Westin is positioning itself as the hotel to stay at for wellness.
In May Brian Povinelli started as global brand leader for Westin Hotels and Resorts, a brand of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, White Plains, New York. Povinelli is leading the brand’s evolution into a hotel for wellness, whether that be physical fitness or a good meal.
Povinelli’s background includes working in Reebok’s global marketing division before starting at Starwood in 2006 to work on the revitalization of the Sheraton brand. HOTELS Magazine recently talked with Povinelli to find out more about his plans for Westin.
HOTELS Magazine: Why is wellness important to you and Westin?
Brian Povinelli: From a brand standpoint, the brand has always stood for well-being, renewal. The underlying premise was always around ensuring our guests leave Westin feeling better than they arrive. Really, where macro trends are in the world today, there’s wellness as a macro trend. We can bring this to life with many ways, such as sleeping well on our Heavenly Mattress.
If guests want to opt in and have healthy choices on the menu they can, too.
With the Westin workout, we were an innovator there. We’re doing a lot there in a partnership with New Balance in our fitness centers. We’re going through a complete renovation of them into more of a fitness studio environment and less of an industrial gym.
We learned the key pain point in travel, that if I want to work out when I’m on the road, I have to take a larger suitcase and get charged extra by airlines. So we’ve set up a program where we can provide athletic shoes at the hotel.
HOTELS: Why does Westin think wellness is an important part of travel when the tendency is to splurge on vacation?
Povinelli: We’re being very conscious about what we want to do. We want to provide people the opportunity across multiple touchpoints such as food, sleep and fitness to opt into wellness as they want to. The brand’s view is that sometimes promoting well-being can mean indulgence. A glass of red wine, a steak, those can be how you get wellness one day, but here you’ll have the chance to run five miles the next day.
HOTELS: Could you give me some more details on the wellness campaign for employees?
Povinelli: We’re doing quite a bit there and it really stems off of our core pillar, whether it’s the Heavenly Bed or Superfoods Rx menu. It’s important that not only our employees understand the value there and the benefit for the guest but they benefit from it themselves, as well, to make sure the hotel team is engaging with the guests personally and that we’re giving them the opportunity to do that. The more the employees know it and live it, the more they can bring that for the guests.
HOTELS: What is the theme of the new ad campaign Westin is planning?
Povinelli: The theme is Westin “For a Better You.” Everything we do is through the lens of making our guest better or giving them the opportunity to better themselves.
A lot of hotels give the usual picture of a bed or a picture of front desk in their marketing. We’ve taken a very stylized approach with a really great photographer. It’s all about reinforcing the idea of supporting our guests’ well-being for a better you.
HOTELS: What plans for growth does Westin have?
Povinelli: We’re at approximately 183 hotels globally today. In 2011 we’re opening 13 hotels. As of right now there could be a conversion or two that adds to that and we have the same growth plan for next year. If all goes to plan we’ll be over 200 hotels globally by the end of next year. Our key growth is in the Asia-Pacific region, that’s where the bulk of the pipeline is going. We did double our portfolio in Latin America, but that’s going from four to nine. In Asia and Latin America, most of the new hotels are new builds. In North America and Europe it’s more conversions, that’s just what the environment is now.
HOTELS: What development opportunities do you see for North America?
Povinelli: It still is a mix, we’re certainly seeing more conversion opportunities. We opened two new builds this year, one in Phoenix, one in Houston and over the next 24 months, we have five new builds.
So we’re probably seeing a slight uptick in new build opportunities, but at least in North America it’s more heavily weighted to conversions for now.
HOTELS: Coming on-board as global brand leader, what do you think are the Westin brand’s strengths and weaknesses?
Povinelli: I think one of the strengths is the brand new bed because at the end of the day it’s all about sleep, so let’s give the guest the best sleep experience possible.
The consistency across the globe is a real strength. I think the history of innovation, really the Westin workout really reinvented what a workout at a hotel can be and with the Heavenly Bed, Heavenly Shower, the service you’re getting is that luxury quality. Those are our key strengths.
If I had to identify a weakness, it’s that we’re growing but we’re only at 200 hotels. We can’t keep up with demand from guests to be in all the locations they want to be.
HOTELS: In addition to wellness, how is the brand evolving? Is there a next generation prototype for Westin?
Povinelli: I wouldn’t saw we’re looking to do a whole overhaul à la “hotel of the future” with the Westin brand. It’s more keeping up with the demands of today’s traveler. Just to make sure we’re providing the spaces and services.
How do we simplify it for our guests? That’s an important question for us. Nobody wants it to be difficult. With the airlines there’s enough difficulty and when you get to the hotel, it should be a respite from the difficulties of travel.
We’re rolling out new things in the lobby and with food and beverage, those are the biggest things we’ll be looking at over the next two years.
HOTELS: How is the Westin brand currently performing?
Povinelli: I can say is we’re having a strong year. Occupancy and ADR are both up year-on-year and we are gaining share so far this year. Occupancy-wise, globally we’re at about 70%, which is close to where we were at before the recession. That’s kind of the benchmark people are looking at.
With our average daily rate, we’re up double digits, although even so we are not back to where we were pre-recession.
