Tag: Hotel Art
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The Milford's New Hallways Will Transport Guests From Times Square To SoHo
A hallway mural at The Milford New York
The re-designed rooms at The Milford New York (formerly the Milford Plaza) have been finished for almost a year—and their new look is bright, colorful, and very fresh. But one of our favorite parts of the re-design can actually be found in the hallways.
In an attempt to show tourists that there's more to NYC than just the Empire State and Central Park, each floor has been assigned a different neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, with vivid depictions of picturesque spots in places like the West Village, or the Lower East Side.
What's so cool about the images, though, is how life-life they are. Above is a hallway mural depicting Balthazar Bakery, a well-loved spot in Soho, which when we first saw it, we thought we were staring into a time-space vortex that opened a portal from Times Square to Prince Street. It was as if we could walk right in and grab a baguette!
Hotel Art / Hotel Art Galleries / Hotel Artists / James Hotels / Raffles Hotels / Rosewood Hotels / Yotels / Andaz Hotels / → All Tags
Hotels Get Serious About Their Original Art Offerings
Remember the old days where hotel art usually consisted of a bland landscape painting that was reproduced a hundred times over and hung in the same spot in every guest room? Thankfully, over the past few years, hotels have been paying close attention to the artworks they hang in their rooms and public spaces--choosing original art instead and even better, works from local artists instead of some mass-produced Van Gogh imitation.
But in the past month or so, we've noticed some hotels that are stepping it up even further when it comes to the art on display. Giant murals, entire galleries, and even live-in artists are among the trends we've begun to see.
For us, it's moreso about the overall vibe and decor of the hotel than it is about temporary art promotions and exhibits, although we do acknowledge that the latter can certainly contribute to the former. The personality of a property is as much of a selling point as, say, the hotel's location or the quality of its food, so it's no surprise hotels are quick to market their artistic aspects. Below, we've provided a roundup of what's happening this spring and summer at a variety of properties.
HotelChatter Reviews / Europe Hotels / Budapest Hotels / Hotel Art / Art Hotels / Photo Gallery / → All Tags
Is The Casati Budapest's Coolest Hotel?
While researching hotels in the Hungarian capital this past January, we came across the usual brands (InterContinental, Four Seasons, Autograph Collection). But amidst all the grand palaces and five-star spas, there was one small boutique hotel we simply couldn't pass over: the Casati Budapest Hotel.
The 25-room hotel is housed in an 18th century building in the center of the city, right near the Opera metro stop, making it perfect for tourists. In fact, the address is so central that, after arriving from the airport via taxi on our first night, we did most of our sightseeing on foot directly from the hotel.
But location and a cool name aren't all this hotel has to offer. You see, the rooms here are divided into four different themes, ranging from Classic to Cool to Natural to Heaven. Naturally, we chose 'Cool.'
Hotel Art / Hotel Bars / Art Hotels / Manhattan Hotels / Pop-Up Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Frankfurt Artist Recreates His Neighborhood Bar At Hôtel Americano
When we first uploaded the above photo into our story, we worried that it was upside down*; then we realized it actually didn't matter because disoriented, confused, and slightly dizzy is exactly how you're supposed to feel at Bar Oppenheimer, a new pop-up bar that debuted this week inside Hôtel Americano.
Bar Oppenheimer is located in the basement of the hotel via a narrow cement staircase behind the hostess stand in the lobby. There's no sign, no big door with a velvet rope, not even a hint of the bar's presence anywhere in the hotel.
(However, that may be a good thing because when you eventually find it—as we did, after five minutes spent aimlessly wandering down hallways and opening emergency exit doors—you feel like you've stumbled into a secret room that no one else in the hotel knows about.)
The truth is that lots of people in New York know about this place. It was designed by Frankfurt-based artist Tobias Rehberger, who felt a desire to recreate his neighborhood bar in Germany, also called Bar Oppenheimer, in the basement of a Manhattan boutique hotel. Cool, right?
For more photos of the triply black-and-white striped bar, read on!
