Karen Gilbride, VP, global avid hotels and Atwell Suites, IHG Hotels & Resorts, is very enthusiastic about the opening of the first two Atwell Suites properties.
While sitting in a suite at the Atwell Suites Denver Airport, which will be the second hotel to open when it makes its debut this month, she raised her arms in triumph when asked how it feels to finally see the brand come to life.
“Clearly, when we launched the brand in 2019, none of us saw what was coming around the corner at that time,” she said. “But, what I’m really excited about is that there’s a real renewed sense of momentum and optimism—and we’re even starting to hear that in the new-construction side, too.”
The bar at the Atwell Suites Miami Brickell is located on the 24th floor.
She added, “I feel like this is a great time for us to be opening hotel No.1 and hotel No. 2 because owners and guests are ready for this. It’s a really great time for an all-suites brand that sits in [the upper-midscale]space.”
The brand debuted with the opening of the Atwell Suites Miami Brickell at the end of March. The 96-suite hotel is part of a dual-branded property with Hotel Indigo Miami Brickell.
“That project was really interesting because we were working with Sunview Companies, the owner of the Hotel Indigo [that sits]on the bottom floors of the hotel,” said Gilbride. “Sunview told us they were starting to build condominiums above the Hotel Indigo, and they actually looked at the market and said, ‘An all-suite hotel would actually be a fantastic addition to this area.’ So, construction was stopped on the condominiums and [they were turned]into suites.”
She noted that having the two brands under one roof “worked out as a great use of their space,” adding, “They really are great neighbors. With the two brands together, we have something from mainstream up to upscale within one area for IHG One Rewards members to really experience both brands in Miami.”
Prototypical Atwell Suites hotels will have a two-floor lobby, called The Common, where the ground floor will include the F&B concept that is a breakfast area during the day and a bar at night that serves snacks and light bites, and the second floor will contain communal spaces, where guests can work or socialize. The Miami location had to be laid out differently because of its position in the building.
“With the Atwell Suites on the upper floors of the building, we have check-in on the ground floor and then guests are transported up to the 24th floor, which is the top floor with panoramic views across Miami,” she said. “Where we’re executing a lot of the design elements that you would see in a traditional prototype lobby is actually up on the 24th floor.”
She added that the Atwell Suites shares some common areas with the Hotel Indigo, such as a market on the ground floor, the fitness studio and the pool area.
“We’re encouraging guests to use both brands,” said Gilbride. “So, we hope a Hotel Indigo guest comes up and grabs a drink or an Atwell Suite guest doesn’t want just a light bite but a full meal, so [there’s] Mosaico Kitchen + Bar on the ground floor. They’re really offering guests a lot of different options.”
The brand’s third property, the 80-room Atwell Suites Austin Airport, is expected to open by the end of the year, with more to come in 2023 and beyond.
“We have more than 20 executed licenses for other markets around the country,” she said. “So, some really cool markets like Charlotte; Fort Worth, TX; and Cheyenne, WY. There one outside of the greater New York area in Monroe and another in Matamoras, PA.”
The forthcoming Atwell Suites hotels will be modeled on the prototype, but they will all have their own distinct elements in the curated art around the hotel. Gilbride pointed out one of those pieces in the guestroom she was in.
“One of these pieces is actually a Morse code message that is different by hotel,” she said. “There’s a Morse code decoder that lives in the lobby. Maybe you don’t notice it on the first day, and some of the younger guests are like, ‘What’s Morse code?’ So, you might be sitting there on a conference call, and you’re thinking, ‘What is that?’ Then, you see the Morse code decoder at breakfast and you start to figure it out.
“Each hotel works with us on the message,” she continued, “Here in Denver, it says ‘The view is always worth the climb.’ We also have a mural that flexes by property in the lobby. Though it’s a prototypical hotel—and we want the folks to know they can trust the experience—there’s a few elements that come to life differently to let you know where you are.”
At this moment, there are no plans to expand Atwell Suites on an international level. “Right now we’re focused on the U.S. and Canada, and really getting the brand settled here,” she noted. “But, like all of our brands, as opportunities come forward in different markets, we’ll explore those.”
IHG sees great opportunities ahead for the brand. “If we think about the upper-midscale segment, it’s an $18-billion segment annually,” Gilbride said. “So, there’s a lot of opportunity in this space, and we see Atwell Suites being a big player for us—not at the scale of the Holiday Inn Express brand, but we do see this in lots of markets.”
