As you are probably aware, it was almost three years ago on August 29, 2005 that Hurricane Katrina’s ferocious attack destroyed major Gulf Coast cities and 150 miles of southern coastline. In one of my past roles with Marriott, I oversaw several of our hotels in the New Orleans market for six years so I came to know the city and our associates on a very personal level. Frankly, I have always been very fond of the Big Easy. I can clearly recall sitting in my west coast home watching the TV news coverage as the storm beat down on the coast and New Orleans. When the storm passed and the devastation unfolded, the Marriott team went into immediate action to help those in need and each other. Now that time has passed since that horrific day, the city is rebounding and is as energetic as ever.

If you have not been back or have never traveled to New Orleans, it is a “must-see” destination. I have always found the Big Easy to be the most European-like city in the U.S. Both the city and the natives who call it home have a genuine charm and appeal. It is a city of “nooks and crannies” and there is a remarkable hospitality culture that is found in every corner. I always find something new and interesting every time I travel there. Most recently, I was able to see the Contemporary Arts Center in the Warehouse District. It is an amazing space and has been home to literally thousands of events showcasing the visual arts.

There is no better time than summer to head to New Orleans for some fine Cajun cooking, a bit of wistful jazz and mornings spent lingering and people watching with a powdery sweet beignet in your hand at the one and only Café Dumonde.

Thanks for keeping Courtyard on the Go!

Brian

I had a terrific time there. It was wonderful to see old friends and celebrate a special occasion with them. I always enjoy going to Canada and got to see some of Toronto’s most exciting sights, like the CN Tower, and enjoyed the energetic city center and the dynamic Metro Square.

I also had the chance to stay in the Courtyard Toronto, which is the largest Courtyard hotel in world. This Courtyard is actually even bigger than many of our full service Marriott Hotels & Resorts properties. It has 575 guest rooms and suites on 17 floors! As many of you seasoned business travelers know, that’s huge for a Courtyard! This hotel’s lobby hasn’t been renovated just yet, but it does offer many of the same features as a completely renovated lobby like a 24-hour Market and Wi-Fi.

Have any of you ever been to this hotel or wonderful city or hotel? If so, what did you think?

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

I took a ten day vacation to France which included a few days in Paris, the “City of Light,” and then stayed in the country with a group of friends at a wonderful château in Bordeaux. We had a marvelous time enjoying the country and doing a fair share of wine tasting! As much as I enjoy the French countryside, I love Paris. It is an amazing city, steeped in culture, home to thousands of sidewalk cafes, and priceless architectural wonders like Notre Dame and the Louvre.

In Paris I stayed at our terrific Courtyard by Marriott Paris Neuilly. Neuilly is an upscale, gorgeous tree-lined neighborhood and the hotel sits in the heart of it all. The property recently underwent a full lobby renovation and it’s a real show stopper. It features a stylish international bar called 58 Bar and Lounge and a delightful restaurant called Brasserie Victor Hugo, named after the world-renowned French author. The wallpaper in the brasserie is Victor Hugo’s actual hand writing that was blown up to poster size and fills all sides of the room. I really enjoyed staying at this hotel, because it is tucked away in a residential part of the city, still close enough to the sites, but far enough away that you get a real sense of everyday life for your typical Parisian.

I’ll be traveling a little more throughout the summer and am looking forward to sharing my experiences from those trips with you as well. Until then, I’d love to hear from you about any summer trips you have planned for the summer or that you may have already taken – especially if they were in a Courtyard!

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

This wonderful new hotel features all of our new design elements. I don’t want to repeat myself, but if you want to see more about the design elements and hear from our guests you can watch the videos above. What I really like about this hotel is the terrific outdoor space and fire pit. There are even some rocking chairs out there too. That’s the picture I’ve posted.

And just like our Fair Oaks Courtyard, the reaction of the guests at the Jackson Courtyard has been overwhelmingly positive. Kim Collins, the director of sales at the hotel says, “People are coming to see the new lobby design and they have all been amazed! It’s really great to see guests hanging out and having a good time in the lobby and outdoors! It really is a new stay!”

I haven’t had a chance to see this hotel in person just yet, but I’m heading down there in two weeks. While the Fair Oaks Courtyard was the first Courtyard to offer the new lobby concept, it was a renovation of an existing hotel. This is our first brand new hotel to open with the new lobby, so it is very exciting. I can’t wait to see it and will be sure to blog about my experience there.

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

This hotel has a very unique story behind it as it hosted a very special person as its first guest. Mr. Jolland Chan, the man who wrote “Olympic Beijing,” the theme song of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was the very first person to stay in the hotel. It was an honor to host Mr. Chan and I’m very excited to hear his song when the Olympics debut just a few months from now!