Guess The Hotel / Hotel Art / Hotel Lobbies / Hotel Key Cards / → All Tags
Guess the Hotel That Turns Keycards Into Art
We've been in some hotels that take their art very seriously and some that prefer to make the design as minimalist as possible. But recently, we came across some cool framed art hanging in the lobby of our hotel using different variations of their room-keys to create a larger, more interesting object d'art. If this isn't reason enough to open your eyes when rushing from the front desk, to the elevators, to your room, we don't know what is.
Upon check-in, the hotel gives you a randomly selected card with very little knowledge that it's part of the larger picture in four different series. Once we saw the other cards, we were immediately envious of the other keys, but didn't have the guts to ask for a cooler one; you're not supposed to keep them, remember! It did give us the idea that it would make for a fun Guess The Hotel entry.
See if you can figure out where we were from the clues below. If you think you know, take a guess in the comments section and we will reveal the hotel's identity next week.
Here are your hints...ready go!
· The hotel is mix of East and West, considering the brand and location.
· It is one of few major international hotels in the city as well as one of the tallest buildings in the city's 'skyline'.
· The city itself is considered one of UNESCO's 'Creative Cities' which fits well with their use of key card art.
· With a perfect proximity to the local Night Bazaar, there is most certainly nothing bizarre about the warm service and iconic smiles you get here.
[Photo: HotelChatter]
Hotel Art / Bangkok Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Hotel Lobbies / → All Tags
Admire This Jaw-Dropping Art at the Four Seasons Bangkok
After a questionable example earlier this week, we feel the need to cleanse our palate with something a little more refined in the hotel art category. Luckily, we came across the perfect example recently at the equally refined Four Seasons Bangkok.
Enter the airy lobby and walk straight ahead to the grand staircase in front of you, behind which you’ll find a stunning mural commissioned especially for the hotel. Hand-painted on Thai silk, it depicts in extraordinary detail the ascent of the Chakri Dynasty to the throne of Thailand.
Guess the Hotel / Hotel Bars / Hotel Art / Hotel Design / → All Tags
Guess The Hotel Bar With The Hanging Turds
Occasionally, we come across some questionable hotel art that makes us wonder if the idea is actually to ward off guests rather than lure them in. That's how we felt after spotting this "dangling turd" feature inside a new hotel lobby bar. We stuck around just long enough to take this photo, and luckily managed to get out without one of them dropping on our head.
But rather than just come out and say it, we thought it would be more fun for you to Guess The Hotel!
You know the drill: take a close look at the photo, read our hints (below), and see if anything rings a bell. Then, when you think you've figured out the hotel, jot down your answer in the comments below. (And sorry, no life lines.)
Your hints are as follows..
· This is a brand new hotel, located in a major city, and it only started taking reservations this month.
· Prior to its opening, we had previously examined some quirky design features in the guest rooms.
· Though this hotel is run by a major chain, the feel is more boutique-y.
· The bar (where this photo was taken) shares the lobby floor with a South American-influenced restaurant. One could also go so far as to say this is a place where people unite.
[Photo: HotelChatter]
Odd Hotels / Hotel Art / Chengdu Hotels / China Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Last Week, Chengdu's First-Ever Bubble Hotel Popped (Up)
Ever feel like glamping would just be sooo much cooler if your tent was completely see-through? Well, a France-based company called BubbleTree has gone ahead and designed one. It's called a "Bubble", and it's made of clear vinyl that allows plenty of sunshine (or, in other cases, nosy neighbors) to filter through.
To acquaint Chinese customers with the product, RocketNews reports that BubbleTree installed one of their bubbles on a street corner in Chengdu last weekend. And to make things really realistic, there was even a young girl living inside it for two days, going about her business like reading an iPad and reclining on the bed.
Unsurprisingly, the stunt worked: the bubble hotel sparked the interest of hundreds of passersby (and just as many iPhone cameras).
Inside, the girl sprawled out in her fully-furnished, 100% see-through hotel room (bed, table, dresser, armchair, ottoman all included) and showed the world how wonderful it was to be seen by…the world.
Kinda makes you think twice about the expression "killer view", doesn't it?
