Tag: Hotel Design
View All TagsHotel Design / Carlson Hotels / Country Inns and Suites / Genevieve Gorder / Celebrity Designers / → All Tags
Country Inns Joins With Genevieve Gorder For Fresh-Forward Design
Carlson's Country Inns & Suites have never been on our Top 10 hotel list when it comes to inspirational design, but even we were impressed to find out that the brand has just partnered with HGTV (and TLC's "Trading Spaces" alumni) celebrity interior decorator Genevieve Gorder to work on a new look for a new generation of traveler.
The updated hotel architecture and interiors, designed by London-based architectural design firms Imagination and Virgile and Stone, will make their debut in late 2013. They will trade in Country Inn's 1987 beginnings for a clean, contemporary look. Still, the design is intended to make loyal guests feel comfy, but appeal to the technology-focused business traveler.
Hotel Amenities / Hotel Design / Hotel News / India Hotels / Hotel Minibars / Hotel Bars / → All Tags
Is This The Hotel Minibar of the Future?
An India-based company that specializes in designing bars for high-end hotels throughout New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore (including ITC Maurya, where Obama stayed during a visit in 2010) has come up with a new concept that's sure to catch people's attention: a fully-equipped personal bar for hotel suites.
The nifty "BarTrender Pro" basically whittles down all the elements of a high-end hotel bar—cocktail mixing station, built-in refrigeration, dual zone wine preservation, separate storage for glasses and bottles—into one compact, fully integrated unit.
Just looking at it, we get the sense that even ignoramuses like us who have never bartended a day in our lives (save for once, during college, which was a failure on all accounts) would be able to slap together a half-decent beverage. With the bar's attractive smooth surfaces and backlit shelves, at the very least, we'd look good doing it!
The bar has been on display at multiple showrooms in Jasola and Mumbai, and plenty of folks have expressed interest in buying a unit for themselves, but the company's chief designer said that production is still being limited to two hundred per year. He went on:
"These are prized possessions, and we plan sell limited numbers each year per region. Luxury hotel chains have considered the bar for their suites."
What do you think? Is this something you would use if it showed up in your hotel room? Or would you rather just head downstairs and order a drink the good old-fashioned way? Let us know your thoughts below!
Hotel Design / Dubai Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel News / Hotel Art / → All Tags
Giant 'Snow Wall' Proves Kempinski Dubai Thinks It's In the Alps
It's a known fact that Kempinski likes to do things big. Who got chosen as management for North Korea's most-famous-hotel-that's-never-opened, the Ryugyong Hotel? Kempinski. Whose property opened last month with the Dalai Lama's blessing? Kempinski.
Even when their employees are extorting money from guests' credit cards, they still manage to do it in style.
So it kinda makes sense that one of the brand's most iconic hotels, Kempinski Dubai Mall of the Emirates has decided to cement their renegade status by installing an 18 foot high "snow wall" along one side of Aspen, the hotel's cafe. As you can see in the above photo, the surface looks like it could be the lower strata of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, or possibly just some beautifully textured abstract wall art.
Not that the hotel is short on conversation pieces. The Middle East's first and largest indoor ski resort, Ski Dubai, is attached to the hotel; hence the 'snow' theme of the brand new installation. In fact, the snow wall's designers, London-based Solomon&Wu, built the shimmery wall out of glass-reinforced plastic in order to simulate "snow drifts and rock formations." Looks like they pulled it off.
Hotel Renovations / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Reopenings / Hotel Lobbies / Hotel Design / → All Tags
The Paramount Hotel Is Putting Itself Back On Top
It's been a while since Manhattan's Paramount Hotel was in the spotlight—once a hot, trend-setting hotel, it gave way in recent years to hotter, even trendier places like the Ace and The Standard.
But it seems like the Paramount is poised for its big comeback, after it reopened this week flaunting a $40 million renovation, including updated guest rooms, a redesigned two-story lobby, a new restaurant and bar, an Italian cafe, and a retail concept to rival the Ace's hipster goodie shops, Opening Ceremony and Project 8a.