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

The new flat panel HDTVs will be replacing those big, bulky analog TVs with the huge backs. Each HDTV will be at least 32 inches and every Courtyard will offer at least 35 channels, with at least 14 of those in high def.

Not only do these new TVs allow you to see your favorite shows with remarkable clarity, they also free up a lot more space in the guest rooms. Those big analog TVs used to be the focal point in the guest room because they were so large and took up so much space. Now, with the new flat screens, the TV is still the focal point in the room – not because it’s so big, but because of its sleek, high tech design. Also, it gives our Marriott designers a chance to starting thinking about the room differently; more space may mean newer furniture designs to make the room even more functional in the future.

Our goal at Courtyard is to ensure our guests have the latest in technology when they’re staying with us. We know that many of our guests have HDTVs in their homes today, so we want to make sure they have one when they’re on the road too.

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

The new Courtyards will be located in the cities of Riyadh and Jeddah. All will feature the brand’s new, modern design and its high standards of quality and service.

I’m really excited to see Courtyard expanding so rapidly in the Middle East. We already have a few Courtyards in the region in cities like Dubai, Kuwait City and one coming early next year in Doha, Qatar. And now that business travel and tourism is booming in that part of the world, we are going to be adding more and more.

I was in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in 2007 and was able to see for myself the tremendous growth. The skies of Dubai were filled with cranes as far at the eye could see. There is such an atmosphere of excitement and energy in these markets as travelers from around the globe are discovering the region’s cultures for the first time.

And the region is home to some of our top hotels. Our team at the Courtyard Dubai Green Community is led by our General Manage Elaine Watson whose hotel was not only named our International Hotel of the Year in 2007, but she was honored as our International General Manager of the Year. Elaine and her team are very deserving of these awards. They consistently provide stellar service to the guests, give back to their community and do everything they can to go ‘green’ and protect the environment.

Courtyard’s international presence is growing very rapidly. I’ll be sure to keep you updated as the brand continues to expand!

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

This new ad campaign signals a different approach for Courtyard because we’re using a new tagline – “It’s a new stay.” This is the first time that slogan hasn’t referred to “business travelers.” In the past, the phrase that was most commonly associated with Courtyard was “The first hotel designed for the business traveler, by the business traveler.”

Our new tagline couldn’t be more accurate. It really is a new stay for our guests at Courtyard. They get to experience the newly redefined lobby, a new guest room design, more appealing outdoor spaces and enhanced technological capabilities like free WiFi in our public spaces.

And all of this is shown in the new TV commercial. It begins with a man working on his lap top his room which features the new design package. As the background changes behind him, it shows him continuing to work in the new lobby and even outdoors. The commercial really does a great job of showing the new design elements of the Courtyard brand, while also demonstrating how guests can get out their room and still work wirelessly.

It shows that we’ve taken notice and learned from our research how guests have changed and what they want from a hotel. They want flexibility, choice, and a nice atmosphere to work and play. At Courtyard, they get all of that. They have the flexibility to choose where they want to work now that we feature free WiFi in our public spaces. They can sit in one of our media booths inside while grabbing a quick bite, or they can even take their work outside with them while enjoying a drink.

If you haven’t seen the commercial yet, I’ve posted it below, so please take a look.

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

When we did our research – and we did a lot of it – we learned just how much technology is changing the business traveler. Most business travelers never leave home without their PDAs, like a BlackBerry. While that’s not new or interesting, how these devices have changed business travel in unexpected ways is. One of these ways has led to what we’ve coined ‘found time.’

Let’s go back in time first and let me introduce you to ‘key and latch’ guests, who might seem familiar to some of you. Their flight lands, they hop into a taxi to the hotel and maybe they call into their office for phone messages or read a company report. When they check-in, they get their room key and then latch the door shut until the next morning when they sneak out the side exit, as if they were hardly there. That’s because after settling into their room, they’d jumped online and downloaded and then uploaded email messages for hours, and high speed was not as quick then.

Now fast forward and the same traveler today has already read their emails and responded on their BlackBerry during the taxi ride. They suddenly have found time. They want to get out their room and they want the hotel to provide an invitation and that’s what our new lobby is all about.

While we are incorporating beer and wine service in the evening – our bar so to speak – we also offer guests flexibility to belly up to the bar, gather with colleagues around a communal table, sneak off to a media booth or secluded lounge to watch HDTV, or wander outside to the patio and fire pit.

