I’m not meaning to be a sassy jerk, but I’m curious if I’m the only one who feels this way?
Continue reading: EDITION Hotels Marketing: I Wish I Were This Confidently Delusional
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I just don't get why every one of the major hotel chains is having to accumulate 30 brands under their umbrella, such that the issues you write about here are even a factor (i.e. to have to artificially "differentiate" the totally actually unmemorable just-created brand somehow, even though it's run of the mill undistinguished slap-the-name-on-a-box).
Unless it's because these hotel chains are actually no longer in the business and interest of providing hospitality, but rather financial engineering companies primarily focused on revenue generation via franchising, according to some cookie cutter recipe into whatever market and street corner is yet unoccupied with their logo.
Someone's been going to the Tim Dunn School of Opinion-Based Fact Fluffing...Marriott and Delta are leading the way in hubris PA marketing.
For what EDITION's charge, "it was perfectly nice" should be a complaint, not a compliment. Totally agree with you on all accounts.
As far as properties that are "entirely unique," shouldn't that tag line be allocated to Autograph Collection, since those are supposed to be "local" properties.
So much by way of fake news releases these days. Really depressing. Thanks for shining a light on this, Ben.
They ARE the greatest thing ever. Believe me, it's true. Many people are saying that. I stayed at the EDITION in Tampa, and I had the hotel's GM come up to me. Big, tall guy, tears in his eyes, and he said to me: "Sir, the destination fee is $40."
Maybe they could reallocate their resources from PR to actually improving the stay for guests. Then again, making things better for guests isn’t the Marriott way.
Singapore in general doesn't really do luxury very well. The Raffles (one of the S'pore properties I've been using since '88) ranks up there, as does the Fullerton (from what I've heard; I've only been inside that building when it was the Singapore Post Office) and Fullerton Bay.
But otherwise, the more well-known brands I've used seem...adequate (Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Shangri-La, and the like; never stayed at the Ritz-Carlton). The Hilton (if you want to be kneecapped by the desk in your room) and Marriott are the Hilton and Marriott, and that's all I can say.
I don't know; Conrad Singapore (low tier luxury in Singapore) is probably better than any US hotel I've been to, with the possible exception of WA Beverly Hills. Their lounge absolutely blows away any US lounge I've been to.
What I find most off-putting about their marketing is the forced capitalization of the name. Marriott can do what it wants in its branded materials, but have you ever considered spelling it as "Edition"? (I'm not being snarky; it's an honest question). I find it really jarring to see an ALL CAPS emphasized word in the middle of sentences throughout this article and others.
Languid day beds? Really?
“Alas, I shall languish away on a languid lounger lest I levitate, leaving the lurid lunar lander of the skypark.”
I stopped staying at EDITIONs when I realized they’re all the same and being basic while selling that as luxury minimalism…
Respect your experience, TravelinWilly. Also, I've had exceptional service at Raffles and the Capella on Sentosa. Admittedly I've only been doing it since 2020, so I've got less tenure than you. But they have both treated me very well.
I've never created a dating profile for myself, but if and when I do I want to hire the EDITION marketing team to do it for me
So we're upset that businesses do marketing now?
Of all the things to be pressed about, this really takes the cake.
You are familiar with capitalism, right?
And you know that hotel chains are for-profit enterprises?
The goal is to make money.
Hospitality was never the goal. Hospitality is what they pretend to do to fool suckers and losers into parting with their money. They have to do a decent job of playing pretend, because investors love recurring revenue (customer retention).
On a good day, Marriott brand hotels are just ok. They're a case study in how to take a great program in SPG that had hugely loyal customers and reduce the entire experience to "meh". One of the better loyalty decisions I made was to burn thru my points and switch allegiance
Forgot to mention, I was there that day, I saw the whole thing. This GM, let me tell you about this guy. Big guy. Strong guy. Probably 6'5", maybe 6'6", I don't know, could be taller. Muscles like you wouldn't believe. Big hands. Powerful hands. Strong hands. Saw him walk up to MikeR777 and I said, "Is this guy gonna cry?" And he was. Tears coming down his face. This big, strong guy, biggest muscles you've ever seen, and he can barely get the words out. The tears are really flowing now. This guy never cried before. Never. "Sir," he says, and his voice is cracking, very emotional, "Sir, the destination fee is $40." And people were gathering around. So many big strong men. All of them crying too. Can you believe it? This is what the EDITION does to people, folks. Nobody's ever seen anything like it. Nobody. Believe me.
I'm about 6'2.5 and on my driving license it says I'm 6'3. That's marketing.