Coolest of all, perhaps, is the fact that Diamond Horseshoe, the hotel's legendary supper club from the 1920s, is going to be resurrected this fall in its original basement location. Developer Aby Rosen told the WSJ that the new 21st century Diamond Horseshoe will "be a nightspot akin to the Box, but without the raunchy content."
Killer View / Chile Hotels / Hotel Design / Eco-Hotels / Unusual Hotels / → All Tags
Room With a Night View: Stargazing At Chile's Elqui Domos Hotel
Living in a big city, we’re used to so much light pollution that sometimes, we yearn for some proper darkness and a star-filled sky overhead. One place that appears to fit the bill perfectly, although unfortunately not exactly around the corner, is the Elqui Domos Hotel in Chile.
Built specifically by its owners to experience the night skies of the Elqui Valley, some 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Santiago, the hotel has two types of accommodation: domes and observatories. While each is different, both are designed with an eye towards the sky, with as little as possible to distract you from the twinkling lights above.
Hotel Design / Art Hotels / Hotel Art / Melbourne Hotels / Hilton Hotels / → All Tags
This Colorful Aussie Hotel Room Is An Artist's Palette On Steroids
Thanks to Melbourne-based artist, Matthew Bird, we can now rethink the image we have in our heads as we slide our key-card into a new hotel-room's door. He's created an art installation piece at the city's Hilton on the Park called "Hotel Otherworldly" that reworks an existing hotel room into a fabulous piece of art.
Housed in a fairly non-descript, brown brick building with no balconies, or character for that matter, this artistic hotel room is tucked away amongst business travelers and tourists unknown they might be sleeping next to a piece of art. A design that is as loud as a tornado, maintains the wallflower persona by being purely art.
One of the typical Hilton king guest suites has been transformed into a space where everything installed offers a regional reference to Australia, from flora and fauna to history and culture. A gold slap in the face for the region's gold rush days, art featuring crocodiles and royal blue to signify the history as a British colony all play a significant role in creating not only an over-the-top piece of art, but a reflection of the local culture.
Hotel Renovations / Hotel News / Swissotels / Geneva Hotels / Switzerland Hotels / Hotel Design / → All Tags
Swissôtel Unveils Its First Signature Rooms at the Métropole
Swissôtels has recently revealed the first of its new “signature rooms” at Geneva's Swissôtel Métropole in the city's shopping and business quarter and close to the Old Town. Twelve rooms in total have been renovated for the launch of this category that focuses on design and comfort, with some pretty nifty tech advances, too.
Naturally, being a Swiss brand, the design follows an alpine motif as inspiration, including parquet wood floors and--the show stopper--a colorful wall that's reminiscent of Swiss Alp mountain flowers. Sounds delightful, doesn’t it? The exclusive wallpapers for this scene were designed for the hotel by renowned Swiss textile manufacturer Jakob Schlaepfer, who supplies luxury fashion houses such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood with material goods.
Then there's the good stuff for hotel tech geeks out there.
Hotel Bars / Manhattan Hotels / Pod Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / Hotel Lobbies / Hotel Design / → All Tags
5 Reasons To Make A Playdate At Pod 39's New 'Play Room'
Here's a first look at the new lobby bar and lounge area inside Pod 39. The venue is called Play Room and it's a huuuge space with a fireplace, two ping pong tables, color-coded bookshelves, a video projector, stained glass windows, and a 25-foot butcher block bar. Pretty much everything we look for in a hotel lobby hangout area.
Though the hotel debuted its rooftop bar back in September, it's taken this long for the street-level space to come together (sounds like they've got their priorities straight over at Pod!). But we think it was worth the wait. Pod Hotels put serious emphasis on socializing, so it makes sense that their public space would be so big and captivating—in many ways, more so than the first Pod hotel.
Here are our five favorite things about the new space:
Hotel Openings / Boutique Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Turkey Hotels / Bodrum Hotels / Hotel Design / Beach Hotels / Nikki Beach / → All Tags
Nikki Beach Resort & Spa To Open in Bodrum in 2014
A couple of things need to be said here: One, wow -- Turkey is on fire right now, and two – so is this Miami-based hotel brand. Nikki Beach Hotels & Resorts likes a good beach party, and soon you’ll be able to join the revelry and then sleep over in not only Bodrum, Turkey, but in Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Thailand and Lebanon as well.
