PHOENIX— Lofty expectations for the hotel industry were the theme of the first full day here at the 11th annual Lodging Conference, which is being held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa. As expected, the majority of the conference’s program speakers and presenters offered up their lofty projections for the hotel business as it continues to grow in strength both from an operating fundamentals perspective and a real estate investment point of view. What was unexpected, however, was the harnessing of the residential real estate concept known as “lofts” by a new hotel brand that burst upon the scene today as well as industry stalwart Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Literally minutes apart, Starwood finally announced that the name of what was formerly known as its Project XYZ upscale select-service lifestyle brand will in fact be “aloft” (see today’s other HotelBusiness.com web story) and the newborn brand was revealed to be NYLO, also an upscale select-service lifestyle brand that will focus on the residential loft concept in a hotel format. The latter of the two brand announcements was made by John Russell, who was formerly the vice chairman of the travel division at Cendant Corp. He will now be the CEO of the new NYLO hotel brand company, which will be based out of Atlanta. Assisting Russell in the creation of NYLO and now acting as the brand’s president is former Starwood Capital and Starwood Hotels and Resorts executive Michael Mueller. Featuring loft accommodations, innovative design and what are promised to be affordable rates, NYLO will be a new-build brand that will focus on non-gateway, secondary markets specifically. It will compete directly with Courtyard and Hilton Garden Inn, according to Russell, who also noted that, ironically, aloft will also now be NYLO’s competitor. NYLO Hotels promise to have a breakthrough urban-loft design with a red brick and glass construction that’s designed to create the appearance of a multi-building streetscape. Inside the hotel, 11-foot-high ceilings will be the standard in all rooms along with oversized windows, exposed brick and polished concrete walls and custom-made furnishings. “Our brand is unique, offering the style and amenities of the world’s leading upscale hotels at midscale rates of $115 to $135 per night,” Russell said. “We’ve redefined the midscale segment of the market with a new generation of hotels featuring loft accommodations that are well priced, boldly-designed, dynamic and fun.” Russell said that he expects there to be more than 50 NYLO Hotels in existence by 2010. He wants the chain to eventually grow into 150 to 200 hotels. The brand will eventually be franchised following a period of time in which NYLO will develop, own and operate the first five or six hotels under the new flag. Also today in the realm of select-service brand announcements, Global Hyatt Corp. shed a little more light on its previously announced Hyatt Place brand, which is being formed out of what will be the former AmeriSuites brand. Hyatt unveiled the room designs for the new entrant in the upper end of the select-service category today and will begin building distribution for the brand by converting the 104 AmeriSuites it either owns outright or manages for third party owners. Forty-two additional AmeriSuites are purely franchised properties. Most are expected to convert to Hyatt Place as well. In the new room model, Hyatt will install upgraded bedding, a 42-inch plasma screen television and what it’s calling a “cozy corner” that features an eight-foot-long sectional couch. Earlier in the day, presentations and panels featuring some of the hotel industry’s top experts provided the evidence for why new brands are all of a sudden being born again. To a person, these experts agreed that at minimum, the hotel industry has another two strong years ahead of it and quite possibly a lot more. New supply is barely existent and construction costs are helping to keep it down, as
John Russell