Suite Differences

Break the rules for luxury suites and baths, and build up a steady market for rates at the top of the market.

By Staff -- HOTELS Magazine, 8/1/2007

Design that works too hard to be over-the-top is the fastest way to the bottom of the luxury suite market. "Spending a lot of money for glitter and distraction misses the point and wastes money," says Nick Troubetzkoy, architect and owner of the 5-star, 49-room Anse Chastanet and its new 24-suite hotel-within-a-hotel, Jade Mountain, Soufriere, St. Lucia. "Space, privacy and quiet are the best investments in luxury travel," he says, especially when they are packaged in design that is not afraid to break the rules.

Peace & Quiet

Tourbetzkoy predicts a new generation of "unplugged" resorts. Jade Mountain's individually designed "sanctuaries" have no television, radio or telephones, although Internet is available upon request. With no fourth wall, they use the natural world to define a new sense of luxury-from the more than 20 species of sustainable tropical hardwoods used for the suites' flooring and trim to the customizable chromotherapy lighting that helps guests enhance their inner landscape.

Costa Rica's Gaia Hotel & Reserve bucks the trend toward family and multi-generational marketing with a clear focus on adults, particularly adults looking for a romantic escape. Though views of the ocean and rainforest are the focal points, these suites have a Euro-chic edge adults appreciate: Italian slate tile, Brazilian hard- wood shelving, Italian bathroom fixtures, 500 thread-count sheets and adjustable lighting. "A luxury suite needs to give guests the peace and total relaxation they wouldn't necessarily get at home," says Kimberly Barron, general manager. "The extra soft sheets are nice, but small design details such as the sliding Balinese windows between the living area and bedroom are key. They give the guest the option of having more space and light or closing down the space for a more private environment."

Urban Standouts

The legendary Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong is like no other hotel. Its US$140 million renovation played that up by eschewing pure modernism and mixing contemporary elements with references to the hotel's 1960s origins. In the Mandarin Suite, that meant wrapping the living room in paneled walnut walls, shifting to leather wall coverings for the entertainment room and anchoring the master bedroom with an upholstered wall in a colorful Chinese-inspired silk floral. New mirrors are juxtaposed with antiques and "odds and sods" of hotel furniture that got a new look and a new life. "The Gerard d'Henderson murals (once a fixture in the Mandarin Grill), the Qing Dynasty court robe and the Tang-style horse are the most remarkable elements. They are part of what differentiates the Mandarin Suite from the rest of the hotel," says Peter French, general manager.

Even at the top end of the market, suites like those in the Ritz-Carlton Beijing have an underlying informality. Interior designer HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, Santa Monica, California, balances the elegance of a crystal chandelier in the bathroom with a sleek, streamlined freestanding tub. Fine materials such as Calacatta flooring and Macassar ebony are no more important than functional innovations such as the desk-side safe wide enough for a laptop and equipped with a power socket. The result, says Michael Bedner, HBA's chairman and CEO, are suite "retreats" that command US$850 (RMB6,500) a night.

Spa-tacular Bathrooms

"Un tech" is the order of the day for the ultra-luxurious baths in Naladhu, Veligandhu Huraa, South Male Atoll. "Some bathroom fixtures are becoming user unfriendly in an over-eagerness to impress," says interior designer Julian Coombs, principal, Coombs Associates, Bangkok. "You have to figure out how to get the infrared light, foot lever, eye retina mixer to get water out of the spout, if you can recognize the spout in the first place."

What says pampering now, says Naladhu General Manager Christopher Stafford, is a 5-star green approach: waterfall showers that still minimize water consumption; a bathtub made of terrazzo that retains heat; a large steam room and soaps created onsite with local products. Coombs likes low baths or sunken tubs to create more of a spa feel and distance the experience from the typical at-home bath.

Most urban hotels do not even bother with bathtubs; it is all about the shower experience. The Westin Beijing's Renewal Suite offers the alternative. From its serene, earth-toned palette to the choice of aromatherapy products that recall the Orient, Arabia, India or the Mediterranean, this spa-like retreat is part of the reason guests see value for money at a US$500 rate. "Bathrooms aren't just places in which to clean up. That's why we have a bathologist and a bath ritual. I've had executives call me from other cities to say they can't forget the relaxing aromatherapy," says Charlie Dang, general manager.