Vanessa Abrahamson Blog: Localizing a global hotel brand: Moxy Denver Cherry Creek

BUILDING DIALOGUE: hospitality design

Big global hotel brands are successful for a reason. They’ve cracked the code for customer retention by providing guests with a sense of predictability, security, and ease of use through a high level of standardization. While these factors, as well as perks like rewards programs, are valuable, some global hotel brands — like Marriott — are also recognizing what many boutique hotels have long known: guests want to experience something unique.

Tobias Strahs
Partner, Johnson Nathan Strohe

Whether traveling for work or pleasure, hotel guests want an authentic experience that not only offers them a home away from home, but also an opportunity to discover a new neighborhood, city, and culture.

The best way for a global hotel brand to deliver this type of experience? Collaborate with local architects and designers.

The hotel’s branded entrance sets the tone for the guest experience.

Because many global hotel brands operate within a franchise model, they already work with local hotel property developers and operators. Engaging local architecture and design firms that understand the social, environmental and built context of a given area can further transform a branded product into a unique property.

Creating a local experience within the parameters of a corporate branded hotel brand requires careful consideration of the needs of the customer as well as the community. While there are many lessons to be learned in the process, here are four design do’s and don’ts we live by.

• Please investigate. It is the job of architects and designers to capture the unique vibe of an area while maintaining the standard feel and hallmarks of the major hotel brand. To do this well, they must be immersed in the culture of the neighborhood as well as the brand’s past, present, and future.

For example, with the recently opened 170-key Moxy Denver Cherry Creek concept by Marriott, we were challenged to offer guests a local experience while adapting and introducing a relatively new brand to a US audience. Popular in Europe, Moxy caters to millennial travelers and is known for its focus on social connections. This particular hotel is one of the earliest new developments of the Moxy brand in the USA

Through a patient, iterative process, we have designed key features of the brand, such as the ultra-efficient 180 square meter guest rooms that require careful approaches to storage and lighting in the rooms, as well as shared experiential focus areas, creating memorable opportunities for guests and locals to interact.

• Create a sense of place. Having a sense of what the local community values and needs allows the corporate branded hotel to integrate with the existing flow of the neighborhood. Guests get a more authentic experience of place and culture (with the reassurance of a well-known brand), while neighbors see the hotel as an important part of their community — the kind of place you’d recommend to friends or family staying in town.

Check in? Go to the bar to get your key card.

A key design element at Moxy Denver Cherry Creek was the inclusion of an outdoor beer garden serving local craft beers, located at street level and adjacent to the hotel entrance. There is no other place like it in the area, so the space serves as an attractive local meeting place while offering guests a tantalizing taste of local culture.

The interior design underscores Colorado’s outdoor-loving culture and ties in with Cherry Creek’s history as a place for prospecting and panning for gold. Patrons can enjoy drinks and food over a concrete-topped communal table with gold veining. In a nod to the nearby Rocky Mountains, guests are greeted by a chairlift in the ground floor elevator lobby. These “moxy moments” are unique to Cherry Creek and Colorado.

• Don’t force customization. Creating synergy between a corporate brand and a local character requires creating a coherent physical embodiment of sometimes conflicting goals.

For example, the Moxy Denver Cherry Creek in Denver’s Cherry Creek North neighborhood, traditionally known for its upscale and sophisticated palette, has a specific brand to uphold — fun, flirty, and millennial-minded. As a result, the hotel has a unique exterior design with accented “boxes” that tie into the proximity of luxury shops. A vertical screen accent is reminiscent of pebbles in Cherry Creek. The signature Moxy “Swoop” has been reimagined in a natural wood strap crafted from laminated wood to express Colorado’s affinity for nature while preserving the brand.

• Don’t overlook the details. Tackling these types of design projects requires a great deal of strategy, creativity, and conflict resolution. As you tackle the challenge of merging corporate branding and local flair, don’t overlook the details that will make it all come to life.

Moxy’s signature “swoop” has been reinterpreted into a natural wood strap.

There are common things that hotel guests expect – a check-in desk, elevators, Wi-Fi, storage space, and an in-room TV, to name a few. However, that doesn’t mean these things have to be common. Use the little things to add local character and subtle hotel branding.

At the Moxy Denver Cherry Creek, the lobby bar acts as the check-in desk and guests are greeted with a Got Moxy cocktail upon arrival. The hotel’s elevators turn into photo booths. In the guest rooms, closets have been swapped for sectional walls and under-bed storage to make room for a 47-inch wall-mounted television. Each of these design elements meets guest needs while strengthening the Moxy brand.

When done well, architecture and design can facilitate the adaptation of a global brand to a site-specific context to convey a unique expression while maintaining and evolving brand identity.

tobias@jns.design

Published in the March 2018 issue of Building Dialogue.

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