HARRISON, New Jersey—Despite stalled growth related to the brand’s launch during the downturn, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s Element by Westin brand is in a development ramp-up period, said executives on Thursday during a grand opening event for the Element Harrison-Newark, which opened 21 August.
The Element Harrison-Newark, owned through a joint venture with Ironstate Development and The Pegasus Group and managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts, is property No. 12 for the brand. The Element Frankfurt Airport—property No. 13—opened 29 August, and the Element Hanover-Lebanon in New Hampshire will open in December.
Nineteen more Element hotels are scheduled to open by 2017. Starwood Hotels’ CEO Frits van Paasschen said the extended-stay brand is attracting strong developer interest because of the success the brand has had thus far.
“When we opened, we saw immediate acceptance and high levels of guest satisfaction and a very quick ramp-up,” van Paasschen said, adding the company is seeing strong demand for the brand outside the United States as well.
Starwood Hotels plans to grow the Element brand in global markets, van Paasschen said. He mentioned planned openings for China in Suzhou, a neighborhood of Shanghai, and in London. While only a handful of global properties have been announced, there are “no areas we are excluding,” said Paige Francis, VP of global marketing for the Aloft, Element and Four Points by Sheraton brands.
When Element launched in 2008, it was considered a new-build concept. However, Francis said it is possible to do a conversion.
“We’re pretty tight on what needs to be incorporated. We won’t compromise on the standards for the brand, but we are certainly looking for existing opportunities to grow the footprint,” Francis said.
Another attractive aspect of the Element brand is its unique offering within the extended-stay segment, Francis said.
“All the hotels that are open really resonate with the traveler. It’s a totally different offering in the extended-stay segment that people have been waiting for,” she said. “We've seen that this is a segment that has had a lot of the same-old, same-old and has been ripe for reinvention for so long.”
Looking ahead
Van Paasschen said the Element brand is a “strong addition” to Starwood’s nine distinct brands because it appeals to developers and guests on a global scale.
“What we find across all of our brands is that if we strike the right chord in something that appeals universally to people, they become geographically relevant to people across the world,” he said.
When looking at Starwood’s pipeline of new-build hotels, roughly 80% of those properties are outside the U.S., van Paasschen said. However, within the last year, development in the U.S. has picked up, and the same goes for the Element brand.
“Today with Element, we’re focused a bit more on North America because of the maturity of the extended-stay concept and the great acceptance of the Element brand and it’s halo effect from Westin,” van Paasschen said.
Francis added that while the brand has announced 19 future openings, there is still “tremendous interest and a lot more we haven’t announced yet and are in the works.”
Starwood has formulated a green development road map that walks developers through how to build an Element hotel appropriately and cost-effectively.
What sets the brand apart
When researching new brand possibilities prior to launching Element, Starwood saw a unique opportunity within the extended-stay segment to couple sustainability and wellness with design, Francis said.
Some of the sustainable initiatives that differentiate Element from other hotel brands are:
- Low-flow water fixtures—from the shower head to the faucets—are estimated to save approximately 1 million gallons of potable water a year;
- each room is equipped with a small kitchen that features all Energy Star-rated appliances;
- toiletries are housed in dispensers rather than the typical plastic bottles;
- all light fixtures use compact fluorescent light bulbs;
- the hotels offer filtered water instead of bottled water; and
- each hotel room features recycling bins for paper, plastic and glass.
Francis said all the sustainability initiatives have been intertwined seamlessly throughout the properties to ensure guest comforts are not sacrificed.
Additionally, Element was the first major hotel brand to mandate that every hotel pursue LEED certification. This means developers must comply with brand standards such as eco-friendly flooring, low-VOC paints on the walls, oversized windows to take advantage of extra light and sustainable roofing materials.
While some brands have to tweak standards in global markets, Francis said Element works from a sustainable standpoint in all markets. For example, in Suzhou, the brand didn’t have to waver on LEED certification, and it also complied with regional requirements.
“Suzhou is a tech city. It's all green. Every building there is following the China star-rating green certification in addition to LEED certification,” she said. “All of the elements and design look exactly like the U.S. properties.”
Editor's note: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide provided airfare and hotel accommodations for one night. Complete editorial control was at the discretion of the Hotel News Now editorial staff; Starwood Hotels had no influence on the coverage provided.