clublounger

http://http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Starwood-changes-marketing-strategy-for-Le-Meridien/?cid=eltrdb

Article includes news of a few more properties coming.....Glad to see another option coming to Ho Chi Minh City.

Minneapolis

This seems like bad news. I love LM, but hate Westin.

Le Meridien properties have consistently been upscale, contemporary, and art-focused. I imagine LM is where people go when they 'outgrow' W Hotels. The Le Meridien Minneapolis is a perfect example of this: a rehabbed building in the downtown core that has exquisite high end furnishings, a gourmet restaurant on site, and an on site contemporary art gallery. Pieces from that gallery's collection are sprinkled about the hotel in rooms and common spaces. There is even an in-room art performance art channel.

Westins, IMHO, are bland, boring boxes that obnoxiously spray that heinous white tea perfume on everything. Westins in the US seem to lean toward convention hotels (with notable exceptions, of course like the Kierland or Verasa Napa Residences). Not seeing the connection with art-focused boutique hotels.

seanc724

Of my many gripes about LM Minneapolis (and I type this from the hotel in question) one of my biggest has to be the lack of HD. How can you call this upscale and contemporary without High-Def TV. What is it, 1996?

itsaboutthejourney

I love all 3 brands, but hope LM keeps its less cookie-cutter, more sophisticated and artsy feel. It also feels more international than Westin which tend to be more corporate or suburban.

EuropeanPete

I've always found the Le Meridien brand very confused. They do try to localise themselves more than the mediocre Westin brand, but an awful lot of the hotels just doesn't look very good in my book...

m0hamed

Most *wood brands in the US are confused, and there are great variations within the same brand.

LM in Asia and Europe are more luxurious than Westins. Take the LM El Vandrelle, LM BKK.

Westins are corporate, and hardly luxurious.

Forstbetrieb

And what's about the Westins in Firenze, Roma and Venezia? Aren't they luxurious? LM Rimini is even hardly corporate...

Forstbetrieb

BTW: I am missing the two LMs in Torino, the LM Juan les Pins and the LM Excelsior Gallia Milano.

The second LM in Hamburg was no lost...

Medved

OPs meant "regular" Westin prototype hotels -- standard glass boxes. Your examples are old grand-dames reflagged as Westins. But I agree, a move from Westins Rome & Venice to LM Nice was a bit discouraging.

mario33

Actually my experience is the very opposite; LM is only almost equivalent to Sheratons, while Westins are a notch higher, in Asia at least eg LM Chiang Mai, LM Chiang Rai, LM Kuala Lumpur, LM Angkor, LM Phuket, LM Kota Kinabalu, LM Jakarta

You should to form an opinion from a larger pool, not isolated cases of nice LM

remymartin

Mario,

Which Westins do you then refer to?

LM BKK vs Westin BKK
LM Khao Lak vs Westin Siray Bay

mario33

Westin Phuket is one resort I wouldn't bother to stay at, as I have stated even before it opened its on the wrong side of the island !

Nice Westins ? practically all of them, even the Westin BKK is passable though its quite near the bottom of the list along with Paris.

Really good ones Westin Sydney, Westin Langkawi, Westin Kuala Lumpur, Westin Tokyo, Italian Westins (Rome, Florence, Venice) ....

MSPeconomist

Another Asian example is LRM in Shanghai. It's a huge hotel, with crowds in the lobby. Changing elevator banks to get to the lounge can be frustrating. The arts connection is free admission to a nearby minor museum, but I don't recall art in the hotel itself.

mario33

Its a ROYAL Meridien, sort of Luxury Collection. It's just like using a LC branded 'Sheraton' as an example of a Sheraton

AJLondon

Ditto. I really like the Le Meridien brand in general. It feels more refined, old wordly, artsy and European compared to Westins (which I also like!)