Panama Hotels / Hotel Art / Photo Gallery / Hotel Snapshot / Hotel Design / Hotel Rooftops / Hotel Art Appraisal / → All Tags
Art Appraisal: The Octopus Room at Tantalo Hotel
It was sheer luck that we happened to catch up with the General Manager of Tántalo Hotel in Panama City several months ago. We were visiting Casco Viejo for lunch, and when we ended up (on the recommendation of several locals) at Tántalo Kitchen, the hotel's ground floor restaurant, we figured we'd better ask for a tour.
A few of the things Tántalo has going for it are: an excellent location right in the heart of Casco Viejo; a hip, young crowd constantly streaming through the doors all day long, and, most importantly, a truly tantalizing collection of murals, photographs, paintings and quirky furniture scattered around the entire hotel.
There are only 12 rooms total, and each of them boasts its own unique design, such as the second-floor Octopus Room, whose walls are covered by the long, curly tentacles of a giant blue and white octopus. One of the tentacles even holds up a sign reading 'Pipi Room,' pointing the way to the bathroom.
Legoland Hotels / Lego Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Art / Photo Galleries / → All Tags
15 Amazing Lego Art Designs at California's New Legoland Hotel
One of the perks of staying at the just-opened Legoland Hotel in Carlsbad, Calif., (aside from the kid-friendlieness, the early access to the park and the Lego pit), is that there are Lego works of art at nearly every turn.
These sculptures were done by Lego's own Master Builders and each one requires THOUSANDS of Legos to build.
Seven of the hotel's large Lego models are animated and four of them are part of the Lego dragon family (there's one at the entrance, in the lobby, out back and another in the lobby playground.) The rest are just fun to look at. We especially loved the toy monkey in our room, the play concierge near the concierge desk and the giant Lego pasta maker in the Bricks restaurant.
These are just 15 of the sculptures we spotted or loved and/or had the time to take a picture of. There are actually a total of 3,500 Lego models throughout the property. In total, more than three million Lego bricks were used to create these masterpieces. Hmmm...We bet Legoland didn't have to pick up the stray pieces from their living room floor though.
Hotel Shops / Standard Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / Hotel Books / Pop-Up Hotels / Hotel Art / → All Tags
Standard Hollywood's New Pop-Up Shop Will Charm Bookworms and Floraphiles
Ever since Rudy's, a Portland-based hipster barbershop chain, vacated its spot at The Standard Hollywood earlier this year, the hotel has been experimenting with different pop-up concepts. And currently, an LA-based art book shop called Book Stand has installed a 30-day retail residency in the space, based on the theme of plants.
Yup, plants. An entire assortment of art books, magazines, vintage tomes, films, art, pottery and "ephemera" all glorifying nature's different forms of greenery. Kind of a nice change of pace for a hotel mainly known for blacklisting guests and publishing ads of people peeing and drooling.
Out of curiosity, we hunted down a few of the titles that will be included in the shop, and found neat-o items like the zine Sunday Mornings at the River, or photographer Arno Fischer's 1978 monograph The Garden, or Avec, the first issue of a Korean lifestyle magazine devoted entirely to flowers.
Sweet Suites / Paris Hotels / France Hotels / Hotel Art / Photo Gallery / → All Tags
A Twisted Metal Menagerie Inside Room 711 at Hotel Lutetia
Today we're drooling over a Sweet Suite—the kind of top-tier, five-star, too-expensive digs that most of us will never be able to afford. But that won't stop us from fantasizing! From newly-renovated suites to panoramic penthouses overlooking cities, we'll cover all the biggies in this ongoing series. Got a suite we should know about? Send us an email!
We love when local artists get to sink their teeth properly into decorating individual hotel rooms (see: Matthew Bird's recent masterpiece at Melbourne's Hilton on the Park.) And that's exactly what French sculptor Guillaume Piechaud got to do last month inside room 711 at the Hotel Lutetia, also known as the Eiffel Suite.
Working with stainless steel, Piechaud crafted some pretty unique pieces, such as a cobra coffee table, a shark stool, a spider desk. The gleaming sculptures are dispersed throughout the suite like regular pieces of furniture, but there really isn't much that's regular about them at all.
Upstairs in the bedroom, which is outfitted with stark white walls and plush grey carpeting, the artist designed a "conversation" seat and a "comma" night stand. We've never slept between two punctuation marks, but then again, the opportunity's never come up, either!
