A Sense Of Place
Guests’ desire for an experience unlike home, and very like their destination, influences hotel design.
By Lisa Bertagnoli, Contributing Editor -- Hotels, 5/1/2008
 |
| The shark tank in the Hotel Gansevoort South’s lobby is a “fun treatment,” that lets guests know, without a doubt, that they are staying near an ocean, says designer Andi Pepper. |
Guests might not realize it, but the 60-ft.-long (18-m-long) shark tank in the lobby of Miami Beach’s Hotel Gansevoort South fulfills two design functions. First, “it’s a fun treatment that makes guests want to linger,” says designer Andi Pepper of New York-based Andi Pepper Interior Design, who did the project.
Second, the shark tank lets guests know, without a doubt, that they are near an ocean. And that is the single most important trend driving hotel design: Giving guests not a cookie-cutter, are-we-in-Ohio-or-Oahu feeling, but a definite sense of place.
“They want something authentic, an experience that speaks to where they are,” says Cheryl Rowley, principal of Beverly Hills, California-based Cheryl Rowley Designs, which specializes in luxury hotels. But the desire isn’t just at the luxury level. Generation Y is hitting the road now, Rowley explains, their suitcases packed with the conviction that travel should be a big adventure, but not necessarily an expensive one.
And they are sharing their experiences with the world. Tell-all travel sites such as TripAdvisor.com “are making an impact on design decisions,” says Robin Goddard, spokesperson for WATG, the Seattle-based hotel design firm. “Hotel developers, owners and designers must pay attention to this—or lose out in the competitive marketplace.”
Local Color
 |
| Guests expect technology such as flat-screen televisions to equal or exceed what they enjoy at home. |
 |
| Hoteliers continue to spend lots of design money on income-producing areas such as restaurants—like his one at JW Marriott Almaty Hotel in Kazakhstan. |
 |
| Local stones and materials will add a sense of place to Hilton’s 330-room Jordan Gate, opening this year in Amman, Jordan. |
One way to help ensure authenticity, and a sense of place, is by using local colors, materials and design aesthetics. “Local materials are playing an increasingly bigger role in what we’re doing,” says Lia DiLeonardo, principal at DiLeonardo International, the Warwick, Rhode Island-based design firm.
Jordan Gate, a 330-room luxury Hilton hotel scheduled to open in Amman, Jordan, in 2009, will feature local stones that hark to the history of amber in that region, DiLeonardo explains. Along similar lines, a project in the Caribbean will feature local coral stone.
In the United States, the Bardessono Inn and Spa, a 62-room hotel opening in 2009 in Yountville, California, will feature materials that reflect the surrounding environment, says Goddard, including concrete, wood and stone all from within a 500-mile (805-km) radius of the site. Specific finishes will include walnut-wood floors and Sonoma cast stone in guestrooms, California Bay laurel guest desks and recycled redwood in the porte-cochere, entry, lounge and private dining room.
“There is global demand for authenticity,” Goddard says. “Super-affluent luxury consumers, in particular, don’t want just the latest Louis Vuitton purse. They want a unique product and experience.”
Drawing inspiration from local art also lends authenticity and a sense of place. Textiles at the 175-room JW Marriott Almaty Hotel, opening next spring in Kazakhstan’s largest city, will echo patterns and colors from that region, says Betsy Hughes, associate designer in the Atlanta office of HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, an international design firm. “The Kazakh people had really intense, saturated colors,” Hughes says. “We’re bringing in a specific motif and weaving it into carpets and pillows.”
There’s always an exception that proves the rule. The HBA-designed Ritz-Carlton Beijing Guohua, which opened in late 2007, is strictly Western. “It’s based in 18th century English style—the grand elegance, if you will,” Hughes explains. Opulent fabrics and woods abound, and the 300 guestrooms are equipped with what Hughes calls “real technological advances,” including motorized draperies. The hotel, Hughes says, is the first Western-designed hotel in Beijing.
