The “ Heavenly Bed, ” fi rst launched by the Westin brand of Starwood
Hotels & Resorts, has transformed the bed, a basic feature of any hotel
room, into a luxurious object of desire, enhancing the revenues of the
chain and leaving many hotel operators to follow suit with copycat linens and
custom bedding of their own.
The strategic process at Starwood began with consumer analysis and product testing. First,
Westin commissioned a study involving 600 business executives who travel frequently. The
results showed that 84 percent said a luxurious bed would make a hotel room more attractive to
them. What is more, 63 percent said a good night ’ s sleep is the most important service a hotel
can provide. Half of those surveyed said they sleep worse in hotels than at home. After testing
50 beds from 35 lodging chains, Westin developed its prototype all – white Heavenly Bed with
a custom – designed pillow – top mattress, goose down comforters, fi ve pillows, and three crisp
sheets ranging in thread count from 180 to 250.
Once the product was designed and tested, the fi rm introduced the bed with a carefully planned
marketing strategy. USA Today ran a story on the front page of its business section. The same day,
20 pristine white Heavenly Beds lined Wall Street up to the New York Stock Exchange in New
York City. Inside the Stock Exchange, Barry Sternlicht, the then Chairman and CEO of Starwood
Hotels & Resorts rang the opening bell and threw out hats proclaiming, “ Work like the devil.
Sleep like an angel. ” Meanwhile, at New York ’ s Grand Central Station, 20 more beds graced one
of the rotundas there, and commuters disembarking the trains were invited to try them out.
Similar events were staged the same day at 38 locations across the United States, tailored to each
city. Savannah ’ s event featured a bed fl oating on a barge down the river with a landing skydiver.
Seattle ’ s event took place atop the Space Needle. And to reinforce the message, a concurrent
advertising campaign asked, “ Who ’ s the best in bed? ”