China has a tremendous work force that has brought about an amazing push to build new hotels throughout the country. It started in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, and, as time went on, spread to the secondary and tertiary cities.


with Bilkey on the renovation of screen


siren Merle Oberon’s home in Acapulco for the family of Tehran’s Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and Bilkey discovered that Llinas had a special talent for selecting FF&E. The two became part of HBA Hong Kong’s core team of designers at a time when communist China was first opening up to international hotel design experts. Through HBA, they left their mark on properties such as The White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, one of China’s first internationally recognised five-star hotels. “There were all these pre- revolutionary guys working as architects,” says Bilkey with a smile. “They had never dealt with a western international hotel designer before. Their original design for White Swan was a cave! There were stalactites and stalagmites everywhere. We re-did the whole thing and put a lagoon in the middle. We took Chinese elements and blended them with contemporary design, and used traditional screens to divide space instead of placing them against walls. It was the first real international hotel in China, and


32 Sleeper China 2012


we set international standards from scratch. The White Swan was something very special.” One of Bilkey’s projects as Managing


Director of HBA’s Hong Kong office was Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. At the time, Hyatt only had Regencies and though owner New World Hotels wanted to work with the Chicago-based operator, a Regency just didn’t have the right cachet for the city’s new state-of-the-art convention and exhibition centre. “Oscar said that it had to be like the grand hotels in Europe,” remembers Bilkey. “It couldn’t just be another Hyatt: it had to be grand. And we designed it that way. We flew to Honolulu for a design meeting with Howard (Hirsch) and set the standards for Grand Hyatt.” Grand Hyatt Hong Kong remains one of the city’s best selling properties, both during convention season and for events in its ballrooms and F&B outlets. In the mid-80s Bilkey and Llinas decided


to open up their own company. Bilkey Llinas Design was founded in 1989 with its corporate office in Palm Beach, Florida.


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