LAS VEGAS—Cambria Suites has a new name, look, logo and marketing approach, and it’s poised for Canadian expansion.
That’s the message from the Choice Hotels International conference held at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last month.
Most Choice brands are looking to attract the frequent business travellers who spend more than 20 nights a year in a hotel, “guests who are loved, loyal and locked-up,” Michael Murphy, senior vice president upscale brands told delegates at the Cambria brand session.
“But we uncovered a huge customer opportunity for us to win faster against our competition today—those customers that are unloved, unattached and up for grabs.”
Murphy identified two different groups that fit this category: medium frequency business travellers who stay in hotels five to 19 nights a year; and millennial business travellers who are brand loyal, but may not yet have chosen the brand they will grow with.
This is “the generation where mere participation is frequently enough for a reward,” said Murphy. “They don’t want to wait until they have enough nights or points to be treated differently when they stay in a hotel. They want to be recognized now.”
Over the past year, Cambria Suites has been asking business and leisure guests what they want.
“In our research, guests told us loud and clear that they want choices and options at every point in their interaction with a hotel brand. As a result, we are changing the brand’s name to Cambria Hotels & Suites and will provide guests with the option of choosing a stunning standard hotel room that feels like an upgrade or an actual suite,” said Murphy.
New logo and colours
“We’ve changed our logo and colour palette to reflect the new brand tonality—warm, approachable, flexible and uncomplicated. At Cambria, everybody is somebody.”
At the new Cambria Hotels & Suites, guests will be greeted by soft music as they enter the large, open lobby and notice a soft, rounded front desk. This new design is inviting and captures the openness of the room, while still maintaining the traditional, and expected, presence of a front desk. Guests can complete the check-in process via smartphone or keycard.
In their spacious rooms, with ample technology, guests will notice larger vanity space in the bathrooms and will relax on updated furniture.
The bar has now become the focal point of the lobby, inviting guests to hang out and actively partake in the Cambria experience.
Cambria guests want to enjoy immediate benefits, and if they are members of the Choice Privileges program, they will have the option of redeeming their newly acquired points at the bar for a local craft beer or hand-crafted cocktail.
New prototype at NYU
Cambria Hotels & Suites will be unveiling a new prototype at the NYU Investment Conference this month,
New music, comfortable and stylish uniforms and new staffing profiles will be launched this fall, followed by new service standards and technology that will allow guests to wirelessly stream content from their personal devices to in-room televisions.
“This is a comprehensive plan to capture a specific segment of the market,” said Michael Lusick, senior director of brand operations.
Canadian expansion
Three Canadian Cambria Hotels & Suites are now under construction, including Calgary Airport, which is set to open this summer, followed by Halifax, NS and Fredericton, NB. Two more Canadian hotels are planned by year-end.
“The Cambria pipeline is more robust than ever. We will be making several new announcements in the months ahead,” Murphy said.