But back to Turkey, where this boutique hotelier, who also has a host of Beach Clubs that specialize in catering to swanky sophisticates who take their enjoyment of life very seriously, has announced that they’re opening the Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Bodrum in early spring 2014.
Bodrum is about 500 miles south of Istanbul, and people can get downright poetic about the beautiful bays of Torba and Türkbükü and the whitewashed quaintness of the city’s buildings. But don’t be fooled; at night it sheds its innocent demeanor and becomes party-central. The Nikki Beach Resort & Spa Bodrum will open on the shores of Torba, only about four miles from Bodrum’s city center if you should feel the need to ever leave the resort.
Hotel Renovations / Hotel Reopenings / Manhattan Hotels / Historic Hotels / Hotel Design / Hotel News / → All Tags
Radisson Lexington Drops the Radisson, Is Now Known Simply As 'The Lexington'
It's a move we've witnessed before—an out-of-date Manhattan hotel seeks to reinvent itself with a sexier design and a shortened name. Hence, the Roger Williams became The Roger. And now, the former Radisson Lexington will now be known as The Lexington.
The hotel actually dates back to 1929, when it was originally known as The Lexington (so essentially it's come full circle). But the hotel isn't just returning to its roots by name alone: the owners hired Dash Design, who's worked on flashy renovations at the W Union Square and the J House in Greenwich, CT, to breathe new life into the 84-year-old hotel. The theme of the new multimillion dollar re-design? the glamorous, jazz age of New York.
That 1920s theme is definitely trending right now—we've also seen it appear at Manhattan's two newest hotels, The Refinery and The Jade—though we don't mind since part of New York's charm lies in its past.
If you're wondering exactly what "glamorous, jazz age New York" entails, take a look at the photo above, or read this tidbit from the hotel's press release:
"Brilliant gold elevator doors with whimsical songbirds will offer a taste of the Lexington New York City's original construction and serve as the entry point to the upstairs area of the hotel.
Photographs and drawings reflective of the Lexington New York City's storied past will compliment imagery of today's music scene and hang salon style above the bed…a verse from Irving Berlin's Russian Lullaby will dance through the room, embroidered into elements such as the lamp shade, bed cover and drapery."
Hotel Renovations / Renaissance Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Washington D.C. Hotels / Hotel Design / → All Tags
Renaissance Washington Reno Came to a Cool $30M
The Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel just announced they’ve completed a redesign of all 807(!) guest rooms and suites to the tune of $30M. Wow -- talk about investing in the economy. Good on ‘em.
The hotel is located across from Mt. Vernon Square and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, close to DC’s Chinatown and Penn Quarter districts.
The rooms, designed by Dash Design in New York, are meant to complement the hotel’s recent lobby redo and are done in khakis and cocoa-browns with splashes of reinterpreted denim blues and reds. Each room is accented with clean and modern furniture. The leather lounge and desk chairs are inspired by twentieth-century modernism. LED reading pin lights are mounted on headboards with easy to reach plugs for guests to plug in their own mobile devices.
Hotel News / Hotel Design / Gene Kaufman / Hotel Construction / Manhattan Hotels / Cambria Suites / Choice Hotels / → All Tags
Gene Kaufman Will Be Behind Manhattan's First Two Cambria Suites Hotels
Back in December, Cambria Suites broke ground on its first two Manhattan hotels. A third was also begun in White Plains but frankly that interests us less for two reasons: one, it's in Westchester (yawn). Two, unlike the pair of upcoming Manhattan properties, the White Plains Cambria Suites isn't being designed by serial hotel architect Gene Kaufman.
Choice Hotels, the parent company of Cambria Suites, announced yesterday that Kaufman will take charge of the two new hotels in Chelsea and midtown, both opening in 2014.
Kaufman is keeping quite busy these days, as we happen to know he's also working on The Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn, as well as a Holiday Inn in lower Manhattan, set to be the world's tallest Holiday Inn. In all, Kaufman's design firm, GKA, has completed over two dozen new hotels in Manhattan in the last 10 years. Wonder what he's got up his sleeve this time!
See a rendering of both towers after the jump!
