If Marriott feels like moving forward, hotel guests may soon spend less time looking out the window and more time focusing on the centerpiece of any hotel room, which is the bed.

The global hotel marketing giant with more than 8,000 global properties has been a recent leader in the areas of “synergy” and “efficiency”, which, to put if frankly, is cutting costs for its hotel owners. Admittedly, the brand’s latest idea must be applauded for its audacity.

With the “enhancement” of many loyalty programs perks, Marriott is finding new areas for growth by potentially turning one room into two. How? Well, that’s something you’ll have to see to believe. For city dwellers in places like Tokyo, it’s not hard to imagine.

A Couch bed?

Apparently people regularly walk into hotel rooms these days and wonder “wow, there’s just too much space in here”, so Marriott has an idea to relieve people of those concerns and eliminate all of that unnecessary space.

First there was the well known “Murphy Bed”. Then, Terrence Conran envisaged a studio apartment where a couch could seamlessly transform into a bed and back. Today, Marriott wants to turn hotel beds into sofas, and vice versa again.

Marriott is testing a mechanical device that, with the press of a button, a hotel bed would rise into the ceiling and in its place, transform into a sofa. See, no need for all that extra floor space or heavens forbid, having a separate sofa and bed.

The change would allow Marriott to add rooms to preexisting properties, thanks to the reduced need for floor space. This would allow the company to impress the people who actually own their hotels, yes, that’s correct, it’s not usually Marriott, with the potential for increased revenue each square foot.

There Is A Market For The Couch Bed/Sofa Bed

Japan basically trademarked the pod style of hotel where guests stay in what’s effectively a large drawer.

On the budget end of travel, space is not often the greatest demand. However, if Marriott can find an acceptable way to make this concept fun, there will be customer buy in. Similar concepts already exist, but it’s interesting to see Marriott’s vision.

Would this concept roll out to midscale and upscale properties? Hopefully not.

If this were purely about space and a new budget brand, there could be a lot of excitement around it, but with Marriott it’s almost certainly about maximizing revenue. So, don’t be surprised if the price of your favorite hotel remains the same, but you end up with a seemingly smaller room and one piece of furniture serving as two

Oh, and hope no one accidentally hits the button while you’re on a Zoom.