As about 800 general managers of Marriott hotels around the world gathered here last week, the message they received from their corporate bosses was clear: To retain its position as the world's largest hotel company, Bethesda-based Marriott International Inc. must adopt better design, more exotic amenities, tastier food and more comfortable beds in its 2,600 hotels worldwide.

Marriott has a fusty, plain-vanilla image that has to change, senior executives of the company say. Their hotels, which include the brands Marriott, Renaissance, Courtyard, Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn, must be more than adequate places to sleep when on a business trip to Des Moines, but fun places to spend a few days, they say. To make it happen, they will have to persuade a network of independent owners and franchisees of Marriott hotels to invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade.

Marriott's emphasis on improving the aesthetic experience for guests is part of a shift in how hotels fight for the business of a generation of travelers who demand sophisticated wine list and high-thread-count sheets in addition to a competitive price.

"Location is still very important, and rates are still very important," said J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr., chairman of Marriott International Inc. "But the younger travelers coming care more about having a pleasurable experience than people used to. They expect all this stuff, so we have to provide it."

To some degree, Marriott is playing catch-up with competitors such as Westin, which introduced a higher-quality bed and emphasized design in 1999. Other major competitors such as Hilton and Hyatt have similar strategies.

Marriott's plan translates into a new design for hotel rooms, announced last week, which include rich shades of red and yellow, furniture made of cherry, and bathroom finishes made of glass and chrome.

The centerpiece of the room is an upgraded bed with 300-thread-count sheets (as opposed to the current 180), white duvet covers that are laundered between guests (old-style bedspreads were cleaned only once a month), and an extra pillow on each bed. The beds represent an investment of $190 million across 2,400 hotels, to be completed this year, part of a thread-count race among hoteliers that began with Westin's "Heavenly Bed" campaign six years ago.

The stakes for Marriott are huge. The company is coming off a strong year financially; revenue per available room in its properties worldwide, a key measure of hotels' operating performance, rose 9.6 percent in 2004. But the long-term outlook is less clear.

Marriott manages or franchises the vast majority of its hotels, and owns very few of them. That means that its future rests on hotel owners who consider its brand name to be strong enough to warrant stiff management and franchise fees.

In recent years, that brand image has slid a bit, according to Marriott internal research presented to general managers last week. Thirty-one percent of travelers said they view Marriott as their first-choice hotel brand last year, more than any other chain. But that's down from 36 percent in 1999, largely to the benefit of of No. 2 brand Hilton.

Competitors such as Starwood and Hilton could have an advantage over Marriott in upgrading rooms because they own a larger proportion of their properties, so they don't need to persuade other owners or franchisees to pay for the investment.

"It's a lot easier to make these kinds of large investments if you own your properties," said Chekitan S. Dev, a marketing professor in Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

Some larger owners of Marriott hotels, who were consulted in the room design, are ready to sign up. "The customer is much more attuned to design and functionality than five or seven years ago," said Christopher J. Nassetta, chief executive of Host Marriott Corp., a real estate investment trust that owns 107 properties under various brand names and plans to upgrade 15 to 20 percent of its rooms each year.

"The better design, greater functionality, more modern look, more customized approach to the room, these are all things the customer is demanding," Nassetta said.

Smaller owners, especially the franchisees who make up much of the ownership of limited-service brands such as Courtyard and Residence Inn, are less certain.

"I've got to believe that all this money everybody is going to spend on beds is going to make people more comfortable," said Michael M. Dickens, president of Hospitality Partners, a District-based manager of 15 hotels, six of them franchises under Marriott brands. "But will we recover those dollars in higher rates? It's hard to tell." He said he thinks Marriott has done a better job than others of analyzing the likely return on investment in improvements.

Upgrades can be a hassle for hotel operators. Jenny Botero, resident manager of the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, said the hotel will phase in the new sheets, duvet covers and bedding so maids and laundry workers can become familiar with the new bedding.

Officials of the local hotel-workers union argue that the room upgrades Marriott and other chains are undertaking create more work for housekeepers, for which they should be compensated, an issue in negotiations for a new contract resolved earlier this year.

Nonetheless, managers of Washington area hotels said they find the economics of spending on the aesthetics of a hotel stay to be compelling. The Renaissance Washington hotel on Ninth Street NW, recently completed $7 million in room renovations, General Manager Brad Edwards said. In the year since completing the work, revenue was up 35 percent.

"You don't sleep on lumpy pillows in your home, so why should you settle for it when you stay at a hotel?" said Sue A. Brush, senior vice president overseeing the Westin brand at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., a Marriott competitor. "The whole focus on lifestyle, on design in the home, people renovating their bathrooms and kitchens -- these are influencing the hotel business."

Marriott will push owners to incorporate the new design as rooms come up for regular refurbishing, typically every seven years, and also hopes that some properties will accelerate renovation.

Marriott also wants owners to include restaurants with higher culinary ambitions than the traditional hotel restaurant. At the conference last week, for example, the chain introduced a list of 150 wines to be available in restaurants, selected through a lengthy process in which wine writers and other experts conducted blind tastings of candidates. And general managers sampled a highbrow variation of the breakfast staple of bacon and eggs: house-smoked Niman Ranch pork tenderloin with Yukon hash, poached eggs, and charred chili hollandaise sauce.

Source:Marriott