W Hotels to ditch ‘party hotel’ reputation with brand redesign

W Hotels is seeking to move away from its reputation as a “bit of a party hotel” brand, according to a Marriott executive.

Helen Leighton, vice president, luxury brands and communications EMEA at Marriott International, said W Hotels was undergoing an “evolution and transformation” to match the fact that its customers have “grown up”.

The W brand was launched in 1998 by Starwood Hotels and opened its first UK property in London’s Leicester Square in 2011.

In 2016, Marriott acquired the entire Starwood portfolio in an £8b deal.

Leighton said: “We are putting in a brand new design direction for W. We are more focused on materiality and local sourcing. The programming will also look at what our guests care about, whether that be art or social issues.

“It became a bit of a party hotel, but the new W will be much more elevated and sophisticated.”

Her comments follow the launch of the W Edinburgh hotel in November last year after seven years of development.

Meanwhile, W Hotels is set to open its third UK property at Gary Neville’s £400m St Michael’s development in Manchester in 2027.

Marriott is based in Maryland in the US, and is made up of nearly 8,600 properties operating under 30 brands in 139 countries and territories.

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