A Paler Shade Of Green
The trend toward use of local materials and art meets the need for sustainable green buildings, another consumer desire. Again, it is the younger generation doing the driving. “Green is just one thing the new generation of socially responsible people expects,” Hughes says.
 |
| Cold is out but cool is in: Designers punch up monochromatic backgrounds with hot colors. Here, the lounge at JW Marriott Almaty Hotel. |
 |
| International properties, for the most part, still say “luxury” with traditional design, such as in the Presidential Suite at JW Marriott Almaty Hotel. |
One way to go green: Restore a landmark property. “One of the most creative and holistic approaches to sustainability is through adaptive reuse,” says Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer of San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. The firm is currently working on its 11th adaptive-reuse hotel, the Hotel Palomar in Philadelphia.
For new hotels, however, green has its limits: It is common enough to be on customers’ wish lists, but not so everyday that green materials are readily and inexpensively available. And green products often come with a choice. One example is bamboo, a durable alternative to hardwoods. However, bamboo’s green appeal is dulled by the fact that it must be shipped to sites, using fossil fuels.
Cost remains an issue. “We have clients who are interested in developing green programs and finding they cost significantly more,” Rowley says. “We’ve seen those commitments dwindle.”
Bob Olson, president and CEO of Irvine, California-based R.D. Olson Construction, agrees. “There’s clearly a push” for sustainable building and design, he says. However, “the question is, 'What is the customer willing to pay for?’”
One promising development, relatively common in Europe hotels, is the use of a relay switch. Guests control the power to their rooms with the use of their key card. The technology, Olson says, adds US$500 to the cost of each room, and given the acceptable return on investment for hotels, the expectation would be that the device would save US$60 in energy costs per room per year. “We’re not seeing it—yet,” Olson says. “We’ll be heading there as energy becomes more expensive.”
Budget Minded
 |
| Kimpton’s eco-friendly Hotel Palomar in Los Angeles features energy-efficient lighting and watersaving fixtures. |
Not just energy costs but construction costs in particular have designers and builders seeing another trend: sticking to the budget.
“Every client we talk to says 'no budget,’ but on day 30, there it is,” quips HBA’s Hughes.
Olson knows why. “Construction costs have gone up significantly over the last four years—we haven’t seen this in 20 years,” he says. Concrete and steel prices remain sky-high, while prices of structural wood framing, high in the past due to the housing boom, have settled with the housing market slump.
As a result, “we’re always looking for ways to contain costs,” Olson says. Hoteliers are reluctant to cut costs on finishes, flooring and other touches immediately accessed by customers, but have found ways to save on electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems.
Rowley finds that her hotel clients hold to their budgets by reducing the amount of art at a property. “Art programs have been cut on the last projects we’ve done,” she says. Cutting-edge technology, such as mirrors that convert to television screens and elevators walled with TV screens, are being excised from budgets as well. Hoteliers prefer to spend money on high-return areas such as food and beverage outlets,Rowley notes.
Easy Does It
 |
| Designers are creating rooms that match a property’s location: Rooms at Kimpton’s new Vu Hotel in lower Manhattan feature urban furnishings and abstract art. |
Super-high-tech features might be falling victim to tight budgets, but high-tech touches, especially those that customers enjoy in their own homes, are essential.
“The idea is to re-create the feeling people have at home,” Olson says. Must-haves include big flat-screen televisions, plenty of accessible (not tucked behind a dresser) ports for phones, MP3 players and other devices, and a workspace with Internet access. Another high-tech amenity: Room cards that double as restaurant/minibar charge cards.
The caveat? Technology can’t be coy; it has to be organic and immediately workable. And the same goes for overall design. Time-crunched guests, be they professionals, Generation Y-ers, or families, do not want to take time figuring out their hotel rooms.
As a result, “design is more thoughtful,” Goddard says. It takes into consideration not only where amenities are placed, but where guests can store personal items, hang their towels or robe, and plug in their appliances.
“The goal,” Goddard says, “is to make the answers so natural that the guest doesn’t even think about how to use the space.”
Direct comments to: lbertagnoli@comcast.net
|
View All Blogs
