Starwood Preferred Guest/Aloft Special Event

See why Starwood Preferred Guest is all abuzz about aloft hotels.

In this edition of LiveFlyer, we sneak in a private party at the aloft design prototype space in Hawthorne, NY. We’ll mingle with SPG Platinum elite members who were invited to get a sneak peek of how aloft, the newest hotel brand from Starwood hotels and a mini-me of W Hotels, combines the latest in urban style and high-tech fun.

As well, we’ll be your eyes and ears for a special performance by Michelle Williams (of Destiny’s Child), who will debut singles from her soon-to-be-released solo album, Unexpected.

And no matter how real this will all seem, we’re just going to have to take advantage of your portions of the light hors d’oeuvres and cocktails that will be served.

Thursday, June 12, 2008, from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Sorry for the delay – a few technical challenges but it is worth every bit of the time. So, how did all thi start? For aloft, it started in 2005 in a warehouse just minutes from Starwood’s HQ when the inspiration of trying to duplicate the success of W Hotels but at a hotel rate that many more customers could accept. And it is very cool that those in attendance tonight fell like they are experiencing the launch of a new hotel chain – similar to that of an airline junkie being on the innaugural flight for a new airline.

OK, I join the procession “on the bus” from NYC and it is apparent very quickly that the SPG members invited are all their best customers. They come from all parts of the U.S., not just the NYC area. But if you are not here then to make you feel better, the offer sold out in 5 minutes. That’s right – 5 minutes. One member told me that because he was airbound at the time the offer appeared on his Blackberry, his assistant signed him up because she knew it was something he would not want to miss. So, on the bus ride to the warehouse – love that term – warehouse, members on the bus quickly bonded and shared the tales of how they became SPG fans. Some came from other hotel chains and now would not go back and others have stayed from the Westin and Sheraton program days. As you would expect from Starwood, they offer up snacks and one of them is a branded gummi bears package. Now, if this is a true signature snack for aloft, then they have me from the word go…..

So sorry for the delay of the happening for the Aloft launch for SPG members – a little tech snafu. I forget that Steve Jobs isn’t everywhere and found myself stumbling on the Bill Gates solution. My bad but let me tell you, nothing bad about this evenings events.

So let’s go back to the bus ride shall we? So there we were, cruising along on the Cross Island Expressway – OK, maybe my ways are all crossed up but that’s the last sign I saw. And with the aloft Director of Guest Services onboard, we certainly know a lot more than ever before. A few of the highlights were the ritual of giveaways. We were all given scratch cards to find out if we’ve “won an a-list prize.” While yours truly used a spare penny to find out that “whoops! This card is not a winner,” fellow busmates (is that what you call the others?) won 10,000 SPG points, an iPod Shuffle and two free domestic tickets on partner Delta Air Lines. Yea for them.

Here’s some other things we learned:

- only double queen  and king size bed rooms.

- a Camp aloft program for kids

- a pet program (I think the weight limit for our furry friends is 40 pounds, so it looks like my best friend, Frosty, the schi zu can come along)

- a green program that allows hybrids to get preferred parking status

- and this one I find really fascinating – a sort of self-service car wash out front with bucket and sponge, etc. Now, if I ever hear of any of you washing your rental car before returning it, please contact me for referrals for help for you.

- and while it seems to some of us “old-timers” that the hotel might be too “young” for us, rest assured that the marketing plan is focused more on psychographics than demographics.

And the question that got the most consolidated input from my busmates (there’s that word again): who owns the bar? Now, from the outside that might seem like a strange question. However, for most of the members who have ever elbowed their way in to a crowded bar at a W Hotel with the feeling of not being welcome as a hotel guest since the bar was owned by outside interest, then aloft is perfect – the hotel owns the bar so whoopee! bring on any of the nine signature drinks. It was strange that so many had experienced the “outsider” feeling of some of Randy Gerbers bars at W Hotels. Heck, I just turn in early and order room service to avoid all that.

Picture any office warehouse project in any suburb in any city in the world for that matter and you have the location of the aloft/element hotel concept. Essentially it’s nondescript and for all we know, this building could be housing spare parts for old pinball machines for a web-based business. But for this evening, it seems pretty different – it just may be the real read carpet sprawled across the parking lot as we alight from the bus. I’m pretty sure that I feel like Tom Hanks at the Academy Awards since there’s the obligatory photo guys making us all “picture perfect.” A wonderful touch and trademark SPG/Starwood. Tell me when the last time you saw stanchions and a red carpet in a warehouse parking lot? Heck, I took a photo to commemorate this moment.

Up the warehouse stairs and into the void. Actually a void of a long hallway draped in black cloth – sort of like a Halloween Haunted Castle. So all of a sudden we turn a corner and there is a scene right out of a successful W Hotel. The “lobby”teeming with active people, drinks in hand and the music playing. Truly, if this is the mini-me of what aloft is to the “vision of W Hotels” our first experience is right at home.

First impressions – I thought the place had two bars. But after a learning experience, one of the “bars” was actually the front desk. In sort of a much different twist on things the physical “front desk” is not along some wall or even straight ahead, it’s a round desk that floats in part of the lobby. Quite different but all that may be a non-issue of you haven’t been seduced to check yourself in using the flat screens at the entrance that allow you to view floor plans and room choice – visually. Imagine SeatExpert.com for rooms. These front entrance “kiosks” (and that is a really bad analogy to compare it to a kiosk but since I already wrote it, it stays) also let you pre-print your airline boarding pass on the way out of the hotel the next morning. I king of like that and the user interface is something far better than other attempts I last experienced.

OK, if this is the mini-me of W Hotels (my words only!), then it makes sense that the center of libations is another mini-me of W Hotels and if you’ve stayed at one, you no doubt become familiar with the term WXYZ. This is where you’ll end up sampling any of their nine signature drinks including a very tempting infused vodka collection. Now, because of my high journalism standards, I actually did not sample the wares but instead relied on an ever forthcoming group of SPG members who volunteered that the signature drinks are very, very good. Now, it may be that the price was right for the evening, but likely they were a selection to make most if not everyone happy. Sorry, as I said, no alcohol for me this evening so i really can’t offer you any temptation of taste. But I can offer you a look at the bar and the infused vodka for you that really, really can’t wait.

For many members in the audience, it was a prime event, a chance to mingle with the marketing executives of SPG and the same for the new aloft brand. As well, for many of the same members, a chance to experience up-close-and-personal a major musical talent in one of the members of the popular Destiny’s Child pop girl group (Four number one singles). While group member Beyoncé Knowles may be better known at this time, Michelle Williams is likely to make her own solo fame and the evening was a listen to some of the new singles from her upcoming album titled Destinations.

So, if your interest is music, here’s a short clip of what the evening looked like.

Sing The Music

As noted before, this crowd was among SPG’s best and most loyal members. They came from all over the U.S. and from many walks of employment. One I met was in the film industry, doing something for a Russian film crew, another was a high end technology executive, another in real estate. No pattern other than they were fast on the click to enroll in this event.

Here’s this crowd enjoying a great evening: