Marriott’s Edition Hotels Face Challenge of Scaling Up Uniqueness
Photo Caption: A view of one of the lounge bars, called the Punch Room, at The Tampa Edition, which opened in September 2022 in Tampa, Florida. Source: Marriott International.
Skift Take
Replicating a lifestyle hotel brand worldwide is a bit like walking on a tightrope blindfolded. Only the skilled survive. Marriott's Edition is up to the challenge, according to the brand's boss. Expect an acrobatic 2023.
Marriott International's Edition brand, co-created with hotel impresario Ian Schrager, may finally be clicking with developers after a decade-long slow burn. The Tampa Edition that opened in September marked the 15th property in the series. Top executives expect to double that footprint within five years.
"Since we opened Tampa, we now have leads coming in from South America at a greater pace," said Josh Fluhr, who earlier this year became Edition's senior vice president and global managing director and spoke to Skift in his first media interview since. "Each new outpost reaches a new layer of concentric circles of people to experience what the brand is all about, and that drives growth."
Marriott's Edition brand of hotels straddle lifestyle and luxury segments by taking a strict approach to hiring, training, and development. Yet it's proven harder for Marriott to crack the lifestyle category than it had hoped back in 2007 when it first partnered with Schrager t
