Posted by Terri Hardin under HospitalityResponses (0)

Yesterday, I was cleaning off my desk (!) when I came across a postcard touting Marriott’s mSpot. When I wrote about this event back in September, I was surprised at all the hoopla that Marriott staged to introduce its new room concept, which included a see-through storage container filled with trendy furniture in the middle of Times Square, with a performance stage on top, featuring Ciara, Leeza Gibbons, and others.

That was then. Now, after hanging out last week with Ross Klein, president of W Hotels, during NYC’s Fashion Week, . . .

. . .  I can see that when it comes to launching a brand like “aloft,” hoopla is only the beginning.

In the press release explaining why W Hotels had parked a classic Airstream trailer in a tent backstage at Fashion Week, Klein explained that the top U.S. fashion event “has always been about innovation in design and presenting fashion that draws an emotional connection, which is why it’s the ideal place for aloft a-go-go to stop on its nationwide tour. This is where trendsetters come to see what’s hot, exciting and new. The aloft a-go-go is a perfect way to communicate how aloft will change the status quo in the same way W has, to completely redefine the existing hotel landscape.”

However, as Klein was standing inside the trailer with a group of media, pointing to the plasma screens, cork walls, retro modern furniture that would outfit the rooms of “aloft,” W’s soon-to-break-ground mid-scale concept, he admitted that having the trailer used as a “lounge” for designers and other VIPs at Fashion Week had reminded him of his former days at Ralph Lauren: “I had forgotten that performers are used to having trailers, which they call ‘honey wagons,’ when they’re working on location. I came in the other day and found Debbie Harry and Emmylou Harris sitting around, talking about the trailer and asking questions about the hotel—when it will open and what the room rate will be.”

Aloft, FYI, is a concept that matches urban sophistication with American car culture; “a hotel not for the road warrior, but for the road entrepreneur,” says Klein. While an aloft property (where the room rate is expected to be upwards of $100) has yet to break ground, the trailer, which has been named the aloft a go-go, is touring the U.S. drumming up excitement and interest.

Yessir, that’s what it takes.