Irvine Marriott spent about $5 million to hit the restart button on its lobby and lounge area in a project aimed at attracting the next generation of travelers staying at the hotel or just visiting.
It’s a move “to get closer to what our guests are choosing, not an experience we told them they should have,” said General Manager Scott McCoy.
The move also involves turning hotel common areas into neighborhood meeting spots.
McCoy is himself relatively new at the property, having joined the team in June from the 500-room Renaissance Hotel Los Angeles Airport, where he was general manager.
The 485-room Ir-vine Marriott’s lobby and Floe Lounge redesign project will be followed in a couple of months with the completion of a redone swimming pool area and a summer start on a refresh of its 27,000 square feet of meeting room space. The hotel plans to spend $12 million to $13 million in total on the three-year repositioning that began last year.
McCoy said demand is expected to rise after the projects are completed, which could support a rate increase. Rates are already on the rise, he said.
The meeting space improvements include new carpeting and the elimination of busy patterns and heavy drapery, McCoy said.
Irvine Marriott gets a steady flow of meetings business, welcoming about 500 events annually. About 15 of those events attract about 600 participants apiece.
The bulk of hotel guests—about 40%—are business travelers generally staying overnight Tuesday through Thursday. About 29% are part of a group with an event at the Marriott. Another 20% are leisure travelers, and the rest are a hybrid of business and leisure.
The Catalina Room meeting area just off the bar and lounge shows the direction the rest of the meeting space will take, although the 2,650-square-foot area is for guests who typically are younger.
It features soft seating for meeting participants to use as their own networking space, McCoy said.
The guest room redos, which start next year, will add hardwood floors and mounted TVs. The project will also include retrofits allowing guests to use their smartphones to control the Internet, movies and music on TV.
“Technology isn’t for the sake of technology,” McCoy said. “No one is thinking about, ‘I’m going online.’ It’s part of what I do now.”
“Travel Brilliantly”
All of the changes are part of the game plan for Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott International Inc.’s namesake brand under a campaign called “Travel Brilliantly,” which launched last year. The campaign focuses on technology set in a contemporary setting that offers guests options for how they want to relax or network.
In the past, McCoy explained, a Starbucks outlet and restaurants were independent entities on the first floor of a hotel, typically separated from each other by a concourse. The two sides lacked a shared “vibe” that worked for both leisure and business guests, who Marriott sees as one in the same.
A great room greets visitors as they enter the lobby, followed by the Floe Lounge with its varied seating types. There are tables with place settings for guests who want full table service; areas for single guests wanting to work on laptops or other solitary activities; communal tables with games; “cocktail
cubbies” or booth seating, each with its own TV; and still more private seating farther back.
“We’ve designed spaces where you can self-select how you want to use those spaces based on what your need is, the vibe you’re looking for and choosing,” McCoy said.
There’s also an alcove with modular units that open to create a stage with surround seating. The rest of the Floe Lounge tables and chairs also face the stage area, where local musicians play Tuesdays and Thursdays, a feature added after the redesign.
Emerging artists are invited to play, emerging defined as someone with 10,000 to 20,000 views on YouTube.
The bar has topic cards with games designed to prompt conversation.
“You see that in a lot of restaurants,” McCoy said, “but we wanted to make sure that you felt like you were part of the local restaurant scene and not necessarily in a hotel.”
An outside patio area got new fire pits and furniture and will eventually feature an herb garden that’s currently growing.
All of this helps with a citywide marketing effort to bring more leisure traffic into Irvine. The effort is being spearheaded by tourism marketing organization Destination Irvine, which is playing up the city’s restaurants, hotels and outdoor activities to visitors.
Downtown Feel
McCoy said Irvine’s leisure offerings, along with John Wayne Airport and the aggregate of companies headquartered in the city, create a downtown feel he hopes the Irvine Marriott can be the center of.
McCoy said the hotel has already seen an uptick in locals coming to the bar and restaurant from offices and homes within walking distance of the property.
And he said creating a neighborhood scene or community watering hole in what was previously just an area to check in, check out or wait for a ride back to the airport is at the heart of the Irvine Marriott redo and the “Travel Brilliantly” campaign.
“The end game is recognizing that we need to provide a platform to experience your locale versus providing a sleeping room. The emerging guest is experiencing spaces differently.”
It used to be that guests considered a hair dryer and a coffee maker value-add items. Those aren’t necessarily important to the new generation of travelers, McCoy said.
“As that emerging customer is coming, they’re not going to sit miserably in their room. A high-energy scene is desirable. You want to be connected in a way that’s dynamic.”
