LOCATION REPORT
DESIGN
UBERALLES
n a notoriously competitive hotel market, travellers to and
I
within Germany continue to benefit from affordably priced
accommodation in comparison with the rest of Western Europe.
Data from STR Global, supplier of market performance
information to the global hotel industry, shows that for 2009,
Germany’s average daily rate was €80.38 compared with an average
for Western Europe of €102.51. A 21.5% difference is meaningful. The
new hotels we review here face a difficult time with occupancies in 2009
down 4.3% on the previous year, according to STR Global.
Against this competitive backdrop, differentiation through design
plays an important part in positioning these properties. A measured
approach towards interior design is taken at the Hotel Louis in Munich
and the boutique restaurant-with-rooms of Ketschauer Hof in the heart
of the Riesling vineyards of south west Germany. Hild und K and Bost
Berlin, respectively, have taken a curated tack in developing subtle
stories of world travel and oenological analogies at these two hotels to
give their designs a narrative thread.
At the other end of the spectrum, both Roomers in Frankfurt and
the Kameha Grand Hotel in Bonn have taken bold but wildly differing
routes. Interior designer Oana Rosen brings a feminine touch to the
masculine interiors of Roomers where the bar and spa provide a very
different focus from the city’s usual corporate hotels. In Bonn, the
expressive talents of Marcel Wanders have been used in a newbuild
property that is as dramatic in its vast interiors as it is bold with its
sustainability programming. The appointment of Marcel Wanders at the
Kameha Grand Hotel is the only non-German architectural and design
appointment in the hotels we review. The result? A radical design for a
hotel strongly orientated towards meetings business.
Despite the competitive nature of the market, there is still plenty
of new supply, much of it again distinguished by its innovative design.
According to Lodging Econometrics, there were 84 projects under
development across Germany at the end of Q3 2009. In Berlin
particularly, new hotel openings are coming thick and fast, with the
recently opened Cosmo, Casa Camper and Michelberger hotels soon
to be joined by Soho House, The Weinmeister and the Scandic Berlin
Potsdammer Platz. Elsewhere Jumeirah is set to open its first property
in continental Europe in Frankfurt in late summer 2010. Also in
Frankfurt, UNStudio have won a competition to design a 110m tall
hotel tower, housing a 405-room Grand Hyatt hotel, being developed
by Vivico Real Estate GmbH.
WWW.SLEEPERMAGAZINE.COM MARCH / APRIL 2010 041
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