GLOBAL REPORT—New hotels are no longer just about a place to stay. According to architects and designers who are creating some of the most acclaimed properties worldwide, hotels today are about unique, fully-integrated experiences that are based on well-identified guest tastes and preferences.
“Cutting-edge hotel architecture and design today really deal with the guest experience and enhance that experience on multiple levels,” said Eddie Abeyta, a principal and senior VP at Dallas-based HKS Hill Glazier Studio and the architect who designed the W Hotel Hollywood in California; he is now working on a JW Marriott convention center hotel in Austin, Texas, and a bold, modern InterContinental Hotel in Kunming, China.
That’s because at a time when consumers have unprecedented and constantly growing power over future market trends (thanks to the Internet and social media), hotel customers are making known what they want.
“That raises the pressures, the risks and the stakes,” said Daniel Pierce, a principal at Chicago-based hospitality design, procurement and branding firm Gettys, whose current works include the ground-up Radisson Blu at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota and Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa in United Arab Emirates.
As a result, Pierce said: “The projects that are being recognized today as being innovative or forward-looking are those that start to holistically address architecture, interior design and the design of the hospitality experience. They are the ones that are really thoroughly thought through, from the exterior to the interior to everything about the experience that a guest touches or feels. And when you have that kind of cohesive concept, I think that’s what truly results in a meaningfully innovative project.”
First impressions matter
Perhaps no other aspect of a hotel has undergone more of a transformation than the lobby.
“Every project we’re currently working on has a strong focus on the lobby experience,” Pierce said. “There’s an emotional quotient there. And most people enter a hotel and have their first experience in the lobby, so it plays a very significant role in announcing the brand and the experience. You only have a couple of minutes to convince a guest that they have made the right decision.”
For Pierce, Hyatt’s Andaz brand epitomizes what he considers true innovation. “Traditionally, the arrival and check-in experience has been physically constrained and impersonal,” he said. “There was a barrier—the front desk—between the guest and hotel associate. But when you walk into the Andaz on Fifth Avenue in New York, there is no front desk.”
Abeyta agreed that a new focus on lobby design and functionality is a key driver for a number of his recent and current projects. “Particularly with the W hotels in Hollywood and Dallas, there was a conscious effort to throw away that old kind of large, grandiose lobby concept and really make it feel more intimate,” he said. “The whole concept of a living room or a great room is not only apparent in boutique hotels now; it’s also being incorporated into larger hotels like JW Marriotts and Grand Hyatts.”
At the Radisson Blu in Chicago, instead of a traditional reception area, designer Jim Hamilton, creative director at Graven Images in Glasgow, Scotland, envisioned a warm social space with a fireplace and comfortable lounge furniture. “That was based on the guest experience, not what a hotel is supposed to look like,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton, Pierce and Abeyta also are innovators in the use of ambient natural light, especially in the ballrooms at the Radisson Blu properties in Chicago and Minnesota.
“Hoteliers are now finding out that given the option, a large majority of guests prefer natural light,” Pierce said.
“Using natural light helps to activate the streetscape outside and also gives you a better sense of orientation within the hotel,” Abeyta said.
Local color
A related and equally important focus is on what Hamilton dubbed “the indigenous qualities of a destination and paying homage to that location.” Most large-chain hotels in most major cities are interchangeable with any other destination, he noted, with little or no consideration of local uniqueness and flavor, which are now seen by guests as essential ingredients in their experience.
Abeyta fully embraced that notion at the W Hollywood. “It sits on a very distinct site,” he said.
“So as a result of that and the history of Hollywood, we really tried to engage Hollywood
Boulevard.”
At the JW Marriott in Austin, Abeyta is using local limestone in the façade and scenic views of the iconic Colorado River to exploit the unique local landscape.
In New York, Gene Kaufman, principal of Gene Kaufman Architect, P.C., used the location of the 68-room Hotel 373 on Fifth Avenue to command spectacular views of the nearby Empire State Building.
“That makes them one of the hotels that can offer that as a unique experience,” said Kaufman, who more recently transformed the old Atlantic Bank building at 960 Sixth Avenue into a new 167-room Courtyard by Marriott that will make its debut late this year, six months before his new SpringHill Suites by Marriott becomes that brand’s first Manhattan property.
“And even though the rooms at Hotel 373 are small and there aren’t a lot of amenities, that has made it an extremely popular and heavily booked hotel that appeals to a certain type of tourist, such as those from Europe,” he said.
In a post-recession and highly competitive marketplace, Kaufman also noted another important consideration in hotel architecture: maximizing value for the developer-owner.
“For example,” he said, “the new Courtyard in New York is on a great retail street with important frontage. So we gave almost the entire ground floor over to retail space, which will bring a tremendous amount of revenue to the owner, and put the lobby up on the third floor. And to do that, we cut a three-story-high space at the entrance so there is still a visual connection to the lobby. And we also created an outdoor terrace that expands the breadth of the experience. And what that means is more value for guests and the owner.”
