Renaissance was repositioned by Marriott, pre-Starwood, to target guests looking for more creative experiences and local flavor in their stays so they allowed RH properties to be more colorful and eclectic in their décor, and installed “Navigators” [concierges] in their lobbies who are supposed to have insider knowledge to events and sights where the hotels are located. In essence, Renaissance was pitched against Le Méridien and their target demographic of the well-traveled, creatively-minded guest.

In my opinion, Renaissance is all over the place with a portfolio of hotels that are either stodgy and very dated, or heavily designed to the point of trying too hard - and with weak general programming. I felt that with the Starwood acquisition, Marriott should have worked to capitalize on the stronger, richer Le Méridien brand name [with its airline heritage, mid-century modern design, Sparkling Hour, Au Soleil events during the summer, La Fête events during the winter] and worked with owners to slide Renaissance properties over to Le Méridien or other brands, and eventually work to shut Renaissance down… but since Renaissance is legacy Marriott as opposed to acquired, we’ll sooner see the stronger legacy Starwood brands killed off in the future or watered down to a point of mediocrity below Marriott’s original stable [illustration: Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis, EDITION and W].

khabah