Something For Everyone
Hotel Maya, Kuala Lumpur, marries business and leisure design into a sleek new retreat in the shadow of Petronas Towers
by Mary Scoviak, Contributing Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 10/1/2007
Few lifestyle hotels even purport to have something-for-everyone appeal. Kuala Lumpur’s 207-room luxury Hotel Maya is an exception. This 100-room, 107-suite boutique not only claims to be an “urban resort,” but delivers on that claim with a rich ratio of 60% corporate business, 40% leisure. Its international client base and US$100-plus rack rate prove how profitable it can be to mix business with pleasure.
“We saw a real opportunity for a boutique hotel that would cater to guests’ need for privacy and their wish to be secluded from crowded spaces,” says Adrian Tan, senior sale manager of this WORLDHOTELS’ Deluxe Collection member. That understanding was the driving force behind the operational and design decisions that differentiate this stylish independent from an increasingly crowded field of upmarket competition. “Hotel Maya is a resort in the city. It’s about relaxation, not commercialization,” adds Tan.
Spaces That Sell The Experience
Singapore-based Chan Sau Yan Associates (CSYA), architect and interior design, set the stage by carving out a calm, contemporary lobby clearly separated from the activity of the food and beverage (F&B) outlets. Guests leave behind the hubbub of the Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower and the surrounding commercial district and enter into an airy, free flowing space framed by gleaming metal and glass. They cross a pathway over flowing water into spaces where natural elements dominate.
The mood gets more personal as they pass between the inviting open-work screens that lend intimacy to the reception area. Instead of the long, linear counter most guests expect, Sonny Chan Sau Yan, principal, and his team wrapped the reception desk into a U-shape with chairs for guests angled toward each staff station. There are no queues, no cordons and no waiting for the next available front desk agent, just a brief rest before a staff member whisks the guest away to check-in his or her room.
No Place Like Home
Within the sanctuary of the rooms and suites, it is all about being at home. That’s as true for CSYA’s design focus on residential materials such as wooden parquet floors and creature comforts such as a sit-down stool in the rain shower as it is for services that include 24-hour complimentary butler service and the offer to press five items of clothing upon arrival at no charge. The layout takes advantage of floor-to-ceiling glass panels to suffuse natural light throughout the rooms. Although the contemporary furnishings have an urban edge, the strategic use of bold colors and uncluttered spaciousness of the layout convey the easy living feel of a true resort.
As in any high-end resort, the bathing experience is a high priority. CSYA reinterprets the glass walls of the lobby into a surround for the shower—not only to brighten the area, but to allow guests to unwind and watch television. Guests can banish any tension by asking the butler to draw a bath scented with any of four aromatherapy oils and to brew a cup of herbal tea. Even the natural soaps and amenities were created to fit the mood and muse of the hotel.
Local Flavor, International Accents
Offering a package that integrates unusual design, services and amenities is a key marketing point for a hotel that is looking for the broadest possible business base. Both the hotel’s corporate and leisure bases include a regional and long-haul mix of travelers, making it essential to offer more guestroom space and more pampering. The Middle East is the hotel’s number one leisure generator, followed by Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
That informs everything from the need for more suites to peak periods and restaurant menus. “March, June and November are our general peak periods, but, for travel that originates in the Middle East, the peak months are July, August and September,” Tan says. “International travelers prefer light refreshment. Locals go for heavier foods. Travelers from the Middle East and Turkey are to spend more on food and beverage. Female travelers like to the availability of a spa for relaxation. Everyone wants a contemporary, personalized, VIP experience.”
Chan Sau Yan shares many of the same priorities as the hotel’s guests. Although he grew up in Malyasia, he was educated in England and cites the works of modern Japanese architects such as Tange and Kikutake among his inspirations. Their powerful blend of materials—hard-wearing, reinforced concrete with traditional timber construction—gets a fresh interpretation in CSYA’s fusion of natural bamboo paneling and water features with expanses of glass and polished stone.
The designer’s expert blend of sleek furniture and subtle natural materials builds strong identities for the restaurants and bars. Spaces are designed to give guests real options. The Sky Lounge, open only to hotel guests, is a marble-clad retreat in the aerie of the 13th floor. Doubling as a library and a wine and cigar bar, Sky Lounge opens an important revenue stream for guests who want to control the level of socialization.
Even more contemplative is the Anggun Spa. The generous use of natural wood and the serenity of Kuala Lumpur’s only hydrotherapy pool with massage jets underscores the hotel’s leisure appeal. Tan points out the spa is intended as a complete escape. That meant not only juxtaposing aerobics with yoga and therapies with a high cardio session; it also meant including an organic restaurant that would give spa-goers and other health conscious guests one more reason to keep their food and beverage expenditures in the hotel.
As in nature, few aspects of Hotel Maya are blatantly obvious. From the spa to the restaurants and lounges, CSYA uses strands of bamboo, screens and architectural elements to stimulate guests’ curiosity and draw them through the hotel to the revenue generating outlets. Most of the seating, tables and banquettes are simple and streamlined, but selected to create the feeling of a destination—from the modern Japanese aesthetic of Still Waters, where diners sit alongside interior reflecting pools, as they would in an island retreat, to the cheerful, open buzz of the Ramah Tamah deli or the chic appeal of Maya Brasserie, which morphs from an a la carte/buffer restaurant during the day to an elegant backdrop for authentic Nyonya cuisine in the evening. “A boutique hotel like ours has to deliver more than comfort and convenience in a strategic location. It has to create an unforgettable experience that caters to the individual guest,” Tan says.
The Takeaways
• Reinforce the hotel’s “brand” throughout. Bamboo ceilings intensify the urban resort statement in a big way as did the extensive use of natural light. Uniforms, too, are less structured and formal to help bring the theme to life. “These are not the typical city hotel uniforms,” Tan says.
• Play the angles. The design team takes advantage of odd corners and unusual spaces to create secluded seating areas that open up revenue generating opportunities for sales of beverages and light fare.
• Divide and conquer. The Hotel Maya keeps it function space and meeting rooms as personalized as its service. The 300-person capacity ballroom can be subdivided into three separate function areas for smaller groups or six meeting rooms. In the board room, the focus is on a breath-taking view and the cool, clean lines of a gleaming table and sculpted chairs.
