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W Goes Brand Loco

Today's Wall Street Journal focuses on W Hotels seeking new and interesting partnerships with consumer brands--essentially taking the hotel beyond room and board, spa and restaurants.

We already saw the brand jump into bed with Yahoo! by offering the Yahoo! Link service at select Sheratons but the hotel chain is going even further.

One such partnership is with Victoria's Secret Lingerie line that would give guests discounts on bras and underwear as well as be able to score tickets to the label's sizzling fashion shows.

Another partnership (not yet finalized) with Time Warner media company would place a Los Angeles bureau of the consumer mag, Entertainment Weekly, in the W Westwood Hotel.

The hotel will also serve as the hub for AOL's celebrity interviews and video clips which can later be streamed online only for Starwood Preferred Guest's eyes.

Additionally, other mags under the Time Warner label will be available in-room at other Starwood Hotels, but will be charged like a mini-bar item. You break the seal, you buy it.

More possible options for guests include 10-minutes free calling cards from Sprint, early screener versions of movies for which guests give feedback and content from the Cartoon Network for the the Westin Kids Club.

With all this around, we wonder if Starwood even wants to be in the hotel business anymore?

Related Stories:
· Starwood's Secret [WSJ, sub. req'd]
· Yahoo!Link@Sheraton Debuts Today [HotelChatter]