Tru is a new hotel brand by Hilton focused on a younger generation. The select service property (this location in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee) trades design elements for cramped conditions. Does it work or is it patronizing (hint: patronizing)?
Location
Usually I give a nice little write-up about how to get to the hotel but I am such a Millennial that I just use Google Maps and it tells me where to go. Here’s a link:
2815 Teaster Ln, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863
A Note About Brands Chasing Millennials
Millenials (and the surrounding age groups) will displace Baby Boomers as they become the traveling professionals they are replacing. Hotels (and other brands) have to appeal to a new generation and sometimes this is done well, other times – not so much. Marriott decided some time ago that Millennials don’t want desks so they eliminated them. Depending on who you ask, I am a Millennial (I just turned 34) but let’s assume I am just outside the age range, I know plenty of them, I travel with them, not one of them is outraged by the presence of desks. Not one that I know has booked a hotel because they use emojis in signage.
Plain and simple, Millennials do want hotels that make sensible choices about the environment, they want flexible and affordable places to stay that bend to their needs and wants with technological compatibility with their lifestyle. Digital keys are an interesting start (though execution still suffers and it was not available at this brand new property) but TRUly high-speed internet is a really easy way to win them over.
Hotels, airlines – almost any brand – will have to adapt to the changing marketplace and their new customer base. But it’s no less condescending to a younger generation to assume that we will sacrifice basic hotel needs in exchange for sassy signage than it is to assume that baby boomers would prefer only offering the History Channel on hotel room TVs. It’s rude and it’s condescending and it doesn’t work. Make a hotel product that isn’t wasteful, has some tech updates and offers a flexible schedule and you will win their business, Millennials are still just travelers. I find it somewhat ironic that the definition of ageism has recently changed to a dual definition. Originally it was simply:
“unacceptable behavior that occurs as a result of the belief that older people are of less value than younger people”
but now also includes this second definition:
discrimination against people on the basis of age; specif., discrimination against, and prejudicial stereotyping of, older people
I think brands like Tru, while trying to embrace what Hilton perceives as the preferences of Millennials, in fact does more harm than good – it shows how out of touch they are. So without further ado, a completely eye-rolling review of the Tru Hotel by Hilton, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Sassy Soap! Cooool
At select service hotels (hotel verbiage for “not full service”) I don’t mind the hotel reducing waste by using large, fixed soap dispensers over single-use bottles. I often use half the bottle and leave the rest which can be given to a local shelter, but produces excess plastic waste. At premium hotels, I want the little bottles because the amenities are often much better and we like to take them home and try them on other trips. My wife and I have (several times) purchased products after trying them in hotels and carrying them around with us. In particular, after a stay at a full-service Hilton I bought Peter Thomas Roth soap. If we could afford it we would gladly use Le Labo at home that we find at Park Hyatt properties, but until then we are stuck with any alternative to KenetMD.
Regardless, this brandless soap was fine, but what in the world is “Not Soap Radio”? It was, in fact, soap for the record.
The bathroom itself was compact but clean and there was enough space to operate. The illuminated mirror is helpful and bright and the soaps used were fine. The bathroom was perhaps the highlight of the stay.
Plugs… Actually, This Was Great – IRL
Millennial guests do want outlets. This is true of all travelers. I have to say that plugs with USB outlets are helpful. I can’t suggest that I am outraged by the convenience of these plugs but I would not choose a hotel brand just to have them. The plugs were everywhere around the room which was really helpful. I do wonder, though, with the evolution of USB from the standard rectangular design used right now to the rounded USB-C ports that will soon become the standard – what will they do with all of these plugs?
Millennials Want Tiny Rooms 🙂
What is perhaps the most disappointing thing about this property and maybe the brand itself, is the incredibly small size of the room. I didn’t bring a tape measure for my six hours in the property but I would be shocked if the entirety of the room (including bathroom) exceeded 100 square feet. One thing that shows up in photos of huge spaces is the scale, but in smaller spaces it can be difficult to show just how small it really is.
I was standing at the edge of the bed for the above shot. You may be able to make out the little seat at the far end of the room with a work desk attached to the side of it. The air conditioner has a shelf that would support the weight of a stack of papers and nothing more over the top of it. The TV at the foot of the bed is huge (maybe 50″) though perhaps any TV would look massive at the edge of the bed. There is a pullout table/desk but no seat, I guess “us Millennials” will just bring that up to the bed and work on important documents. The bed was very comfortable, however.
Design Is The Most Important Thing – LOL
Is design important, yes, of course, it is. But not every guest under the age of 40 wants a color wheel vomited on the wall. Is it too much to ask for a chair that someone could sit in without a school foldout desk? Is it too much to ask for a room that is big enough to walk in? If my family had joined me on this trip, we would have checked right back out upon arrival. The room had design elements that were clean and modern (if not a little tacky) but the bottom line is that there was not enough space in this room for two people with two carry-on bags let alone a third.
And the whole thing seems so patronizing.
I don’t need space, just look at how cool the soap dispensers are.
I don’t want a place to put my clothes in the closet as long as the wall sockets have USB plugs.
