The Suite Life

The Chicago Tribune recently reported that hotels in the Windy City are stepping up their high-tech amenities in an effort to make guests feel more at home. While the general consensus is that nothing is as important as impeccable service when it comes to a hotel experience, it can’t hurt to lavish guests with high-tech amenities to accompany the custom pillows and service. In a world where people are plugged in to some sort of device almost constantly, hotels are reaching out to high-tech lifestyles who live in a luxuriously gadgety world.

The Hard Rock Hotel Chicago is installing HDTV’s into every guest room, while The Peninsula is upgraded cell-phone coverage and many area hotels are succumbing to the almost now standard amenity of free wireless internet.

Many Chicago hotels are also offering video game consoles, more accessible outlets, and in-room laptop storage safes in addition to the giant plasma TV’s and entertainment systems.

When you mix luxury with high-tech you can lay in your turned-down, fluffy bed, watching your HDTV, while your ipod charges in the alarm dock next to you, all while a concierge happily arranges for the phone charge your forgot to be replaced and dropped at your hotel room door. It’s virtual hotel bliss.

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Houston is becoming the place for young hip travelers as three well known hotel chains each launch their newest lifestyle brands with a Houston property.

Hyatt’s Hyatt Place, Starwood’s aloft and Choice Hotels’ Cambria Suites are each opening a property in Houston, with the Hyatt property recently opened, and the other two having already begun construction.

What is unique about the sudden presence of these three new properties is that they all speak to a new generation of travelers. Combining well-thought, modern design, lots of high-end technology, and a friendly atmosphere, each of the hotels departs from the traditional formal hotel atmosphere.

The price is also lower than luxury hotels (rooms under $200 per night) because they don’t have the same full–service amenities of other hotels. But for guests who don’t plan on spending their trip inside the hotel, at the spa, or in the hotel restaurant (which these new brands don’t have), it is a perfect blend of service and comfort without the extra cost of unnecessary amenities.

While Hyatt Place was the first to open and currently operates 109 properties, Starwood is close behind with 75 hotels planned for the coming year and they are all following the same basic blueprint. Creative design environment and high-tech atmosphere are two of the most important aspects of this new “lifestyle” hotel, that lets guests lead their own lives (self check-in, TV on demand, etc), while still offering luxury service in a relaxed environment.
While the place of these lifestyle hotels within the industry is still unsure, Houston takes center stage as it plays guinea pig to the soon to be competing new brands.

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By Sarah Ziering for Perfect Escapes

Hyatt’s Hyatt Place brand is quickly growing in popularity as a lifestyle hotel that offers casual yet attentive hospitality and all the technological convenience to stay in touch with work or to zone out after a long day of meetings. And Hyatt Place’s newest gadget, the Hyatt Plug Panel, is sure to convert those who have yet to join this modern technological oasis.

A 42” HDTV flat screen is already in each guestroom but now the Plug Panel will allow every guest to plug in their media devices to the television, be it mp3 player, laptop, and basically anything that comes with a chord.  Guests can go about their usual gadget-using business, but in 42″ wide screen. And, if they forget those pesky chords, some are available for purchase in the hotel.

Giving guests control over their evening by making it easier to plug in and chill out, Hyatt Place finds a balance for guests who want access to it all, but also want to be left alone. Other high tech amenities include a touch screen menu in the 24-hour Guest Kitchen, complimentary Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, and ergonomic work stations.

With an increasing demand by frequent travelers for technology and more amenities, hotel brands are finding ways to keep their guests plugged in while still maintaining the calm escape of a luxury hotel. Hyatt’s Hyatt Place has turned this idea into reality fairly quickly, and with over 120 Hyatt Place hotels open by the first quarter of 2008, this comfortable yet functional theme is definitely one worth adopting.

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By Sarah Ziering for Perfect Escapes

Layovers happen for many reasons, some planned and some, unfortunately, not , leaving many luxury travelers struggling to find a place to rest that doesn’t include a hard plastic bench giving off a not so faint smell of old French fries.

Luckily, airport hotels are responding to the demand for more luxurious accommodations and are slowly regaining the trust of frequent travelers who had long given up on the bare-bones offerings. Airport hotels are quickly gaining speed behind luxury hotels with drastic facelifts in everything from design and service, to amenities and food offerings. Services at these air-resorts include spa and fitness centers, pools and gardens, a choice of restaurants and bars, and A-list designer room motifs.

Acting more like resorts than quick sleeping solutions, the new and improved airport hotels are treating guests with the same high quality attention that they are receiving on their business class flights. Hotels are now catching up to ensure the luxury experience continues once travelers are off the plane and until they get back on. Sofitel’s newest location in the Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 will connect to British Airways. Grand Hyatt brings European culture and high-end technology to a massive complex in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Getting a good night’s rest has grown to include things such as pillow-top mattresses, flat-screen TV’s, spas and attentive service, which were once reserved for top destination resorts far from the airport terminal. Now travelers can rest easy knowing that all of these luxuries are available to them right outside the jetway door.

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By Sarah Ziering for Perfect Escapes

While the luxury hotel market is holding strong, smart hoteliers are looking towards the future of the industry, and that has been identified as Generations X and Y.

Many major hotel chains are creating new brands catering to a younger generation of guests hoping that “lifestyle brands” will compliment the modern, savvy, relaxed attitude of younger generations enough to penetrate their often jaded minds. While most of the hotel chains have been slow to actually embark on this new idea, some chains such as Hyatt are quickly reforming their hotels and will have some of their new Hyatt Place properties open to guests by the end of the year.

Other brands including Starwood Aloft, Nylo Hotels, and Choice Hotels all have new hotels planned but have been slow to realize their intentions. What these hotels will feature that speaks to a younger travel sector is not quite clear, but I’m sure we can expect a high level of technology, hip lounges, and that always desirable “cool” factor, which is often only achievable when members of Generations X and Y decide for themselves what the “it” item of the moment is, and that honor is an increasingly tough battle to win these days.

So it remains to be seen if these new hotels will be embraced by a new generation, or if they will drag down an age-divided hotel industry, rupturing what has recently been very strong profits, in an attempt to catch this growing population of travelers. In the meantime, spend some time at one of these hip hotels, and experience some X and Y Generation “cool” for yourself.

Gansevoort South - South Beach, Miami, FL

Gramercy Park Hotel - New York City

Hotel Sax - Chicago, IL

Viceroy - Palm Springs

Hotel Solamar - San Diego, CA

Vincci South Beach- Miami, FL

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