If nothing else, Marriott is resilient. Just a couple of months after the company was replaced as operator of the Honolulu Edition, the leader of the luxury boutique brand says it plans to continue to expand, but with a difference. Speaking at this week’s Lifestyle/Boutique Hotel Development Conference, Tim Miller, managing director and senior vice president of Edition, said the company plans to restart expansion of the brand using corporate funds.

Marriott’s original strategy for Edition, a partnership between Marriott and boutique hotel innovator Ian Schrager, was to buy and fund the first five or six properties in key gateway cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, London and Miami. However, the concept generated such interest Edition management agreed to allow developers to build the first generation of the product, including the first two hotels in Waikiki and Istanbul, Turkey.

Edition's Tim Miller

“It’s all about education and expectations,” said Miller in explaining the roots of the brand’s fall-out with the Honolulu developers, M Waikiki LLC, which led to a middle-of-the-night ousting of Marriott management in late August. Marriott got a court order allowing it to regain control of the property, but the owners filed bankruptcy, putting the entire dispute in the hands of the court. “The lesson we learned is it’s important to keep owners informed of all the issues facing a hotel.”

Now, revealed Miller on a general session panel to open the conference at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, “We plan to relaunch the brand, only this time on the company’s dime, as was the original strategy.”

Target markets are Miami Beach, London, New York, Abu Dhabi, Mexico City and Bangkok. Miller described Edition as having the “chassis of Ritz-Carlton, the finest luxury lodging experience and known for its consistency of service and standards layered on with the creativity and boutique experience represented by Ian.”

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Nor surprisingly, Miller is a believer in the power of branding, noting, “It’s no longer a choice between either brand or independent. Now there is a convergence of the two around a new philosophy that is still all about the bottom line.”

Another panelist, Richard Kessler of The Kessler Collection, championed Marriott’s soft brand, the Autograph Collection. Seven of Kessler’s properties formed the core of Autograph when it launched in early 2010. The soft brand now has 26 hotels in the fold.

“It comes at a cost,” said Kessler said of Autograph, “but it provides us with what we want: the ability to keep our independence, our name, our website and control of our properties and our standards. And, of course, it provides marketing exposure for our hotels.”

In the 18 months since joining the soft brand, Kessler’s properties have seen twice the growth in revenues of hotels in their competitive set and a gain in RevPAR of three percentage points higher than the competition. “In baseball terms, we think it’s a double, but within 18 months we hope it’s a triple.”

The third panelist, Richard Millard of Trust Hospitality, offered the audience his insights on the critical success factors in boutique hotel development and operations. The strategy for his company’s Desires boutique brand was to initially avoid the major markets and instead tackle adaptive reuse projects in secondary cities. “The key is to go where the other guys aren’t going,” he said. “With the right product, you can lead the market and unbranded boutiques have no rate cap, as do the branded hotels in a city.”

“Ultimately, it’s all about the product,” said Millard. “Be sure you understand the experience you’re giving to your guests. Create a relevant hotel, not a trendy one, so you’re always in the conversation in the neighborhood in which you’re located.”

Miller of Edition said it’s also important for a boutique hotel to have a point of view and have a story to tell. “You’ve got to be bold and realize not everyone will like your hotel,” he said. “If everyone does like it and it’s a generic product, you will fail.”

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