This may have been my first and last stay in a room that was the size of some walk-in closets. I would have accepted such in New York City and London where space is limited. But this is Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, there were fields on either side of the hotel and space for days – it was an intentional choice and I am happy to book other brands from Hilton. They missed the mark for this Millennial.
What do you think? Are you a Millennial that loves this room? Are you a human of any age or size that requires normal livable conditions? Tell me all about it.
The irony of the soap label trying to be clever for millennials is that you’re all too young to get the reference to the “No soap, radio!” punchline of the ’80s. (It was a punchline that wasn’t a punchline, to which others “in on the joke” would laugh, making the target feel silly for not “getting” the joke.)
This trip may have been JUST to try the new brand, but if you need a place to stay in Pigeon Forge, I’ve had several good visits to the MainStay Suites. Good family facility. Simple but not fancy breakfast. Pool and “lazy river” out back. If you get over to Gatlinburg, have breakfast at the Log Cabin Pancake House.
Interesting background on the soap, though I am not sure the reference is targeting the right audience – or maybe just not me. I was visiting family on the trip so this accomplished a single night goal after a late arrival. I may go back with my immediate family and if so I will be shopping hotels and will check out your recommendation.
At least you had a “desk” which pulled out, Kyle. I would have liked to have had one; but instead, I had this strange double counter which was of little use and had no real functional purpose.
Please see my review of the original Tru by Hilton hotel property in Oklahoma City:
https://thegate.boardingarea.com/my-first-stay-at-a-tru-by-hilton-hotel-and-the-verdict-is/
Honestly, I really do not buy the whole millenial versus baby boomer versus whatever other age group when it comes to many things — including where to stay. There may be differences in general; but overall, we all want a comfortable place to stay with decent amenities to last for those six to eight hours out of the day in which we use hotel rooms.
We agree 100% – the audiences are different but not suddenly inhuman. Both still want a reasonable place to stay and this was an oversized closet with key card access.
Your criticism is spot-on, though I’d take it a step further and say it applies to modern design in general. You know, the cookie-cutter minimalism that is invading seemingly every public space and airport lounge in the world. Both my building and the building I used to work in in downtown renovated their public spaces in the same style (i.e. overuse of white marble, monotone grey squares all over, etc.), allegedly because it’s the “design that millennials want”. Except every millennial I know (except maybe Matthew) hates it.
Though I suppose to continue the patronizing theme, I’m even more puzzled by Hilton’s decision to put a millennial-inspired brand in Pigeon Forge of all places. The home of Dollywood seems about the most anti-millennial destination I can think of. P.S. I second the recommendation of the Log Cabin Pancake House.
The location was bizarre for this type of hotel, but I was even more confused about all of the families there. I will check out the Log Cabin Pancake House the next time I visit.
As a professional marketer (and Gen Xer), the one thing I’ve learned about marketing to both Gen X and Millenials is “Don’t spout bullshit.” I totally don’t get the whole positioning around the dumb quotes and saying that almost all the “Millenial Focused” hotel brands that are launching (Moxy, Tru, etc) seem intent on putting on everything. It’s as though the design team had an ideation meeting and then just put the output on the wall as “art”.
When I market to millennials, I assume that every interaction has a value and that in order to be relevant, I need to ensure that all points of customer contact add value. Whether a poorly designed room with good colors or a bad breakfast in a room with witty sayings, these failures to add value will do great harm in the long run.
I agree that it does more harm than good. I would have been happier without the snarky slogans everywhere.
I guess this baby boomer won’t stay at this Hotel.!Good luck with the spoiled brats!
Would I be one of those spoiled brats then…? I don’t want to stay there either.
I as a baby boomer can say without a doubt that they a spot on in designing a hotel we don’t want to stay in.
But Millennials don’t either. You still have to create a functional space, not just a closet with design elements.
Why would any corporation want to build a property that says “If you are above a certain age group we will design this property to make you feel as unwelcome as possible”? I second your emotion. I would never stay in this place in a million years. It is not as much the size (which I don’t care for) as the entire property says “If you are over 39 you just are not welcome here”. They, of course, don’t say that specifically. They say it in every other way.
Millenial here, one who actually works with hospitality brands.
This product is the result of an old Gen-X’er or Boomer directing this project and having literally no idea what the hell they’re doing and overcompensating all over the place. They basically saw what Aloft was doing and went all in, except Aloft gets a lot of the details right and Tru is completely clueless.
A surefire way to tell is when the hotel has no desk or desk like table space whatsoever. This is pretty much the definition of a non-millenial making a bullcrap assumption ‘Millenials work from their phones’ and dictating the product. (You’ll notice Alofts, Andaz’s and W hotels tend to have generous desks.) Nobody wants to charge their Macbook on the floor.
But on the whole, this is just a cheap slap of lipstick of the discount Hilton product. Most millenials would rather go to AirBNB.
I think that your comment most resonates with my perspective. It feels like they are so disconnected from what Millennials want that they are blindly guessing.
