AbuCordoba

I am currently staying in the Royal Meridian in Doha and have just done 2 weeks at the Le Meridian in Doha, does anyone know what is meant to be the difference between the two properties in terms of Marriott Brand Standards? Specfically the Le Meridian had a club lounge and kids club but the Royal Meridian does not and the person on the front desk claims it is not a brand standard but I was sure it is but can't find any documents to back up my claim! any help would be appreciated!

khabah

The OCD in me is freaking out that you spelled Le Méridien wrong so many times - ahhhhh!

Unfortunately, you won’t find documents - with relative ease, at least - detailing individual brand standards since those are confidential and proprietary to Marriott.

Le Royal Méridien is a leftover from back when Le Méridien was an independent brand, and it was positioned as a luxury/upper-end sub-brand of the upper-upscale Le Méridien master brand. When Starwood picked the brand up, they kept Le Royal Méridien around for a bit but then decided a few years later that they were not going to develop any new properties under the marque. Marriott kept the same philosophy, but allowed the owners of LRM Doha to use the name at their insistence… and what I’m sure is a hefty upcharge. Either way, LM and LRM properties can both be developed with club lounges [see LRM Dubai], but they are by no means mandatory as a brand standard.

If I’m not mistaken, LRM Doha is selling a category of rooms called Vendôme Rooms that include club lounge-like offerings at one of their venues, so it’s a club experience without a dedicated lounge space.

I was just in Doha, and visited the LM City Center. I’d be curious to know your thoughts in the property’s thread as I certainly have my own…

khabah

AbuCordoba

Lol apologies for the spelling!!

The hard product of Le Meridien was obviously quite tired as it was built so long ago and you can notably see wear and tear despite it being open for only a month however the staff were excellent, the pools were nice, I liked the fact it had an indoor pool and outdoor pool, the club lounge was great and had one of the best club lounge staff there I have met (Kelvin) and the management were on top of things. It will need to be priced very competitively in a tough Doha market after the world cup but with the staff I see it potentially doing well!

LovetoTravel83

This also goes for Sheraton/Sheraton Grand and Westin/Westin Palace.

ElevatorEnthusiast

Yes, of course, Sheraton Grand was a Starwood invention to separate newly renovated Sheratons from others. Ironically, some ended up dropping the label after further renovations, such as the Phoenix property.