If I were doing what EDITION is doing, I'd be saying I'm 8'3.
Dude yes 100%. They are always overpriced for every market they are in. I just got back from Rome, the EDITION there was the same price as the Hassler. The Hassler! In no world is that justifiable.
Spoiler alert I did not stay at the Rome EDITION. Just checked the prices.
@Points Adventure - Using US hotels are the reference point for quality is a pretty damn low standard. Of course when you set the expectations that way, almost any hotel on the planet is gonna look good. That doesn't make it an actually good hotel.
There's a difference between "marketing" and over-selling.
Also, I'm not sure how much "marketing" the hotel really needs to do once you're already in your room.
If AI is our new travel agent, is this just written to market itself to other AI?
Thanks for the photo of your room, @Ben, it reminded me of any Ibis out there 😀
That is partially about attracting franchise hotel owners, rather than just being about consumer needs.
There's a combination of having enough brands to convey certain price points / brand standards for a given market (but you don't need 30 brands for that), and also having multiple options for high-density markets that target slightly different consumers to attract hotel owners to pay for Marriott's brand (and one of their concepts).
The Fullerton is insanely overrated. The rooms are small and not particularly nice and the whole place seems stuck in the late 70s.
The Madrid Edition probably charges an extra fee for being directly in from of CortyLandia, a department store's animatronic holiday show that runs all of December. I couldn't imagine anything less Lux than a chucky-cheese show every half hour in front of my hotel
You have to admire it at a certain point. Marriott has somehow convinced a steady stream of people that the incredibly mediocre NY EDITION is somehow worth $1,000/night avg. Truly impressive
Guest's aren't Marriott's clients (or Hyatt's or Hilton's).
The franchisee property developers are.
Totally 100% agree!
EDITION is wayyyyy too expensive for what it is, Only know from my previous stays 3 properties and only 1 really deserves an outstanding TOP rank for me!
Bodrum EDITION, TR … not only because of the nice design and superb Service, but it was a good all in all stay experience (plus free breakfast) at this property. Dubai … in my eyes a total fail for astronomical prices, a simple room upgrade as a Titanium Elite member, attentiveness was on the level of a bad Hilton City Hotel. Miami Beach EDITION, the complete chaos in all over US (supposed to be) Luxury Hotels i’ve ever stayed at. Outstanding prices, charges for no to very little in return and fees that you think you would make a down payment on any purchase of the property!
EDITION a BIG fail for my in all ways, with the 1 exception on the Bodrum property.
EVERYBODY should know that Marriott brand is NOT delivering as you would expect for the rates charged!
Benefits, i would even prefer a Waldorf Astoria in the same area if i had the choice! WA … same as W or EDITION … is totally overrated and overpriced in my travel world!
If you like a rip off, then chose those brands but to me … totally overvalued in any way!
If i pay Luxury prices, i expect something in return … EDITION sure does NOT deliver such things!
Glad i read your article about Singapore EDITION … it just confirms my totally shocking experiences too!
There are more than two dozen hotels in Manhattan that charge the same amount and deliver sooooo much more.
That's pretty much it. We're entering the AI ouroboros era. Except instead of eating it's own tail, it's f___ing it's own tail.
The ask for reward stays at Edition hotels is outrageous. Almost always the highest number of points of all Bonvoy hotels in any market they are in.
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You nailed it. I’ve stayed at Edition West Hollywood and Rome. Both properties totally fine in terms of hard product. Good location.
Everything else is meh. I find that Edition seems to have fewer employees around to service guests (could be wrong). The employees also have a bit of an attitude in how they deliver service - a “too cool” vibe. This was especially true at West Hollywood location.
For the price - Edition is a total joke. I’ll never stay at one again.
Can you specify what they are over-selling?
They are using PR photos and language, that's to be expected of all businesses.
Excuse me, but the opening of the remodeled Raffles Singapore was “An enchanting oasis of true luxury lifestyle that is not yet seen in Singapore”. The Edition hotel? No so much.
Marriott Bonvoy is a joke. Hit them where it hurts. Do not spend on a Marriott card out of habit, but only after you've concluded it's more beneficial than putting the spend on a transferable points or cashback card. That goes for all airline and hotel programs. They are counting on simps to continue to blindly spend on their co-branded cards while they continually promise more and deliver less with every program "enhancement.".
@jetset
And having multiple brands so that exclusivity areas for existing hotel owners are not a constraint !
Over-the-top language, which significantly misrepresents actuality. There's "puffery" in marketing, and then there are claims that make your eyes roll. Smells like Teen AI....