This brand is what you get when you have large companies that don’t have a clue trying to lead with bad ideas by people that have been around for who knows how long and they just refuse to listen to others that are more informed because after all, they know what is best and right. This is a fine example of arrogance and outright stupidity.
USB C has been around since 2014.. It will probably never be a standard on the charger side of the cable. More devices will use it but unfortunately most devices will continue to use USB A on the charger side of the cable – it has become too universal.
VGA was a standard too but now that has nearly completely gone away.
Gen X-er who has stayed at a Tru near the Salt Lake City airport and found it good enough for a one night stay when my flight was getting in late at night and we were on the road to Moab the next morning. I will admit to liking modern design in general, so ‘inspired by IKEA an three guys we hired away from Accor’s Ibis Styles division’ is fine with me, as was the room size when 8 of 10 hours spent in the property were on a reasonably comfortable mattress snoozing away.Bathroom was well-designed with lots of counter space and not much junk cluttering it up, and I don’t care what they call the soap brand as long as it cleans well and smells good, which it did. Breakfast was a big step up from a Home 2 Suites, and I was pleasantly surprised to see they used Lavazza as their house coffee brand.
Down sides- poor soundproofing, which should not have happened for new construction adjacent to an interstate highway and on the flight path for SLC, and the 60+ maintenance guy looked pretty dorky in his uniform hipster t-shirt.
The small room size doesn’t encourage me to book a long stay at a Tru in suburbia, but if you’re talking new, clean, and $30-$50 cheaper than a nearby Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn and for one or two nights, I’ll take it over most Choice or Wyndham options in the same price band, especially if there’s a significant difference in the age of the property.
I just won’t be back. Not even for $30-60 cheaper per night as you suggest.
I wouldn’t like this joint. I DO quite like Aloft properties. The wall soap dispensers are fine, IMO. Better than the individual containers. Usually I take my own but with carryon only , the size restrictions are an issue for more than a few days
I’m not sure what “truly high speed” really means. Is that for gaming or Facebook? Most places I stay , the speed seems more than adequate for ordinary activities, like email, web, video.
I doubt that the ‘race to the bottom ‘
in respect of room size, amenities, service provision has much to do with age: more likely an attempt to screw all of us, regardless of age, albeit in slightly different ways.
I also like Aloft hotels, but the rooms are quantifiably larger.
In terms of truly high-speed internet, the average speed requirement for streaming TV shows on Hulu or Netflix is somewhere around 20MB/second. I think it should be at least that.
I can’t speak to Tru but I have stayed in a number of Alofts and don’t care for them. The entire vibe of the place feels contrived instead of real. The rooms are usually dark (especially the toilet/shower area) and they only have blackout curtains which means when I walk in and want to change I have to turn on all the lights and lower the blackout shades to have privacy.
It looks like I’ll have to put Tru along with Home 2 Suites on my list of properties to try and avoid when choosing something from the Hilton family.
Coincidentally, the adjacent property is a Home2 from Hilton as well.
I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but I believe the (rather bizarre to me) concept is that their audience likes to hang out in an expansive, very social lobby and, therefore, doesn’t need a room much bigger than a bed/bath/tv. IMHO the lobbies of these cheapo places are not much more inviting than the rooms.
Hey there Kyle,
My name is Kahla Williams and I am the Director of Sales for both the Home2 Suites and Tru by Hilton Pigeon Forge. After finding your review online (that was actually sent to me from my husband – he’s always watchin’ out for me 🙂 ) we sent it up through the ranks so that your voice and comments were heard. Hilton is listening, and appreciates your feedback. Please feel free to make the response public, as we wish for everyone to know that we take great care and concern to your thoughts and opinions. Also, you’re welcome to contact me directly here at the Hotel anytime: 865-770-3283. From one millennial to another – take care!
“Hi Kyle,
We appreciate your thoughtful review of Tru by Hilton. We’re very sorry that you did not love your stay, and we want to take a moment to personally respond to you.
Developed from the ground up using consumer and owner feedback, Tru by Hilton targets a certain “segment” of travelers rather than a specific age group. This segment covers a broad range of travelers who span generations but think alike; they are seeking human connection and an increased emphasis on experiences. We found that what many of today’s travelers are looking for, but are not getting, is simplicity and value without compromising quality and design. This is a segment of travelers looking for better basics, more efficiently designed guest rooms and inviting common spaces to mingle and interact with others.
We were highly focused on driving more energy and activity into the lobby, making it a place for people to work, play, lounge or eat. While the guest rooms are smaller, ranging from 231 to 280 square feet, they are more efficiently designed and the bathrooms are comfortable with plenty of counter space and light. We’ve also found that vibrancy and freshness are important for a space. With Tru by Hilton, we’ve made a conscientious effort to make bold color and product choices to give travelers that vibrant experience they crave.
Tru by Hilton is committed to guest satisfaction and we are focused on incorporating learnings from our open properties to further refine and improve the guest experience. Tru by Hilton isn’t for every traveler – and that’s okay. The brand is part of Hilton’s broader portfolio strategy to have hotel options for guests at all price points and occasions. We hope to host you at another Hilton brand in the future that better suits your travel preferences.
-The Tru by Hilton Team”