Design
As guests become increasingly curious about the places they visit, owners and designers are reacting in kind. Andrea Valentino talks to Tina Norden from Conran and Partners and Anne Becker Olins from Accor to learn how the art hanging in hotels is actually chosen, the importance of heightening a property’s atmosphere, and why the future might involve fewer ultra-expensive showpiece works.
Down to a fine art I
t may sound odd in our boutique-built world, but the most popular hotels were once those that lacked a sense of place. Rather, they were properties that offered you the same quality of service, the same crisp sheets, the same cocktails in the bar, whether you’d just landed in Bombay or Berlin. They were buildings that could steer you, with a gloved hand and a smile, away from unfamiliar local customs and towards the comforts of home. The most admired hotels were once places like the Hilton. When the world’s first chain began in 1949, the firm’s eponymous founder promised his guests breathtaking uniformity everywhere from bookings to room service. As Conrad Hilton put it with characteristic bluntness: “Each of our hotels is a little America.” These days, hospitality has moved well away from this model. The watchword on the industry’s lips, even for conglomerates like Hilton, is ‘personalisation’.
No longer can owners and designers insulate customers from the sights and smells of the outside world. On the contrary, hoteliers are increasingly keen to tug that culture through the lobby doors, using art to conjure atmospheres that speak to the deep history and customs of a particular place.
And why not? At a time when 81% of guests want local experiences when they check in, according to a report commissioned by hospitality technology company, Alice. And when that sense of personalisation can boost a hotel’s revenue by 6%, as found by Qubit, it makes sense to design a property with specificity in mind. Yet, if this is the aspiration, the execution is far from simple. To drag a property from initial press release to final opening requires careful planning, as well as thoughtful collaboration between designers,
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Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
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