**Skift Take**
Design Hotels, a Marriott-owned brand, operates more like an exclusive club for boutique hotels, with 60% of its owners being first-time hoteliers. Under the leadership of new managing director Stijn Oyen, the brand is refining its strategy to support these unique properties.
**By Sean O’Neill**
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**A Unique Approach to Boutique Hotels**
Stratis Batayas, a first-time hotel owner in Greece, excels at creating unique guest experiences but lacks expertise in global hotel marketing and distribution. To bridge that gap, he joined **Design Hotels**, a Marriott-owned brand that offers a network of resources, including consulting services and events. His hotel, **Manna**, a luxury property housed in a restored manor two hours from Athens, is one of the 300 hotels in the Design Hotels portfolio, 60% of which are run by first-time hoteliers.
Stijn Oyen, who took over as managing director of Design Hotels in January, recently spoke with Skift about the brand’s evolving strategy.
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**Design Hotels’ Expansion**
Founded in Europe several decades ago, Design Hotels is now expanding its presence in North America. This year, the brand added 10 new U.S. properties and now has over 25 hotels in Mexico. Notable additions include **Firmdale’s** 69-room **The Warren Street Hotel** in New York City and **Drift Hotels** in locations like Santa Barbara and Nashville.
To strengthen connections among its hotel owners, known as “Originals,” Design Hotels created a new position this year: Global Director of Brand and Community.
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**Introducing “The Studio” for Marketing Support**
In October, Design Hotels launched **The Studio**, an in-house creative agency designed to assist hoteliers with branding and marketing. Consultants visit properties, learn about the hotel’s story, and then provide recommendations for website design, rebranding, or digital marketing campaigns. Several European hotels are already using The Studio’s services.
The brand also has a global sales team that helps hotels secure bookings from corporate clients and travel management companies. In 2023, Design Hotels hosted 49 events, and Oyen plans to increase that number by 30% next year.
Additionally, the brand offers tailored pricing, distribution, and PR strategies. Oyen sees potential in collaborating with “like-minded lifestyle” brands and has created a new role, Global Director of Partnerships, to explore these opportunities.
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**Loyalty Program Integration**
Oyen is also working to integrate more Design Hotels properties into Marriott’s **Bonvoy** loyalty program, which aims to offer members unique, non-generic hotel options. Currently, just over half of Design Hotels properties are part of Bonvoy, a significant increase from only four hotels in 2018.
Oyen’s background as a general manager at properties like **W Barcelona** and luxury Marriott hotels in Mallorca gives him credibility among boutique hoteliers. However, some hotel owners remain hesitant to join Bonvoy, fearing that association with a major hotel group could dilute their boutique image.
Despite this, Oyen believes that the growing competition in the boutique hotel sector will encourage more owners to join. According to **The Highland Group**, nearly 60,000 branded lifestyle and boutique hotels are expected to open between mid-2023 and 2027.
Oyen also wants Design Hotels properties to contribute to **Marriott Bonvoy Moments**, offering exclusive experiences that go beyond typical hotel stays. For example, a hotel in Nashville might offer guests a bespoke leather jacket-making workshop paired with a private concert in a luxury suite.
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**Looking Ahead**
Oyen’s vision for Design Hotels is to focus on selective, high-quality growth. “It’s as much about the visionary behind the property as it is about forward-thinking design,” he said. While the average Design Hotels property has 60 to 70 rooms, Oyen emphasizes that the owner’s vision is more important than the size of the hotel.
The brand is looking to expand beyond its current 60-country footprint, with a particular focus on strengthening its presence in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Greater China. Oyen is adding dedicated resources to support this growth.
“We’re in a very sweet spot,” Oyen said. “Design Hotels was a pioneer in purpose-led, experiential hospitality decades ago. Post-Covid, we’ve seen a surge in demand from travelers seeking authentic connections with local culture and memorable experiences. It’s a shift from material luxury to a more profound, enriching experience.”
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**Accommodations Sector Stock Index Performance Year-to-Date**
**What am I looking at?**
This section tracks the performance of hotels and short-term rental sector stocks within the **Skift Travel 200 (ST200)** index. The index includes publicly traded companies across global markets, such as international and regional hotel brands, hotel REITs, hotel management companies, alternative accommodations, and timeshares.
**The Skift Travel 200 (ST200)** aggregates the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth over a trillion dollars.
[See more on hotel and short-term rental sector performance.](https://data.skift.com/skift-travel-200/accommodations)
[Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200.](https://research.skift.com/skift-travel-200-methodology)
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**Source:** Skift
Source: skift.com