Abrahamson

Jim Abrahamson, head of development, the Americas, Hyatt Hotels Corp.
Hyatt Place, opened in 2007 116 properties, 14,190 rooms
Hyatt Summerfield Suites, opened in 2007
28 properties, 3,801 rooms

Anhut

Jim Anhut, senior v.p., franchise development, the Americas, IHG
Hotel Indigo, opened in 2004
14 properties, 1,888 rooms

Edmundson

William Edmundson, president, Cambria Suites
Cambria Suites, opened in 2007
7 properties, 762 rooms

Sacco

Paul Sacco, senior v.p., development, select-service hotels
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide aloft, opened in 2008
2 properties, 272 guestrooms
Element, opening planned in 2008

NEW YORK–Brand leaders from Global Hyatt Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group, Choice Hotels International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide gathered recently in New York to share some lessons learned during the new brand launch process.

Of the brands primarily discussed—Hyatt Place, Hotel Indigo, Cambria Suites, aloft and Element [see information box at left]—some have openings in the double digits while others have only a handful open. Regardless of size, these brands shared common challenges they faced during the launch process with panel moderator Stephanie Ricca of HOTEL & MOTEL MANAGEMENT during the New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference in June.

How did you build awareness for your new brand launches?

William Edmundson, president, Cambria Suites: With Cambria, we were introducing a brand from Choice at a segment higher than where we've played before, so we got a lot of questions like, could Choice pull off a launch of a brand that's not in a segment that's been our sweet spot traditionally? So we literally separated Cambria from the rest of the company. They moved us next door and built a team from scratch.

Paul Sacco, senior v.p., development, select-service hotels, Starwood: Starwood is known to be leading-edge in design and innovation, and aloft and Element have enjoyed that. We had a lot of feedback from end users and developers. The connection to W for aloft and to Westin for Element has been a huge help, and plugging into Starwood's global systems has been really pertinent.

How did you capitalize on your parent companies? Did they help or hinder you?

Jim Abrahamson, head of development, The Americas, Hyatt Hotels Corp.: Brand awareness was easy for us. We put Hyatt's name up front for Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites. It was critical for us to have brand distribution—having 125 Hyatt Place hotels in 32 states creates instant recognition. We didn't just slap a name on it, though. We did a very intensive study with consumer groups and we engaged with developers and operators.

Jim Anhut, senior v.p., franchise development, the Americas, IHG: [Hotel Indigo] is the fifth brand launch I've been involved with in the industry over the last 25 years and you have to have three key components to make it work: consumer research, prominent developer support and, last but not least, a spine, if you will—the sponsorship that comes from your parent company. ... Honestly it takes a lot of energy and time to build business and global awareness. Not just from our perspective but also from the owners' perspective. Last but not least, we have a lot of investment into public relations.