JetBlue Puts Its “Blue” Spin on Training and Hospitality
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In March, JetBlue opened a new boutique hotel, The Lodge at Orlando Support Center (OSC). The four-storey lodge houses 196 blue-themed guest rooms, and features amenities with branded twists, including a 24-hour fitness facility, tailfin-shaped saltwater pool, outdoor fire pit, several sports fields, complimentary laundry services, a full-service on-site restaurant and a bar, fittingly called the Tailfin Bar. There’s only one catch: The hotel is exclusively for JetBlue crewmembers visiting the OSC training facility or the JetBlue University.
“JetBlue’s distinct culture literally starts from Day One,” explains Warren Christie, senior vice-president safety, security and training, JetBlue Airways. “Instead of ending collaboration as crewmembers disperse for the night, we can continue to build lasting relationships in our very own lodging facility.”
The unique hotel not only rounds out JetBlue’s Orlando campus, but was also designed with features of training facilities in mind. “We looked at other hotels, but we also looked at training facilities that were out there and tried to figure out the baseline,” explains Matt Rowan, senior associate at Gensler, the architecture firm that worked on the design concept.
Several aspects of The Lodge were designed with culture and sustainability in mind, including landscaping designed with minimal irrigation, use of city reclaimed water for the irrigation system, on-site citrus and herb gardens for the chef’s use, a refillable glass water bottle system to reduce plastic bottle waste, and more. “The sustainability and the idea of humanity went hand-in-hand together. It was really about creating this environment that makes as little impact day-to-day, through the rest of its existence. The rooms themselves are extremely efficient, beautifully designed. Much like an airplane, nothing is wasted.”
For more on the design concept behind The Lodge, watch the video below.
More airlines are venturing into the hospitality industry with hotels. Read “Fly Me to My Room” in The Culture Issue.