NEW YORK — “What experience can I have that I can't get anywhere else, and how do I feel about that experience?”
That is how Dana Jacobsohn, chief development officer, North America luxury brands and global mixed-use at Marriott International, describes how the luxury hotel experience is evolving.
It’s not about going into a restaurant with white tablecloths and stuffy service, she said in a video interview at the NYU International Hospitality Investment Forum. It’s about where the food is from and how creative it is.
"Luxury, to me, is how it makes you feel," she said.
Marriott has been leaning in on the luxury hotel space for many years, Jacobsohn said. The way it has accomplished this is by offering strong and compelling brands, across all segments, and having a dedicated luxury team focused on performance, development and owners’ needs. That team is focused on, among other things, design, operations, sales and marketing and food and beverage.
With luxury hotel demand at such a high, Marriott has to offer its customers the product they’re looking for, she said. It also has to offer developers the right opportunities, meaning they are economically feasible. Luxury hotels are generally co-located with a residential component to help the economics of the deal.
“For our customers, we just have to make sure that we're building what they want in the places they want, that we're finding new opportunities, new experiences for our almost 300 million Bonvoy customers,” she said.
Given the difficult development environment, hotel conversions are an important part Marriott’s growth strategy, and that includes luxury properties, Jacobsohn said.
“A conversion is exciting,” she said. “We can take over very quickly, but the key is for a luxury conversion, it has to be in the right location, and we have to find an opportunity where the product meets our luxury brand standards.”
For example, Marriott is converting the Resort at Kapalua Bay to the St. Regis brand following a renovation, she said. The company is operating it now under a white label. Marriott converted another luxury property as well, the Resort at Turtle Bay now associated with the Ritz-Carlton brand. As a conversion project, the properties can enter Marriott’s ecosystem quickly.
New luxury development projects can take years to reach fruition, but what helps keep a luxury hotel relevant is not just what the hotel looks like but how it makes someone feel, Jacobsohn said.
“It’s more how it makes you and I and the customer feel when we show up. That’s true luxury,” she said. “That includes what it looks like, but it’s when you walk into a luxury hotel, what is the scent? Does it remind you of something? Is that nostalgic? Is that a scent that resonates with you?”
It’s about how the wellness activities make a hotel guest feel, whether they feel like they’re taking care of themselves, she said. Another such factor is the community feel of public spaces such as the lobby.
“As we look ahead, we try very hard to be relevant to what is important to the customer at that time and place,” she said.
For more from Marriott's Dana Jacobsohn, watch the video embedded above or listen to the podcast below.