Rev Up Revenue

Design is unlocking the money-making potential of wasted spaces and under-marketed treasures in hotels from Beverly Hills to London.

By Mary Scoviak, Design Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 4/1/2007

Whether looking for incremental revenues or working to reposition a hotel, design is one of the most effective tools for building a better bottom line. This month, HOTELS looks at the Dylan in Dublin, Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, and the May Fair in London to see how they designed specifically with revenue generation in mind.

F&B With Flexibility

A small footprint does not have to mean limited profit potential. Interior designer HKD, Blessington, Wicklow County, Ireland, gives Dublin's 44-room Dylan entrée into the meetings/function sector and expands its F&B options with a versatile, sleek, urban boardroom. Wrapped in charcoal gray and accented with a futuristic grid of red tubular lights, this polished, ground-level room easily morphs from a sophisticated setting for a high-level meeting to a business-building venue for private lunches and dinner parties. To facilitate faster service, the design team installed a dispatch window directly to the bar.

The designers developed highly individualistic identities for the Still restaurant and the Dylan Bar to give the hotel more to sell. Still is chic, all-white and tranquil. HKD shifts the mood dramatically for the bar. Dylan Bar is an amalgam of "mini bars" defined by different furnishings and finishes-from the metallic sheen of the Pewter bar to the seclusion of some strategic, Alice in Wonderland-inspired oversized chairs. This is the kind of difference that delivers. HKD principal Nigel Howard says the restaurant is full "most nights," and the bar is a hot spot for guests and locals, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Mixing Business, Pleasure

Before launching the US$80 million renovation of the 570-room Beverly Hilton, owner-realtor Beny Alagem and Hilton Hotels asked travelers what they wanted most. "The team behind the hotel's revitalization understood that leisure time is fast becoming the ultimate luxury. Our focus was to anticipate the sweeping changes affecting today's business traveler and deliver the necessary tools to enable them to combine business with pleasure," says Denny Fitzpatrick, the hotel's general manager.

Designers HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, Santa Monica, California; Michael Smith Interior Design, Newport Beach, California; and EDG Engstrom Design Group, San Rafael, California, worked with Santa Monica-based Gensler Architects to upgrade the entire hotel into a virtual business center. "Guests and planners wanted a tech-savvy hotel. We even added copious power outlets in the lobby and bar spaces to make it easier for guests to recharge right along with their laptops," Fitzpatrick adds.

Even big hotels have micro opportunities for opening up incremental revenue. Adjacent to the lounge, Le Chateau combines the sensuality of wine and chocolate. With its flexible seating, warm woods and welcoming aromas, this small jewel draws connoisseurs as well as guests and locals looking for an alternative to the traditional bar ambience. Its easy floor plan builds in more revenue potential. The sommelier can reserve this space for a private tasting reception for up to 75 guests.

Made For The Market

Armed with a US$146 million budget, Radisson Edwardian saw an opportunity to restore London's iconic May Fair to its former glory and incorporate new tools for capitalizing on its 21st-century profit potential. "The turn of the century was the time of the boutique luxury hotel," says General Manager Charles Oak. "London saw a clutch of wonderful, but small, hotels making all the running. With the May Fair we are leading a renaissance of the big hotel-with all the facilities that discerning customers demand."

The re-invented May Fair combines the saleable style of a boutique with the service menu and size only a larger hotel can provide. Radisson Edwardian targeted changes that would answer measurable demand. Focus groups conducted with clients over six months spurred the decision to double the size of the meeting and conference rooms to 16,000 sq. ft. (1,486 sq. m), double the number of meeting rooms to a total of 16 and expand rooms capacity with an additional wing of 120 guestrooms, bringing the total to a convention-worthy 406.

Beyond the Crystal Room's Baccarat chandelier (the largest ever built by the company for a public space) and shagreen-style wall coverings or the Danziger Suite's glass-roofed atrium, Radisson Edwardian wanted a draw that would make it unique. It found the solution by linking the hotel's two largest function rooms directly to the remodeled May Fair Theatre with its cutting-edge technology for private screening of films and Individual Audience Reaction Controls.

Bridging demand among meeting planners and transient travelers for more luxurious accommodations, Michael Attenborough, head of design for Londonbased Radisson Edwardian Hotels, carved out space for 10 edgy but elegant new suites. "I loathe pretension," Attenborough says. He makes a modern luxury statement by giving guests a fresh sort of elegance defined by glass, slate, leather and even a pony hide-inspired chaise in the Penthouse.