Marriott’s M Beta Hotel Is a Working Laboratory on the Future of Its Brand
Photo Credit: The "Great Room" of the Charlotte City Center Marriott hotel. The hotel is the company's first M Beta Hotel, a hotel that will be used to test out new hospitality concepts. Marriott International
Skift Take
We're totally onboard with hotel companies that are taking this kind of all-in approach to reinventing their brands, especially ones that have been around for so long, like Marriott. Let's just hope Marriott can do the same with Sheraton, too, and all those other 28 brands it has.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Marriott has built itself a living hotel laboratory.
In the past year, the company has invested millions into reinventing the Charlotte City Center Marriott, a hotel originally built in 1984 and in dire need of a renovation. Marriott International purchased the property in 2013 for $111 million with the intention of transforming it into the first M Beta Hotel, allowing the company to use it as an innovation test lab to collect real guest feedback, as well as serve as a showcase for hotel owners and developers.
It's an anomaly, in many ways, to most Marriott hotels, and not just in the way it looks and feels. By owning the hotel property itself, Marriott has carte blanche to test out as many new concepts as it wishes, many of which reflect so many of the trends defining the future of travel and hospitality. Those themes include:
[caption id="attachment_201428" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The newly redesigned Marriott guest room[/caption]
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