The 1Hotel and Virgin Hotel chains do the same thing. They present their pleasant but generally overpriced experiences as completely revolutionary. While savvy travelers see that correctly as fluff there are a lot of folks who buy into the hype of Edition, Virgin, 1Hotel, etc so it’s worth the cringe for the management
I’m not 100% certain but I believe that EDITION hotels are all owned and operated directly by Marriott.
What I must say is that while they are pricey, they rarely are the most expensive option in each of their destinations. They’re also consistently comfortable and functional, which is something very hard to come by when picking hotels. Heck, even Aman can’t guarantee that level of consistency. I just think of it as Aman-lite, and when you frame it that way, the value just skyrockets.
Contrary to most people, I actually really like EDITION hotels - at least in the few (6) that I’ve stayed in - the spaces always feel private and vibes are usually pretty good. Lighting is always just absolutely perfect. Comparing with other brands who tend to go for these kind of vibes, Aman is usually way too dim and Como is way too bright.
We live in a world driven not by service or actual quality but rather by marketing and illusion of premium. Rather than spend more to make a product premium it's far more profitable to just do nothing to the product and spend marketing $$ to see us it's premium. Frankly, I blame Apple and LV for revving up the marketing industry. 99.999% of you probably believes iPhones are very premium, made from the best quality and deserves the price but none of you actually digs down deep to examine all the parts. If you did you would know that apple for over a decade often uses cheap inferior parts. For example, for many many years they/foxconn used cheap antennas and subpar chips. But few people look that deep. LV is the same making you think that French craftsmen stitched that$20k bag by hand when it's a low wage workers in China using questionable materials.
So now we deal with companies who says nonsense like your online cyber security is our primary concern. Well we know that's a shovel full. If they did they wouldn't hire outsource, allow your data to be stored offshore or transit out of the country or criant spend serious $ to tighten their infrastructure or hire executives that even know what that means.
Just another example of marketing folks having no ethics. Same goes for Marriott, really.
I’m not 100% certain but I believe that EDITION hotels are all owned and operated directly by Marriott.
What I must say is that while they are pricey, they rarely are the most expensive option in each of their destinations. They’re also consistently comfortable and functional, which is something very hard to come by when picking hotels. Heck, even Aman can’t guarantee that level of consistency. I just think of it as Aman-lite, and when you frame it that way, the value just skyrockets.
Contrary to most people, I actually really like EDITION hotels - at least in the few (6) that I’ve stayed in - the spaces always feel private and vibes are usually pretty good. Lighting is always just absolutely perfect. Comparing with other brands who tend to go for these kind of vibes, Aman is usually way too dim and Como is way too bright.
3rd time commenting as it keeps going into random threads… sorry, I’m not spamming I promise.
I’m not 100% certain but I believe that EDITION hotels are all owned and operated directly by Marriott.
What I must say is that while they are pricey, they rarely are the most expensive option in each of their destinations. They’re also consistently comfortable and functional, which is something very hard to come by when picking hotels. Heck, even Aman can’t guarantee that level of consistency. I just think of it as Aman-lite, and when you frame it that way, the value just skyrockets.
Contrary to most people, I actually really like EDITION hotels - at least in the few (6) that I’ve stayed in - the spaces always feel private and vibes are usually pretty good. Lighting is always just absolutely perfect. Comparing with other brands who tend to go for these kind of vibes, Aman is usually way too dim and Como is way too bright.
I don't understand why you are complaining. Clearly something is working given that you continue to stay at em.
It's selective outrage to garner clicks.
80% of this marketing language is used at his favorite brands like Hyatt and Qatar.
At the end of the day, none of this does anything. It's not like there's material change as a result of anything talked about here.
I mean have you never seen advertising?
Burger King makes its food look all juicy and fresh vs what you actually get at the store, which is wilted and depressed.
It's bizarre to complain about something so immaterial like how a company markets itself.
I absolutely agree, and EDITION is one of my favorite hotel brands probably only behind Park Hyatt and Andaz. It could be personal preference, but the overall experience for me at an EDITION is much better and more enjoyable than a Ritz Carlton or equivalent, and there isn't an EDITION I've stayed at that I wouldn't aspire to return to (Tokyo Toronamon Hills, Tokyo Ginza, Bodrum, Singapore, etc.). I really don't understand the hate!
Copy writers are paid to churn out marketing drivel. Of course the client should probably rein it in, but in reality it does not happen. It is an issue in all industries, the marketing agency is paid to make everything sound like the grandest thing ever. Has Apple stopped referring to their phones as being magical?
