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MUJI Design Turns Barcelona Apartments Into 'Whotells'
We may love us some hotels, but research into accommodations in a destination usually includes looking at alternatives like temporary stay apartments as well, especially when we sit tight in the same city for over a week. Contemporary design usually wins us over as well, since isn't the point of paying so much to stay in a nice place to not be surrounded by your usual clutter? For this reason, we totally know where we're headed next time we're in Barcelona: The MUJI Whotells buildings in the Raval, Eixample and Barceloneta quarters.
The collection of temporary stay apartments, managed and outfitted like hotel suites gone native, occupy refurbished designer apartment buildings and offer 1,2 and 3-bedroom apartments for travelers, with capacity of up to 6 people. So how are these different from other temporary stay apartments, you ask? Well, they're furnished by the Japanese master brand of simplicity and functionality: MUJI.
Tags: Hotel Design / Hotel Industry News / Taste Envy / Hotel Restaurant / → All Tags
Have You Ever Wondered Who Designed That Hotel Restaurant Menu?
The Aquarius restaurant menu at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Usually we don’t even notice a menu design…unless it’s ugly, unwieldy or unappetizing. But if you're a hotel geek like ourselves then you've probably caught yourself staring at a menu before and wondering who did the design? Most likely, it wasn't someone at the hotel.
When we talk about design in the hospitality industry, we almost always mean décor. However, there is a whole world of materials that have to be designed, and that is where the design firm Taste Envy comes in.
Founded by husband-and-wife team Jason and Nadine Stellavato Brown, Taste Envy creates menu covers and other "branding materials for design-minded restaurants, hotels and hospitality brands." Jason formed a similar firm in 1994 called Lost Luggage, which designed and created folders and other supplies for clients, but it makes sense that the two branched out into menus—all you have to do is check out their blog to see what big foodies the two are.
Tags: Unusual Hotels / Hotel Pods / Hotel Design / Camping / Hamster Tunnel Hotel / → All Tags
Would You Spend The Night in a Hamster Tunnel 'Hotel'?
Here at HotelChatter, we're always interested in what future trends are on the horizon for hotels--whether it be sleek-looking Jenga-esuqe buildings or keyless doors or eco-technology. We also like to see what sort of unusual hotel lodgings are trying to get built out there like underwater hotels, the Death Star Hotel and the Egg Hotel. But this one has thrown us for a loop--The Hamster Tunnel Hotel.
Inhabitat.com reports:
This modular, mobile Snuggles hotel allows you to shack up in pods for an artsy camping experience not dissimilar to staying in oversized hamster cage tunnels. The project crosses the boundaries of temporary architecture and public art with its linkable framework, configurable platforms, and waterproof textile coverings. Able to be set up on a beach, in the forest, or in an urban environment, Snuggles offers a fun experience that’s on par with even the trendiest hostels.
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / Le Meridien Hotels / Hotel Design / Dallas Hotels / Hotel Renovations / → All Tags
HotelChatter Checks Out the New Le Meridien 'Brand Experience'
Last week, we hit up the just-opened Le Meridien Dallas North to get an idea of the fly new look that the whole LM chain's going to be getting. Yesterday, we gave you a look at the lobby; today, a full tour.
To remind you: for the last couple of years, Starwood has been hard at work to develop a powerful, more modern and solid identity to roll out across its Le Meridien chain. The first "prototype" property to be outfitted with the new, uniquely Le Meridien designs and goodies was the Le Meridien Dallas North, with a guest experience that's supposed to stimulate all the senses. That means sounds ("sounds specifically created for Le Meridien by Sony/BMG"), smells (you're supposed to encounter a scent called LM01 created by perfume designer Le Labo), and tastes (a breakfast program designed by chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten) that are uniquely LM.
Tags: Snapshot / Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Design / Airport Hotels / → All Tags
Possibly the Worst Peekaboo Bathroom Yet
Last we checked, it seemed that nobody really enjoyed the whole "peekaboo" bathroom trend. This new seethrough-restroom thing that hotel designers seem to be into nowadays appears to appeal to very few of the folks who actually need to use these seethrough-restrooms, and having our jiggly bits displayed to our hotel room-mates — and, good lord, our private business exposed — does not particularly scream sex and sensuality. If there are places to forgo function for style, we think everyone is in agreement that the commode and body-cleaning area is not the place to do so.
But this one may be one of the worst we've seen: check out this snapshot of the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport in Singapore, dropped into the HotelChatter Flickr Pool by lyh1. Doesn't this sort of remind you of what would happen if an aquarium, a bathroom and one of those picture frames you used to make at summer camp (back when Hawaiian prints were super trendy, by the way) all got together and had a baby?
Tags: Hotel Bathrooms / Hotel Design / New York Times / → All Tags
Does Anyone Actually Like the Peekaboo Bathroom Trend?
The Sanderson Hotel, London.
Call us old-fashioned, but we're still not at peace with the whole peekaboo-bathroom thing. As the NY Times also mentioned recently, the idea of having a shower, bathtub or even a toilet that's viewable from the rest of your hotel room is just not everybody's idea of a great design trend.
The NYT article mentions the Hotel Le Germain in Toronto as one voyeuristic bathroom culprit. In this case, there are blinds to cover the glass wall of the shower but you can't operate them from inside the stall — so if you're not prepared in advance, your bathing habits will be exposed for your companion (who, in the NYT's case, was a 26-year-old woman's father. Eek).
