As companies go, Starwood Hotels has their act together. I just had the pleasure of being their guest at the Sheraton Waikiki along with several hundred of their top customers. There was the normal wining and dining …well, “normal” is maybe not the word because the hospitality, food quality, and level of service was superb. The Starwood top brass seemed sincere in listening to their customers in order to make themselves even better partners. They also debuted some things they have been working on for years that will keep them ahead of their competition.

Remember the “Heavenly Bed” and how it changed the way hotels thought about their basic service, a place to sleep? The notion of custom made beds that are more comfortable than the ones their guests have at home has become a requirement for hotels to stay competitive. After what they called that “duh” moment, as in “duh, hotels should have comfortable beds”, they decided to do the same thing for that extremely important but rather boring item, the banquet chair. And once again they have changed the game.

Starwood partnered with the Pratt Institute and held a competition for industrial design students to come up with a revolutionary banquet chair that will change the game. After a year and half, taking into consideration comfort, price, weight, stack-ability, and a slew of other criteria, they came up with an amazing result… a meeting and banquet chair significantly more comfortable than the chair that has essentially been in use for 50 years. Duh. They just ordered 50,000 of the patented chairs and will be distributing throughout their system. The winning student received one million Starwood Points. Cool.

They also showed high-tech presentations filled with exciting globalization facts that were meant to inspire us as to how quickly the world is changing and how Starwood, a global company based in the USA, is ready to prosper in the Brave New World. And anyone who didn’t would be left behind. I wonder about the unexpected consequences of a billion additional people looking for the comforts and stability of a middle-class lifestyle but these corporate events are more about motivation and getting on the bandwagon then serious philosophical discussions that may affect sales.

I even had a brief conversation with their CEO, a very bright, articulate guy who is a believer in the power of the Brand and how Starwood is positioning itself to appeal to the Gen Y generation, and even his daughters teen generation behind them. I recommended he read a book called Captains of Consciousness that describes the process that invented modern marketing and public relations in the early 20th century.

The Captains of Industry had a problem in that they had gotten so efficient at making things, they did not have enough customers to buy them. They hired some “experts”, created think tanks, and came up with the notion that they needed to break up the traditional family into “discreet wage earning units”, minimize the elders traditional role as heads of the family in charge of purchasing decisions, and instead focus on the younger generation. There very scientific conclusion was that they could appeal to the younger workers and convince them that new (and improved) was good, tradition was, well, so “old”, and that the wisdom of their elders was really holding them back from the future, which was now. Old people were just not with it.

The marketers knew they had to infuse the consciousness of the youth with the belief that one’s sense of self-worth was derived from outside oneself. Want that job, you need white teeth, want that girl, you need that new car. If your age is less than your annual salary (in thousands), you are falling behind. There are enormous economic, environmental and psychological consequences associated with this new science, but… Better Living Through Chemistry. :)

The unintended consequences of a consumer society after several generations can be may be worth discussing over cappuccino, but distracting when your entire being is devoted to selling hotel rooms as lifestyle choices. So…back to business.

The Sheraton Waikiki just completed a huge renovation and thanks to their GM, Kelly (arguably one of the best GMs anywhere), the place gets my resounding thumbs up for your large meeting or incentive. It’s one of those cast of thousands kind of places, but Kelly and his staff somehow have figured out how to make it welcoming. Kudos.

Right next door, the Royal Hawaiian has undergone an absolute and complete makeover and is not only restored to its former glory, it has far surpassed it. I had stayed there in the late 70’s when it had definitely seen better days. We had a gecko in our room back then and the hotel staff told us that was good because they ate the cockroaches and mosquitoes. So I guess we had an upgrade. It is now part of Starwood’s Luxury Collection and perfect for a high-end meeting or incentive, or for your VIPs. Beautiful event space, both indoor and outdoor. No geckos that I could see.

And just a short walk down the beach, the Westin Ala Moana has been beautifully restored as well (it was built in 1901) and feels something like a southern mansion on the beach. Also a great choice for smaller meetings and incentives.

After the conference I took the short flight over to Kauai to see what was up. I looked at a lot of hotels but essentially there are only two places to stay on the island. The St. Regis at Princeville on the north shore is a “wow” property. So much so it is hard to adequately describe. It is not for the faint-of-budget, but if you have a high end incentive and are willing to take the 45 minute drive from the airport, it is, well, a “wow”. The weather is a little more “iffy” on the north shore, but that is why the area defines “tropical paradise”. Great views, great beach, great service, and there are a zillion things to do within 15 minutes of the property.

Well, no nightlife. At least what most people consider night life. I, on the other hand, have some hippie genes in me, and the town of Hanalei is one of those where half the population seems to be massaging the other half, people tolerate young men who can’t drum to save their lives, and everyone smiles a lot. There were musicians performing in the equivalent of the town square (sixties music) and after dark they inflated a big movie screen and the town showed up to watch, talk, meet, laugh and in general, just be. Hang loose.

The other property worth considering, on the south side of the island, is the Hyatt Regency Kaui. With over 600 rooms and a ton of indoor and outdoor function space, it is the place for larger groups, or for meeting planners that begin to sweat when the St. Regis quotes rates. It’s beach is more for surfers than swimmers, but there is a great swimming beach a ten minute walk away, the golf course is across the street, and they have a really, really nice pool area.

OK. Enough for now. On to the next thing!

To view photos from my trip, visit my photo album on my Facebook Page at www.facebook.com/thecramercollection.