Embassy Suites is transforming with new designs, beach resorts and luxury city hotels
Something good is happening at Embassy Suites — and we’re talking about more than just Fresh omelettes, made to order, included in nightly rate.
Forty years after the first Embassy Suites opened in Overland Park, Kansas, the brand is charting a new course — one that brings the full-service chain, popular with both business and leisure travelers, to modern. With fresh new aesthetic designs and new properties in major cities, alongside full-blown beach resorts, Embassy Suites is, dare I say it, getting cool. (That is, Embassy Suites might have the nicest rooftop pool in one of the country’s major “it” cities: Nashville.)
But how did this once sleepy brand reinvent itself? By adapting and combining tried-and-true brand pillars with groundbreaking innovations, this timeless hotel brand remains as relevant as ever.
Related: Hilton CEO on new brands, heritage and the booming Hilton Honors business
Same breakfast, new kitchen
“What hasn’t changed is what people know and love about Embassy Suites,” Bonnie Campagnuolo, brand director of Embassy Suites by Hilton, tells TPG. These tried-and-true perks include complimentary hot breakfast, two complimentary drinks at the hotel’s daily evening reception, and an all-suite experience that gives guests a chance to unwind. “You’re not expecting an upgrade. You know you’re going to have a spacious room.”
About what Have What is changing and has changed, says Campagnuolo, is the design of buildings.
Traditionally, many Embassy Suites rooms are designed around a central skylight, which, according to Campagnuolo, “is not the most efficient way of building in the world today.”
Over the past 10 years, the brand has built new Embassy Suites with new designs, along with renovating most of the rooms in the collection to add larger rooms, more modern decor, more counter space, modern technology, new in-room amenities and more local touches.
From the beach to the boardroom
Among newly built properties, Nothing stands out like the downtown Nashville location.
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Housed in a 30-story building near the convention center, the sprawling Embassy Suites offers 506 all-suite rooms (including rooms with balconies), each designed in a subtle country motif (think: walls that look like they’re covered in reclaimed barn wood and moody photographs depicting musicians on stage, a nod to the city’s musical roots and massive entertainment industry.)
But what’s most interesting is how the hotel has figured out how to broadly cater to both business and leisure travelers, two groups Campagnuolo says find Embassy Suites appealing.
In Nashville, business travelers are just across the street from the Music City Center and its endless list of conventions and conventions, while the hotel boasts 32,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor meeting and convention space. For leisure travelers (or business travelers who need to de-stress), there’s a glass-enclosed rooftop pool with panoramic swimming views, the city’s tallest rooftop bar and restaurant, and an ideal location just a short walk from Lower Broadway’s honky-tonks, the Country Music Hall of Fame, sports and concert venues, and more.
“This is a really special location,” said Campagnuolo, explaining that a hotel of this size has to be in “the right market to work.”
Another special feature of Embassy Suites is the beach — and a series of Embassy Suites beach resorts have attracted the attention of people looking to travel domestically and internationally, including to a surprising destination: Aruba.
“When you think about Aruba or any resort destination, if there’s any meetings business happening, or any incentive travel happening in that market, if it’s a strong family travel market and there’s space to build larger rooms, then we’re probably the right fit.”
In Embassy Suites by Hilton Aruba ResortGuests can enjoy the complete beach vacation with Embassy Suites style: start the day with a complimentary warm breakfast for the whole family, relax poolside in the cabana with a cocktail or poolside lunch, or take the private underground walk to Eagle Beach, where the resort has palapa-style lounge chairs and umbrellas.
“The beach properties are really great, and you think about having more space, having a great pool [and] “You don’t have to worry about breakfast,” Campagnuolo said, adding that other beach properties to keep an eye on include new construction in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Panama City, Florida, along with the renovation of the Embassy Suites by Hilton Deerfield Beach Resort & Spa in South Florida. “This gives us the opportunity to expand the amenities to make the hotel a destination in its own right.”
Work and play
Before COVID-19, Embassy Suites was ahead of its time in combining business travel with leisure (dare I say bleisure?). But Embassy Suites 2.0 is trying to perfect that… whether or not we use that cheesy term.
“Whether you’re a solo traveler or a family or a couple, if someone has something to do on your trip, it’s nice to be able to make a call… without having to be next to the bed,” Campagnuolo explains, noting that new details like more counter space, more surfaces, and more storage space during Zoom calls are all top priorities for the brand.
Technology is also on the radar of Embassy Suites — and Hilton in general.
Over the past few years, Hilton has upgraded its in-room and on-property technology with its Connected Rooms program, integrating a variety of smart technology features into rooms and the Hilton Honors app. This allows guests to stream their favorite TV shows, control the room temperature and lights, use their phones as digital keys, or communicate directly with the front desk to request items or services.
“A lot of things come from Hilton [and] Campagnuolo told TPG that “when you use the Hilton Honors app, it’s like opening the door or “being able to communicate directly with the hotel instead of having to call, you just say, ‘Hey, can I get some towels? I’m going to be out of the room for the next couple of hours.'”
Many Embassy Suites hotels, like most Hilton-branded hotels, can also confirm connecting rooms before guests arrive, giving large groups or families needing more space the opportunity to know exactly what their room situation will be like in advance.
With this momentum, Embassy Suites plans to continue to grow, renovate, innovate and seek out new locations that “have demand from all types of markets” and could allow for real estate development in exciting destinations like Nashville and Aruba.
In Dubai, that manifests itself as a dual-branded hotel, a trend Hilton is capitalizing on, where two different hotel brands are housed in the same building and share many amenities but feel distinct and separate. In this case, Embassy Suites claims the upper floors of a property near the world’s tallest building; Hilton Garden Inn occupies the lower 20 floors.
While that particular hotel, located in the commercial district of Business Bay, will likely appeal to a wide range of business travelers and tourists looking to be close to attractions like the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Mall, the hotel’s standout feature is its view. “On one side of the building, you have rooms with balconies that look directly out onto the Burj Khalifa,” Campagnuolo explains. “So on New Year’s Eve, those rooms have a direct view [of the] Fireworks.”
4 decades in the making
The future is bright, but this is also a year for Campagnuolo and Embassy Suites to reflect. On May 1, the company celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first hotel in Overland Park, Kansas.
“We’re quite unique in that the first hotel in this brand is still “And we have … a handful of team members who have been with the hotel the entire time.” Others, she explains, have gone on to work at the corporate level, run their own hotels, or move into other areas of the hospitality industry. “The family atmosphere and the relationships that are built over the years that these people have been at these properties is amazing to witness.”
So whether you’re a loyal Embassy Suites customer who can order an omelet like a Waffle House chef, a longtime employee, or someone looking for a convenient and affordable hotel brand (one you can book with points), Embassy Suites is staying true to what’s worked and working to find ways to evolve and meet the needs of travelers wherever they are — and wherever they’re going.
“People have memories with this brand, which is great,” Campagnuolo says, “and [they are] keep building those things.”
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