You may remember that right about when Second Life was getting going, Starwood developed a virtual hotel concept and placed it in the virtual world for market research. I frankly thought it was a publicity stunt and the hotels would never be.
Well, I was most assuredly wrong. ALOFTs are up and operating -- 17 according to the web site.
So what is the actual ALOFT concept? Well, it appears to be a hip answer to the segment of the market DOWN from W Hotels, which is the parent brand. These properties appear to be aimed at the Courtyard by Marriott market.
I checked out pricing and avails in Bentonville Arkansas (home of Walmart) and found Aloft running at $99 and Courtyard at $129. I would expect that the ALOFT price will go up a dash over time, but clearly Starwood is not expecting the Courtyard crowd to drop more for it's hipper rooms and open spaces. Which is smart because nice space don't impress T&E accountants as worth an upcharge.
Here's how Starwood describes those spaces:
Meet & mingle with friends at our w xyz bar; grab a sweet, savory or healthy snack from re:fuel by aloft, our 24/7 pantry, or play in our re:mix lobby. Plus, you can always stay connected with complimentary hotel-wide wireless Internet access!
Breeze into one of our aloft rooms, featuring our ultra-comfortable signature bed, an oversized spa shower, custom amenities by Bliss® Spa, and more. Our plug & play connectivity station charges all your electronics and links to the 42” LCD TV to maximize work and play.
Part of the ALOFT concept is, like it says on the tin, loft like rooms. 9 foot ceilings are apparently the order of the day. I would expect that they would be deploying teams in hipster outfits as in Ws as well.
I've never been to one, but I wanna -- and that's saying something for the roadside business hotel category. The W really is a very different hotel experience than a major downtown Marriott -- or Sheraton for that matter. I wanna see if they can achieve the same different with ALOFT.
Oh, and if you are curious the virtual ALOFT website is still up and running here.
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