Apparently designers think they're doing us a big favor by upsizing bathrooms and making them prominent (and visible) parts of the room. There are various justifications, including making it luxurious and experiential as well as helping you to orient yourself in an unfamiliar space (a problem we never knew we had).
We'll just wait another decade or so and hope for a big trend in closed, private bathrooms.
[Photo: Jonathan Player / NYT]
Tags: Hotel Carpets / Hotel Decor / Hotel Design / HotelChatter Questions / → All Tags
Why Are Hotel Carpets So Ugly?
Fugly carpet found at Paris' Four Seasons George V.
We'll admit it: we rag on ugly hotel carpeting with a fair bit of frequency. But in an honest effort to embrace our softer sides, we will attempt to do what our mothers always taught us to do before mocking something: we'll make an attempt to understand it. And we'll be starting with the fuzziest victim of our sometimes-vicious scrutiny; a hotel design element we tend to walk all over frequently (ha! See what we did there?)
So, we ask because we want to understand: why is hotel carpeting so ugly?
Tags: Futuristic Hotels / The Egg Hotel / Hotel Design / → All Tags
And Now Introducing The Egg Hotel
We love it when design and architectural firms go all out in creating fantasy hotel buildings like the Death Star Hotel, a Leaning Tower of Pisa Hotel, and various underwater hotels. Getting them to actually rise up in the air is a whole different story but we can dream can't we?
The latest futuristic hotel to marvel over is what we're calling The Egg Hotel, which looks like a massive silver egg and is designed to be extremely eco-friendly and nearly self-sustainable. The project, officially called Envision, was created by Michael Rosenthal Associates for Hospitality Design’s Radical Innovation. And it is radical alright. From the Inhabitat Blog:
Operating like a living organism, the Envision literally breathes through its wind and atmospheric conversion systems, which allow natural air into the interior of the building without mechanical intervention. Photovoltaic exterior sheathing provides the building’s energy, while indoor gardens at various levels of the structure act as upward extensions of the earth, creating mini-microclimates that filter the air and act as added insulation.
Tags: Desires Hotels / Hotel Design / Hotel Openings / 2009 New York City Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Desires Hotels' Cassa Revealed, But Where is Ludlow?
Desires Hotels, what's goin' on? Today, Curbed came across a few renderings of what appears to be Cassa Hotel and Residences — the Desires Hotels property on its way to Midtown Manhattan at the end of '09. We're guessing Curbed has designs of the residences, but we did some poking around on the architect's website to find what just might be hotel room renderings (which look a bit different).
Tags: Hotel Openings / Hotel News / Hotel Design / Manhattan Hotels / Tri-Pack Hotel / Budget Hotels / Gene Kaufman / → All Tags
When is the Times Square Tri-Pack Hotel Going to Open?
Last year, we briefly mentioned architect Gene Kaufman's tri-pack hotel coming to 39th Street in Times Square: the plan wasn't exactly like one of those Yum Brands Taco Bell/Pizza Hut hybrid restaurant concepts where the brands share staff and public space (though it would be kinda fun to stay in a Ritz-Carlton while the kiddies stayed down the hall in a Courtyard by Marriott, no?) Rather, the idea of the Times Square tri-pack is just three hotel brands — a Holiday Inn Express, a Candlewood Suites and a Hampton Inn — sharing a single, 36-story building.
The Hampton Inn is moving in at 337 West 39th Street, the Candlewood at 339 and the Holiday Inn Express at 343 — and we'd heard some faint whispers on the tipline that the doors on all three would be open by the end of March.
But we checked the websites of all three hotels and none are accepting reservations anytime soon. The Hampton Inn will accept bookings for May 15th forward, the Holiday Inn Express will accept June 1st rezzies and the Candlewood lists June 9th.
Anyone got any dirt on the official opening date of the 39th Street tri-pack? Send 'em over.
Tags: Sneak Peek / EasyHotels / Hotel Design / Budget Chic Hotels / → All Tags
EasyHotels Unveil New Room Design
Remember last week when we told you about easyHotel's efforts to significantly reduce the amount of orange in their hotel rooms? Well, we now have our first glance at that plan. (It's, er, above, in case you didn't notice.)
Here's a brief description of what you are looking at:
in-room luggage storage, improved clothes hanging facility, shelving and space for all those 'knick-knacks and new, more flexible, lighting options to improve comfort and functionality.
So what do you all think? Love it? Hate it? Don't care because you'd never be caught dead at an easyHotel anyway? Speak up in the comments below, because according to easyHotel, these changes came about from customer feedback.
Tags: EasyHotels / Hotel Design / Budget Chic Hotels / → All Tags
EasyHotels To 'Significantly Reduce' Their Orange Color Scheme
EasyHotel, much loved for its reasonably priced rooms but equally loathed for its cramped, cruise cabin-like quarters, is getting closer to being the budget-minded hotel chain of all of our dreams.
Starting with its London Heathrow property, the chain is redesigning its rooms to be more spacious, stylish and functional. Working with London-based architects ZMMA, new easyHotel rooms will:
...Aim to build on the existing room model with the addition of in-room luggage storage, improved clothes hanging facility, shelving and space for all those 'knick-knacks and new, more flexible, lighting options to improve comfort and functionality. Working with ZMMA, easyHotel have also introduced a new, contemporary and complementary colour scheme, which will see the hotel group significantly reduce the amount of trademark orange used in its bedrooms.
To which we say, thank God. That orange always seemed like the lighter shade of a scarlet letter for penny-pinching travelers.
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