Case study on a brand's downfallfrom @the.ryanexperience

Transcript

This used to be one of the coolest hotel brands on Earth. So what the hell happened? In 1998, the hospitality industry was a monolith of beige. Brands like the Marriott, Sheridan, and the Hilton were very predictable. Luxury at the time was defined by a very stifling aesthetic. Heavy drapes, hushed voices, and zero pulse. The customer journey was frictionless, sure, but it was devoid of any emotional resonance. In other words, it was boring. Then came this man, Barry Sternlicht. He launched the first ever w hotels in New York on Lexington Avenue. The intent was radical. He wanted to capture the social cache, the aesthetic, and the energy of independent boutique hotels, but he wanted to back it with the distribution power and loyalty programs of a global corporation. W Hotels was the first brand to industrialize lifestyle hotels. They didn't just offer a room. They offered membership into the cultural zeitgeist. For a decade at work, w Hotels was the choice hotel for the young, the aspiring. However, the seeds of what I call hospitality hell were already planted in its very scalability. Cool by definition is a scarce resource. It relies on exclusivity, novelty, and the thrill of being avant garde. Starwood and later Marriott aggressively scaled to over 50 locations. They tried to mass produce something that defies mass production. By the mid twenty tens, the disruptor had become the establishment. From a customer experience perspective, one of their most visceral failures was their reliance on darkness. Guests would often describe the rooms as cave like and impossible to read or locate anything. W Hotels prioritize vibe over visibility and form over function. And let's not even talk about the bathrooms with no privacy. And then there's the service. The most audacious element of the w Hotels brand was tier whenever, whatever service policy. In theory, it meant that their staff could fulfill any legal request. But as the brand merged with the operational machinery of Marriott, that promise was met with the realities of corporate efficiency. But best reported routine failures in basic service requests. Requests for ice, maintenance, or housekeeping were often ignored multiple times. And as we know, a broken promise is far more damaging than a modest promise kept. Ultimately, w Hotels is another case study in destruction by corporatism. A brand can be cool or corporate. It's hard to be both. W hotels try to scale cool, and in doing no, manufactured a guest experience that felt inauthentic. The world felt fake and confusing to the market, and their core demographic grew up and moved on. Now they're pouring in millions to fix the mistakes of the past. But if we've learned anything about Marriott, it's that operational efficiency often trumps the nuances of experience. W Hotels isn't dead. It's just been in a coma the past decade. But renovations aren't enough. The customer journey has to evolve. They have to understand the new generation of luxury buyers. And if they don't, they'll just be another case study in a fallen brand due to corporatism.