There is an endless list of examples that are as bad as this if anyone cares to compile it. Not that it would be a very valuable use of time. Just skip the marketing drivel in the future.
I like EDITION hotels and have had great stays in LA, London and Tokyo (Toranomon). All had a good vibe, nice public spaces and strong F+B. I’ve had drinks at the Miami and Madrid properties, but didn’t stay at either as they were too expensive. The only property I didn’t love was NY Times Square.
I get that it is a polarizing brand for Bonvoy Elites, but if you are booking cash through STARS you get breakfast and a credit. In LA as a Titanium with a STARS booking I was upgraded to a massive suite.
Ok, sure. But this rises above and beyond. It would be like a Berlin whorehouse saying that they'd invented a new kind of orgasm.
I've literally stayed in Hyatt Place suites that look like the final photo in this post.
No shade to Hyatt Place, of course, but they don't exactly claim to be the greatest, most innovative hotel brand in history. 😛
I'm not convinced that Singapore has an issue with service levels. Last time I was there, I stayed at the Grand Mercure Roxy (chosen for easy access to Changi). It's definitely just an upscale property, but it was a really good experience and phenomenal value - spacious rooms, sea views, very solid breakfast, and the concierge team were extremely helpful with a rather unusual request that I had to make. I really don't think it would've been possible to have a better stay, regardless of price point or hotel brand.
@justindev , exactly. Ben actively supports providers which behave in that way. Pan Pacific obviously is a major player in SIN, their reference to high-end service* is all about looking after the guests, but it's not enough for him to switch away from a brand that he claims to find underwhelming.
* This is the text for anyone interested: 'True luxury is unspoken, and comes from deep understanding of what our guests want and need. You'll be pampered by our experienced team who works tirelessly to ensure that your stay is a memorable one. With our warm gracious hospitality, you can rest assured that you'll be taken care of throughout your time with us.'
I didn't need to experience the Marina Bay Sands to know that it's a great hotel to look at, not stay at. Every person I know who's stayed there tells me the same.
What do you expect? It is brought to you in partnership with Ian Schrager. Whose hotel concepts, although trendy, were far from unique. The lobbies are, maybe, the only distinct component. The rooms were typically tiny and sparse. It is not surprising that you single out Edition. Bonvoy pumps them up to be ultra-premium. Meanwhile, the rooms are mediocre, and the public areas simply have better lighting than the competition.
The picture of the room says it all. Singapore is expensive - please tell me that the room cost $100 or 10,000 points.
Any hotel in my book just has to be convenient, clean and cost effective. I dont plan my holidays around a hotel. Im only there to sleep.
No it really does not. It just the usual drivel that marketing people, no offence, seems to think works.
And you never know about Berlin whorehouses, they might actually do just that..... 🙂
Was at the Edition times Sq during Christmas last yr .used points & free 85k point certificate.
This yr was about 50 k more points & would not let me use certificate? Of course I know supply & demand
but… booked another very similar hotel that let me use 85 point certificate!
Can always use my points and book another hotel
Singapore was already luxurious and over the top before the EDITION came in. It isn't better than the Peninsula or Mandarin Oriental.
A most enjoyable read — though with AI and ChatGPT now quietly ghost-writing much of the hospitality world’s marketing, we should brace for ever more of this genre. “Better” writing, yes — commas immaculately aligned, adjectives strewn like rose petals — but also “better” in that curious modern sense: language so superlative it might practically plump the pillows and dim the lights itself. One imagines the brief simply read: sound magnificent, regardless of the architecture or décor.
I stayed at an EDITION once and found it distinctly underwhelming — the minibar was well-stocked, the sheets respectable, the thermostat obedient — yet the décor lacked artistry and the architecture felt resolutely mid-table. On paper they promise individuality, designer vision, and next-generation luxury; in practice, it was more “neutral designer boutique chain” at a premium price. I haven’t returned since, and I doubt that will astonish you; you, too, know precisely what one is getting with an EDITION. Their prose may soon reach sonnets of AI-assisted eloquence, but the experience remains what it always was — prose wrapped around a perfectly ordinary pillow, attended by staff so ethereal you begin to suspect they’ve been trained to appear only after you’ve checked out.
Still — one must admire the confidence. Few brands can offer a massage so lacking in warmth yet still manage to make you feel you should leave a tip and your dignity at the door. Fewer still can serve instant coffee with the ceremony of a state funeral and invoice you for the privilege.