WHITE PLAINS, NY? Plush pillows, high-quality sheets, fluffy duvet covers, sleigh beds. That?s how Starwood Hotels? design team does things. It?s been hard not to notice them. Just look at all the publicity W Hotels? urban chic design has gotten, or Westin?s Heavenly Bed for that matter. Most industry experts agree that the attention is well deserved and say their new designs have shifted the paradigm in hospitality decor? and opened the door for other hotel chains to reconsider their design strategies as well. In an interview with HOTEL BUSINESS?, Richard Martini, senior vp/design and construction for Starwood, let us in on just how the company was able to change the way the industry views the role design plays in today?s hotel environment. ?Starwood is trying to bring its brands to the new millennium with things that reflect the needs and wants of the customer, not what the hotel would like to make it easier for operations,? said Martini, who oversees all design efforts for Sheraton, Westin and W Hotels. While Starwood?s design team is relatively small? only three members are based here including Martini? the results have been big. The other two design gurus include Tiffany Bowling, director of design for Sheraton Hotels, and James Skog, director of design for Westin Hotels, who is a recent addition to Starwood. Another small design team is based in San Francisco, which handles W Hotels design. As of late, Martini and company have been busy coming up with new standard room designs for both the Sheraton and Westin brands that are fresh and versatile enough to work in any market. Yet they also must convey each brand?s identity, not to mention having a broad enough appeal for more than 50,000 owned hotel rooms. One aspect of note in Martini?s design evolution is that local design firms were and are continually used to aid in the creative process, expanding the minds and options of corporate staff members. Many of these firms came up with their own standard room packages which were submitted to Starwood, and then bits and pieces from each were used to make up the final package as put forth by the company last July, according to Martini. But let?s not forget that at Starwood, even the uppermost management gets involved in design. This includes input from Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood Hotels. Sternlicht is described as very hands-on in the creative design process for all of the company?s hotel brands, according to Martini, who said that he updates Sternlicht on design plans weekly. ?It takes a lot of work,? said Martini of the design strategies developed for each Sheraton and Westin. ?We first looked at brand identities and got clear direction, then we had to try to define the brands through design and create a consistency level. But we didn?t want to do anything that was so far out there it would have to be changed every couple of years,? he noted. When the final design schemes for each brand were introduced last summer they were met with great enthusiasm. More than 3,000 Sheraton franchised rooms have already ordered the new standard rooms, according to Martini. Anchoring the Sheraton concept was the idea that the Sheraton customer is traditional and a little older, so the new room design was geared that way, said Martini. For Sheraton, the new standard room consists of rich colors such as deep blue and burgundy mixed with dark wood casegoods including a traditional sleigh bed that could be found in someone?s home. The bed features a custom-designed pillow top mattress. Using rich fabrics and real wood was very important in the rooms, said Martini, who described other chains as being too concerned with making rooms ?bullet proof.? ?Historically, hotels use things such as a plastic laminate top on furnishings, which would help them last longer but were fake and cheap. We wanted to get away from fake stuff. Everything in the rooms is the same quality level or better as what the customers would have in their homes,?
