PHOENIX — The goal of IHG Hotels & Resorts' Even Hotels brand has always been to offer a healthier option to travelers, but now in an effort to expand its appeal among both guests and owners, IHG officials are opening the door to a bit more on-property indulgence.
Speaking with Hotel News Now at the 2022 Lodging Conference, Raul Ortiz, vice president of global marketing and brand management for Even, said his team has received guest feedback that many travelers commit to healthy lifestyles and workout routines to allow themselves to make some less-health-conscious choices from time to time, and that's exactly what the brand's new prototype will allow.
"So we had a concept called Cork & Kale that we launched with, which did really well for us, but one of the things we were told that we needed to improve and an insight that we gleaned from our guests was sometimes our guests actually work out and keep in shape so that they can eat," Ortiz said. "They didn't want to necessarily be force fed just better-for-you types of menu options."
He said that broader philosophy underscores the Even brand's new food-and-beverage concept: "Even Kitchen and Bar."
"It pretty much caters to your traditional traveler or the traveler that's looking to maybe indulge a little bit — but also to the guests that are looking for those better options," he said. "Our menu is basically split in half. Half is the crave-able menu, and half is the nourishing menu."
Even's revamped food-and-beverage concept is part of a larger effort to make the brand more owner-friendly, and those efforts also include reimagining the physical asset to bring down costs, Ortiz said.
"At IHG, we tend to focus on the dual bottom line," he said. "It's the bottom line for the guest and making sure we enhance the value equation, and we're just as diligent managing the bottom line and making sure the proposition speaks to owners and it's really driving" return on investment.
He said the Even brand is now cheaper to build than ever, which he hopes will help accelerate brand growth. The company currently has 50 properties in the pipeline across the globe, including a dual-branded property that will include a Staybridge Suites slated to begin construction in San Diego in 2023. The brand had 22 properties with more than 3,000 rooms open and operating as of June 30.
Lower building costs "allow us to enter more markets because it's a four-story building that you can put together on relatively quicker timelines," Ortiz said. "Then a lot of the things we built into the hotel are built around efficiencies. One of the neat things we did with the prototype is we combined the front-desk area with our bar and our food-and-beverage counter."
He said that cuts down on the number of employees needed to run the property.
"That's a big improvement with labor costs through the roof and the continued scarcity of labor, never mind the costs you're willing to pay," Ortiz said.
He said one of the most important parts of that efficiency is the brand has seen "really no drop in service" from a guest's perspective.
He said overall the new prototype was "built in collaboration with four of our bigger owners," which he said helped keep costs in check.
Ortiz said the rollout of the new prototype will be swift, with several already under construction and existing Even properties adopting the new food-and-beverage concept.
Overall, he expects the changes for the brand to be "a game changer," particularly now that Even can appeal to health-conscious travelers and traditional travelers.
"The fact that it's dual appealing to both markets and literally the moment you walk in you're clued into it being something different is what I get most excited about," he said. "And then obviously everything else you just lay in to the experience throughout. I think my team has done a great job of creating a pretty grand first impression for the hotel and making sure people feel almost at home and comfortable in the space."