Skift Take
Hotel RL is differentiating the boutique hotel experience both in terms of a lower price point and an innovative social responsibility platform.
Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels is launching its new Hotel RL lifestyle brand in Maryland on August 1, positioned as the first “upscale three-star” property developed for design-conscious, socially-minded travelers on a budget.
Beginning with the Hotel RL Baltimore Inner Harbor, the properties will be designed to be a platform for knowledge sharing with TED Talks-style programming in the lobbies, complemented with unique social and cultural partnerships in the destination.
Each hotel lobby will have a large stage and tiered seating like you see at many hostels today. There won’t be any traditional restaurants. Instead, there's a large central bar serving food for diners to eat in various styles of casual lobby seating. The highly communal lobby spaces are configured to invite local intellectuals, artists with social causes, and other cultural influencers to share their wisdom from the stage.
Red Lion is then planning to create online content programming so people can watch live presentations at any of the Hotel RL properties from either their in-room TV or their devices.
This TED-inspired experience is an emerging hospitality trend where hotels are being developed as media platforms for social discourse. Our recent story on 1Hotels is similar. For years, high quality F&B created by popular regional chefs was a primary way for hotels to engage with locals so locals could engage with hotel guests. At Hotel RL however, instead of talking about a grass-fed beef burger with truffle fries, the hotel guests and locals can discuss things like the rise of homelessness in American cities.
According to this Washington Post story in December, the number of homeless in 25 U.S. cities polled rose an average of 1% last year, while the rise of homeless families rose 3%. This alarming rise in
