Skift Take
Some thought the Sheraton brand was dead after the Marriott merger. They were wrong. The brand has been transformed with meetings in mind.
When Starwood and Marriott merged in 2016, many thought this would be the end of Sheraton. Just the opposite happened.
The brand has since received a $1 billion infusion. New guest room design and lobbies focus on gathering by offering plenty of small meeting rooms and private nooks.
The recent THE EXCHANGE: Association Masters customer conference showcased one of the brand’s newly transformed properties, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown.
The Sheraton Story
Sheraton founders Ernest Henderson and Robert Moore acquired their first hotel in Springfield, Mass. 1937. Within two years, they expanded with properties from Maine to Florida.
In the 1940s, Sheraton Corporation of America became the first hotel chain on the New York Stock Exchange. It soon began its international expansion. Today, more than 430 Sheraton hotels and resorts are in nearly 75 countries and territories worldwide.
In the meantime, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide acquired the brand in 1998; and in 2016, Starwood and Marriott merged.
Design Updates
“Sheraton Phoenix Downtown was the ‘test kitchen’ for design and innovation and was proud to host this year’s THE EXCHANGE: Association Masters, introducing some of our best customers to the new Sheraton experience,” said Amanda Nichols, Global Brand Leader, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts.
Its 19,000-square-foot lobby served as the optimal gathering place. It was also the site of the opening reception in conjunction with its adjoining Carcara Restaurant. Four studio spaces in the lobby cater to smaller business meetings, ranging from 108 to 345 square feet, seating 8-12 guests. The studios, each enclosed with glass, can be rented by the half-hour.
Other features include a community table for collaborative work and soundproof booths. These spaces are curated for meetings as well as the remote working world. Each is tech-enabled with quick connect-on-demand technology, individual adjustable lighting, and thermostat controls.
The property features a total of 26 meeting rooms with more than 110,000 square feet of meeting space. All of the hotel’s 1,000 guest rooms feature platform beds, height-adjustable work tables, and 65-inch televisions.
At present, the brand has more than 40 reimagined properties globally, with more than 15 of those in North America. Another 30+ hotel transformations will be complete by the end of the year, over 15 percent of its global portfolio.
