FEATURE: HILTON WORLDWIDE
CONRAD ALGARVE
In Europe, Conrad has struggled to achieve the brand recognition and traction with owners it enjoys in Asia but Hilton is hoping that will change with the recent launch of a new flagship hotel in New York and two key projects in Europe which promise to enhance the brand’s profile. In Europe, Conrad Istanbul is being refurbished, and there is another development under way in Dublin. Conrad Algrave also opened this Autumn. Located at Quinta do Lago resort in Portugal, the contemporary 154-guestroom Conrad Algarve is set in the Ria Formasa National Park, just a short distance from unspoilt beaches and popular golf courses. Striking architectural design has been teamed with a modern interior and the hotel has collaborated with internationally-renowned architectural firm Sigma acting as concept architects, as well as distinguished Portuguese interior designer, Miguel Cancio Martins who carried out much of the initial design work. The construction architect was Rui Grego of Palmer Grego Arquitectos. Kate Long of Rethink Interiors saw the project through to completion working closely with Chris Webb, Senior
Director of Interior Design for Global Design Services Europe at Hilton. A Moorish theme influences the hotel’s design, which has been carefully constructed in the form of an 18th century Portuguese palace, with features including bespoke artwork and lighting. RHA Furniture supplied and installed furniture in all public areas, spa and the many suites, including custom joinery. The palatial concept of the hotel architecture led to fantastic spaces for the interior design concepts to be developed. The feeling of a grand palace is carried from the atrium
reception area through to the conference facilities, and F&B offerings with each area having its own sense of place and unique style, including Gusto by Heinz Beck. The Lago Lounge has an impressive over-scaled bar, inspired by old fashioned Oshkosh Trunks, which can open fully during opening hours, and closed securely when the bar is no longer open. The Louro Restaurant embraces the Mediterranean climate Portugal is so renowned for and is a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere in hues of olive green and orange.
“The Global Design Services function,
led by Celia and Chris is fully integrated into the European Architecture and Construction team at a tactical level, whilst functionally they’re reporting to Global Design Services which sits under Larry Traxler in the States – this ability to be organised globally from a strategic perspective, whilst retaining the ability to act as a seamless regional project delivery team is the key to the success of this type of structure,” explains Gordon Coles. “This structure is replicated in the other regions in terms of an Architecture and Construction team, which is the single point of contact with the owners and development partners, and a Global Design Services team which works with the project delivery team in terms of overall design and the quality of product.”
“We all feed back into the same source,”
adds Celia Geyer, “so we share information internally on a global basis to understand what we’re doing in different regions from a design perspective.” The Architecture and Construction team
for Europe is organised into two distinct project management teams – one for the delivery of Capital Expenditure projects (‘capex’) in the existing portfolio of hotels, the other for delivery of new hotels coming in to the Hilton Worldwide system through the development pipeline. A team of dedicated Project Directors operate in these two project management teams, with each Director managing a number of projects on the ground from inception to completion. Geyer explains: “From a development perspective, during the process of a deal
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being signed, a Project Director will be assigned, who becomes the single point of contact for our development partners team and is essentially responsible for co- ordinating and managing the input from all the different disciplines within Hilton, of which Global Design Services is just one. In Global Design Services, we also review projects pre-signing to make sure they will be brand compliant. So we then give feedback to the development team and that gets fed back until the deal is finally signed. We then look after the design side of things as the project moves forward until the day it opens, whether it be from an architecture or interior design perspective.” On capex projects: “The capital
expenditure budget gets agreed every year with our Real Estate and Asset
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