Brand Stategy: The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa

Brian Povinelli was in Qatar for the official opening ceremony and launch party of the Westin Doha.

As senior vice president, global brand leader for Westin and Le Méridien, Povinelli is responsible for the overall vision and strategic direction of Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ wellness brand and its portfolio of more than 172 hotels in over 31 countries and territories. The Westin Doha brings the brand’s Middle East portfolio to four, and that number will double in the next three years.

“This hotel is a great symbol of what the brand is,” says Povinelli. “This wellbeing positioning is unique, and it’s relevant to the Middle East. It’s an ‘urban sanctuary’ — with an almost resort feel in this setting, and both business and leisure customers will appreciate it.”

“Our focus is on creating lifestyle brands with a more emotional connection with our guests. That’s how Starwood has differentiated itself in the industry,” he tells Hotelier Middle East. “You can become commoditised if you are not focused on creating that premium product and experience.

“For example, Westin stands for something distinct, with a clear personality of wellness, wellbeing and renewal, and spa-like atmosphere. Travel disrupts people’s routines — their sleep, their fitness et cetera. So we try to make that easier and more seamless ‘for a better you’.

“It allows a clear point of view for the consumer, and the investment community. It means we can stand apart and command a premium, and that has helped us deliver more than six points of market share growth in five years. And that’s not easy to do with a brand of size.”

Povinelli outlines the size of the opportunity, pointing out that ‘wellbeing’, in its various forms, is a US $3.4bn global industry. “It’s a global trend, it’s booming and it’s relevant all over the world.”

Starwood is responding in kind, with 50 more Westin hotels in our pipeline. “Westin has significant upside potential for more growth. We’re shooting for 275 by 2020,” shares Povinelli.

Scaling a business at that pace, whilst maintaining its distinctive brand values —and Starwood has 11 different hotel brands — is the challenge issued to the company’s brand leaders. Povinelli is one of six across the business, and like most he looks after two brands. “Mine are Le Méridien and Westin —both upper scale five-star brands,” he says. “There are benefits in sharing best practice across the brands — and we have that opportunity grouping two brands under one leader.

“Around 80% of the work crosses over both (and could be used by Sheraton to be honest). But the last 20% is critical — that’s where the brand personality is infused.”

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He continues: “For example, Westin will have a specific design aesthetic, while Le Méridien’s last 20% will be about a sense of creativity and discovery to unlock the destination. It’s all about celebrating the local, through art and handicraft. And the infusion of local flavours in the F&B, offering a cultural insight into the city. For customers it looks different, but in reality it is the same platform.”

It’s not all about top-down brand strategy, Povinelli concedes. He says that Starwood’s general managers — “the CEOs of their hotels” — dictate the culture of the brands at a property level. “They have to understand the vision for the brand and its positioning in the market.

“At Westin the ‘Six Pillars of Wellbeing’ [Sleep Well, Eat Well, Move Well, Feel Well, Work Well and Play Well] is their toolkit, but then they have a good amount of freedom to activate that for the local market. For example, under ‘Move Well’, how people want to exercise is very different around the world.

“It’s freedom within a framework, which can be tighter or looser depending on the brand,” adds Povinelli.

“Le Méridien has more opportunity, especially in F&B, to bring creative flair and a big local story to life. Whereas Aloft, which is probably our most templated brand, looks the same everywhere around the world. Because there’s a cost model that makes that brand work.”

Innovation from the ‘ground-up’ is encouraged and celebrated. “We capture best practices and share them across the properties by training our associates. But the more organically it happens the more powerful it is — as powerful as any idea we come up with at a corporate level.”

Povinelli cites Westin’s kids’ healthy eating programme as an example of something that started as a local enterprise. “A couple of hotels on their own initiative created a kids’ chefs concept. It was a great success. So they put together a toolkit that’s now been passed around the globe.”

The main opportunities for the local personalisation of a global hotel brand are in the arenas of service and F&B, says Povinelli. F&B is particularly market driven.

“There is no Starwood F&B venue at a concept level that is forced from the centre,” he insists. “Westin’s Seasonal Tastes [all-day dining restaurant] is probably the most widely spread. But it can serve food for the local palette. There’s also the Prego Italian and East Chinese concepts, which we make as authentic as we can make it with the ingredients available.

“And with Sabai Thai [at Westin Doha] we have tried to do something really authentic — to make the restaurant like a piece of Thailand. It gives the guest the opportunity to take a journey,” he says.

“There is lots of flexibility within the framework to develop an in-house concept or work with a third-party restaurant. It always depends on the local hotel and market demand. And sometimes the owners have a vision or want to work with a particular chef,” Povinelli adds.

And Starwood has a wide range of different types of owner across its hotel portfolios — corporate owners, real estate investment trusts (REITS), family owners and pension funds, as well as the circa 10% of properties it owns itself.

Starwood will happily work with third-party brands if it feels that relationship will help to differentiate the offer and lift it above the competition. “That’s driven by the consumer,” says Povinelli. In the Middle East, Westin works with Illy Coffee; and in the US, it has partnered with Starbucks. “That elevates the customer’s coffee experience beyond anything we could do with an own-label coffee brand.

“And Westin’s partnership with Superfoods gives us the healthy credentials and credibility. I’m not sure we’d get as much if we did it ourselves,” he adds.

But there are areas in which Westin has developed its own products, including its White Tea line of fragrances and bathroom amenities. “Guests love it, and we’ve sold a million units through our retail store,” reveals Povinelli.

Ultimately, Povinelli believes that Starwood’s ability to create and manage different brands, even in the same category of hotel, is what has made the group so attractive to Marriott International which is in the process of acquiring its rival to create the world’s largest hotel chain.