Customer insight has informed a lot of your business programs.
We spent a lot of time fixing the bricks and mortar and bringing the physical hotels to a higher standard, but we also went deep in understanding our guests and what mattered most to them when they traveled. And by doing that we were able to create new Sheraton standards. The key insight that we learned was that when you’re traveling, you want to feel like you belong where you’re staying and you want to feel like you have the ability to stay connected to those things that matter most to you. So we took this insight and created something unique in our lobby. We built a social hub called “Link@Sheraton experienced with Microsoft.†It changed how guests use our lobbies, whether you wanted to socialize online or with your colleagues and friends face-to-face, or be alone but not lonely. We found guests coming out of their rooms enjoying our public space. More than 50% of our guests use our link at some point during their stay, and when they do they’re happier and it develops more loyalty.
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about developing and maintaining a brand?
Some of those innovations are right in front of you. All you have to do is look. Who would have thought back in 1999 that creating a new bed would revolutionize the industry? When Starwood developed the Heavenly Bed for the Westin brand, it was the first all-white bed with a high thread count sheet ensemble. It changed how people focused on beds and it was the first bed that really made an emotional connection with our guests. The [unspoken fear] in the hospitality industry is that the bed isn’t clean. The Heavenly Bed changed all that. It changed the whole experience. All of a sudden the Westin brand took off and created a trend that virtually every brand in the world has copied. BE