That’s a start but the lobby needs to be inviting all the time. During the day, those same flexible seating options are a great way to perch with your laptop to work, download pictures of your kids, watch sports highlights or grab a quick snack and read the newspaper or see how the stock market is doing on CNBC. It’s your choice. Plus free WiFi inside and out and electrical outlets everywhere only enhance the invitation.

The GoBoardTM plays a big part too in filling up found time. I really like watching people gather around it in the evening using the touch screen to find restaurants or local attractions to visit.

We’ve really taken a holistic approach to the new lobby. Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

The 245-room hotel within a skyscraper faces the harbor in the Sai Ying Pan district on Hong Kong Island. As you can see from the slide show, they’ve incorporated some of the elements we’re rolling out in the U.S., like the individual welcome podiums. The bathroom is spectacular, adorned with marble and rainforest showerheads. The bed linen has many of the same characteristics you’d find in our stateside Courtyard hotels, like the decorative accent skirt on the bed. There’s also MoMo Café and MoMo to Go with the to-go concept we’ve also included in our new U.S. lobbies.

So as you can see, some brand concepts do translate well. Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

The hotel will incorporate many elements and features of both our new lobby and new guest room concepts. It will also have some extra amenities like a fine dining restaurant called “Moscati,” which will offer Mediterranean and traditional Italian cuisine and the “Corpus Sport Center,” which has 4 workout areas, a sauna and even a Turkish bath.

The hotel will remain open while it undergoes renovations, so I hope you will check it out if you’re over that way!

That’s it for now. Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

Outdoor spaces have always been very important to Courtyard. The brand actually got its name because the original hotels were built around outdoor courtyards. But, when we conducted our consumer research to begin redefining the lobby, it became very obvious that our guests were not using the courtyards or outdoor spaces because they did not feel inviting or easily accessible. But now, with the new lobby renovation, that’s all about to change.

In previous versions of the Courtyard lobby, you probably noticed a fireplace against one of the walls. Well, we’re removing that and replacing it with large glass doors that lead outside to an area that’s much more inviting and a great place to hang out and socialize.

There’s going to be a large, circular fire pit and new, comfortable outdoor furniture. You can either pick something up to eat or drink in the lobby on your way outside, or one of our employees can bring it right to you. You can also use the outdoor spaces to get some work done since the free WiFi can be accessed from outside too. Basically, you’ll be able to do almost everything you can do inside the lobby just as conveniently when you’re outside in the courtyard.

We’re making these changes at most of our Courtyard locations, but I do have to warn you that you may not find them at certain properties, like urban hotels, for example, where space may be limited. But if you do find yourself at a Courtyard with the new and improved outdoor spaces, I hope you’ll take advantage of and enjoy them – weather permitting, of course!

That’s it for now. Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

Every few years, we take a serious look at our guest room design. Since 2000, we’ve made many improvements to our Courtyard guest rooms. We’ve introduced many new items including desks, armoires, a new decorative headboard and a new bedding package. Those patterned bedspreads are history! Currently, we’ve turned our focus on to the room’s décor with a brand new design package. But renovating is a cyclical process and not all hotels complete their renovations at the same time, which explains why it might take a while to see all the changes.

The new design package we created has a global theme to reflect Courtyard’s almost 800 hotels around the world. We began rolling it out at the beginning of this year, so it’s just starting to make its way into our Courtyard hotels. The color palette is warm and inviting and contains soft gold tones, warm browns and striking red highlights. One of my favorite parts of the new design is the accent wall we created over the headboard. It’s red with an interesting, Asian-inspired print.

Another very important component of our new guest room is flexible functionality. Today’s travelers want a room that will give them options to help them work and relax. For example, the new desks are multi-level and mobile. The top level of the desk is stationary, but the level below pulls out so you can work or eat in front of the TV. We also created a bi-level coffee table. The lower level is the perfect height to be a footrest and the top level is great for spreading out work or having a meal. You can even work in bed because we’ve added electrical outlets to the headboard and more and more of our hotels are adding WiFi in the rooms.

I know that good lighting is important to our guests and we’ve been changing up the lighting in the room too. We developed our own compact fluorescent light bulbs. They’re whiter and warmer so they give off the look of an incandescent bulb. They make the room brighter than before but are far more energy efficient.

And, we want you to feel at home in our hotels, so we’re implementing some cues you might use in your own house. For example, we improved the window treatments in the rooms by putting the big, heavy blackout drape closest to the window and inside the room we are using a lighter, more delicate sheer drape. These drapes, which have horizontal stripes, feel much more like something you’d see in a home, and also make the room feel wider. The new carpet has horizontal stripes too – that also makes you feel like you have more space to spread out.

