairs and low tables. The second features a translucent worktable with outlets for laptops and a no-nonsense, business-oriented chair arrangement. Next to it is a dining area where guests can enjoy full, complimentary breakfast. Curtains serve to separate functions and keep noise down.
Working with Callison, an architectural firm in Seattle, Washington, and the New York company Publicis Bos, Marriott used extensive consumer research to develop new colors and feel for SpringHill Suites and “this is what came out of that,” Scarbrough said during a conversation in the more business-oriented communal center.
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“Our goal was to really activate the lobby, getting people to not just stay in the room—even though the rooms are stunning,” she said. “I can’t take credit for any of what it’s like. I can take credit for making decisions on how it’s going to look. “We have 38 hotels like this today and—I hate to use this word—what I see written and hear from people is ‘wow,’” Scarbrough said. “And that’s in a positive light. They also really talk about the design and colors.”
Hallmarks include translucency, airiness, and colors spanning blue, beige, yellow, green and white. Frosted glass softens the guestroom units, too; their key new feature is separate spaces for the multihead shower and the toilet (each area also has a small sink). Working with Kohler Company of Kohler, Wisconsin, Marriott discovered that European-styled arrangement addressed American’s preference not to think about the toilet area.
“We know no one else in this industry, at least in this segment, is doing that,” Scarbrough said. “We see that as a competitive advantage.”
A frosted glass door separates the work and sleep areas, and off the entrance is a corner occupied by an L-shaped sleeper sofa. There’s plenty of functional lighting, along with a 37-inch high-definition television and a focus on flexibility embodied in small, low tables that can be brought together for meals or separated for different applications.
Ramping up the competition
SpringHill’s competitors are the Hilton Garden Inn, Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn brands, Scarbrough said. She didn’t mention Hotel Indigo, but one feature certainly evoked it: backdrops in the breakfast area and behind the front desk. At this 132-room property, these sliding walls were blue and featured bubbles, calling to mind the early version of that InterContinental boutique brand.
“We talked to a lot of consumers, and different colors, different scenes—the blue, the turquoise, the sky—all resonated,” Scarbrough said. “In some of our hotels, they use other outside elements. At (the new SpringHill Suites) in Vero Beach (Florida), the branding behind the desk is a big orange tree because they’re close to orange groves.”
The ambience “has to be organic,” she said. “Not ‘out there’ but something very playful, also. One of the things we wanted was to create an environment people can relax in. Our target market is, ‘I’ve worked hard all day long, I’m in the hotel, I will shut down my computer.’ It’s about relaxing.”
It’s also about tactility. It’s hard to resist touching the beaded, translucent curtains in the lobby or the “modular wall art,” moldings of varying relief affixed to walls, apparently at random. SpringHill Suites would prefer you don’t resist. Go ahead, touch them.