Somewhere in the past year of two, or perhaps even longer, Marriott International passed a key threshold that should serve as an apt lesson for other hotel companies and even individual properties.

At a press event in New York recently, Mike Jannini, Marriott’s suave and well-spoken senior vice president of brand management, articulated a new corporate philosophy—at least it was new to me—that shows how the company has radically shifted its outlook on what’s important in the properties it operates or franchises. In response to a reporter’s question, and in an off-hand way, Jannini explained that the company’s standards have morphed from uniformity to consistency.

That’s big news. Fairly or not, the perception of Marriott to travelers, owners and operators has long been that it would tolerate nothing less than what is written in an operating manual, design specification or franchise agreement. Again, the perception was “my way or the highway.” One can’t argue with the results, however, as Marriott is consistently viewed as the most successful company in the business, with the brands most coveted by owners, developers, franchisees and most importantly, travelers.

What Jannini was saying is that in a marketplace that has shifted in terms of traveler demographics (they’re getting younger, more diverse and increasing female), the emphasis must be on serving customer needs in the way customers define them, not how the corporation defines them. What’s important, for example, is that the guest feels he or she had an overall great sleep experience, not that the sheet thread count is 300, or 400 or whatever.

While this is the kind of philosophy that all hoteliers must adopt if they hope to keep abreast of the market, it’s also a lot harder for a behemoth like Marriott to monitor, control and adjust as needed. But, failure to do so—especially at the property level—means the race will pass you by.

An upbeat, puckish Barry Sternlicht accepted a prestigious award from HSMAI earlier this week in New York. In doing so, an uncharacteristically forthcoming Sternlicht revealed a few more details about the luxury Crillon brand his company, Starwood Capital Group, is launching.

It must be the liberation of heading a private company versus a public entity like Starwood Hotels, but Sternlicht didn’t display the usual guarded, sometimes-snotty demeanor he displayed as chairman of the hotel company. Still, Barry’s off-the-cuff remarks in accepting the Alfred E. Koehl Award for lifetime achievement in travel advertising showed his continuing love for hotels and for those in the design and creative sides of the business.

“It will be a five-star brand with a distinctive European style,” Sternlicht said of Crillon. Flagship and namesake of the brand is Starwood Capital’s Hotel de Crillon in Paris. “The French have a lot of style and passion. We’ll build on that but also add our own innovations.”

He said to expect future Crillon properties to have Baccarat suites and Taittinger champagne lounges, reflecting two other brands Starwood Capital owns as part of the its Societe du Louvre luxury goods division.

Sternlicht also revealed that Starwood Capital will soon announce a new luxury resort brand to complement the Crillon flag.

In accepting the award, Sternlicht reflected on the launch of the groundbreaking W Hotels brand while he was at Starwood Hotels.

“People always compliment me on our launch of that brand, but in reality we initially only had $1 million to spend on advertising,” he said. “We did it all with public relations. We made a lot of noise about the brand.”