So, as you can see, it’s not just the lobby that’s getting a makeover – it’s the guest rooms too.

That’s it for now. Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian

First, it gives me the opportunity to spend time with a group of very seasoned, diverse hospitality leaders from around the globe and hear firsthand what they are doing to meet the needs of our guests. And second, I have the privilege to celebrate the best of the best from our global Courtyard team at our annual awards dinner.

The theme of this year’s meeting was “high def,” short for high definition. It was designed to sharpen our team’s focus on several enhancements we will be making for our guests this year in areas like communications, product and service. These enhancements are not only high tech, but high touch too.

At the conference, General Mangers got to see the new lobby for the first time and it was met with rave reviews. We unveiled our new advertising campaign, “It’s a New Stay™”, the GoCourytard.com site and a terrific service strategy called “Our Refreshing Service.” I spoke to a lot of General Managers during the conference who are really excited to begin these programs at their hotels because they’re committed to providing the highest quality service for their guests.

While we spent a lot of time looking ahead at the year to come, we also took a look back on the past year and honored some of our top achievers. I’ll tell you more about that next time.

I am sure you will see the continued sharp focus in “high def” at Courtyard the next time we are fortunate enough to have you stay with us.

That’s it for now. Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the Go.

Brian

A lot has changed since then and what was one hotel 25 years ago will surpass 800 hotels in 2008. What was once confined to the United States is now a global brand in 27 countries and growing.

Our first Courtyard hotel outside North America was in the United Kingdom, the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Slough/Windsor, which opened in 1992. The brand has great name recognition in North America and now it’s gaining traction on other continents. In some cases, Courtyard is leading Marriott’s expansion into new locations, like Northern Ireland. In the past year or so, we’ve also announced Courtyard’s expansion into Japan, Hungary, Thailand, El Salvador, Norway and Sweden.

Courtyard hotels outside the U.S. reflect the local flavor and culture of the country in which they are located, but still offer business travelers the amenities that have made Courtyard so great. Most importantly, Marriott’s culture of service and care for its guests transcends all borders. No matter where in the world you may find yourself, you can always count on the quality that is synonymous with the Courtyard name.

I actually experienced this firsthand when I visited our new Courtyard hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, while it was still under construction. The entire pre-opening staff at that hotel was so warm and caring as they unloaded boxes and began to prepare to welcome our first guests. True to the Marriott culture, they made me feel welcome as soon as I walked through the door. But they added their own local flair to their welcome and presented me with a “puang maa-lai,” a garland of flowers that is placed around your hands as part of a local welcome gesture called “yin-dee dtôn ráp.” I was really impressed because not only did I feel welcome at their hotel, I felt like they were welcoming me into their culture as well. Since the hotel has opened its doors, the response from customers has been terrific!

Thailand is just one of the many places in Asia that will open a new Courtyard hotel in the next few years. And because the brand is expanding so rapidly in this region, I will be doing more traveling to this enchanting part of the world. I plan to share with you my experiences from my travels there in future blog posts.

That’s it for now. Thanks for keeping Courtyard on the go.

Brian

If you’re a loyal Courtyard guest, I’m sure the first thing you noticed when you landed on the site was how we’ve completely redefined the lobby. If you haven’t clicked around yet, it’s easy. Using your mouse to navigate, you can take a 360 degree tour of the lobby and learn more about what we’ve done by watching the different videos, and we want your comments about each feature. Other than Jeremy, the GM, and me, the people you see in those videos are real Courtyard guests sharing their impressions of the new lobby.

The Courtyard hotel in Fair Oaks, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. was the first to debut the new lobby. We’ll be ramping up the roll out of the new design beginning this year and even more aggressively in 2009. You can see a list to the right of which hotels will be offering the new lobby experience in the future.

Another exciting aspect of the site is the Courtyard News section, where you are right now. I will blog here whenever I can with my own personal thoughts and stories related to the brand and the new lobby. I’m also thinking of asking our customers to be guest bloggers too. In addition, this section will be frequently updated with the most current Courtyard news or announcements. And I have some exciting news for you right now: this year, Courtyard will surpass 800 hotels around the world.

I’ve been with Marriott long enough to say my first job with the company was back when we were also in the theme park business. In my many years at Marriott, I’ve never undertaken an assignment quite as exciting as this huge makeover. It has truly been a team effort for the past year or so, and I’m grateful.

This is my first post, but I have much more to tell you about the brand and where it’s headed. In the meantime, take a look around and let us know what you think.

That’s it for me today. Thanks for keeping Courtyard on the go.

Brian