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To Secure The Future of 'Edition' Hotels, Marriott's Putting Its Money Where Its Mouth Is

January 19, 2012 at 9:08 AM | by | Comments (0)

Though we felt some faint ripples in the Edition pond back in October, it looks like things are moving along at a pretty steady clip. The WSJ is reporting that Marriott has invested $800 million of its own money into three of the five new Edition hotels it hopes to open over the next three years (Hmm, haven't we heard this one before?).

Those three properties include: the Berners hotel in London; the Seville Beach Resort in Miami; Abu Dhabi; Bangkok, and, of course, New York's Clock Tower (above). Consider Waikiki and Istanbul the "test drives" of the Edition brand. Now, it kind of comes down to a do-or-die situation. Either the five new hotels soar, or they sink fast. But with so much of its own money at stake, and Ian Schrager's reputation on the line, Marriott should certainly have the momentum it needs for lift-off.

Interestingly, this news comes after the announcement of Bill Marriott's retirement, and subsequent replacement by Arne Sorenson, who will officially move from COO to the CEO position this year.

By enticing third-party owners to the nascent brand, Sorenson hopes to secure investors for future Edition hotels in places like LA and India.

"To sit and show a prospective hotel owner the Clock Tower building [in New York] and tell them we're buying it and putting in hundreds of millions is a very comfortable thing for them.

Launching a new brand is obviously a special art. To get this thing going we thought it made sense to step up and take these projects."

If forking over $800 million in real estate and renovation money is what Sorenson considers an "art," then we hope Marriott's been practicing a whole lot since the Waikiki mess. To say the least, we're very curious to see what the future holds for Edition.

[Photo: BostonCityWalk/Flickr]

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