HOTELS’ Hot Issue focuses on what’s trending in design, F&B, wellness, technology, sales and marketing, and development. In this batch: Infusing nature into hotel design; pop-up art installations; outdoor spaces that encourage community – and just about anything else guests want to do; and hygge, a hot trend that spreads warmth.
Find out about more trends in design, F&B and development, and stay tuned for more.
Natural elements
Surrounded by the Vietnamese jungle, the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is perched atop “Monkey Mountain,” honoring the rainforest and its resident primates with whimsical flair. Lavish villas with terraces overlook the crescent-shaped beach, and restaurants are open-air. GM Juan Losada says that “every design note of the famed architect Bill Bensley is inspired by nature” and nearby shores, ocean views and verdant landscape.
In Bali, Indonesia, sister properties Ayana Resort & Spa and Rimba Jimbaran Bali inspire and connect guests more deeply to the natural environment through the tropical landscape of this 220-acre estate. Cliffside private beaches and 11 swimming pools are connected by pathways that meander through gardens, while al fresco seating areas highlight the natural environment. Guests can tour the resort’s rice paddy, learn culinary techniques at the outdoor cooking school and sip specialties in the glass-enclosed teahouse. Accented by Balinese flowers, the spa features a massive outdoor seawater pool — an epicenter of relaxation.
Written by Marla Cimini
Pop (up) art
Static art can be stuffy. But not at Amastan Paris, a design-focused hotel that opened last summer and claims to have the city’s first space fully dedicated to pop-up art installations. An integral part of the concept for Amastan Hotels, founded by young hotelier Zied Sanhaji, the Pop-In gallery space has hosted artists from London, South Africa and Switzerland.
Last year Accor-Hotels’ Pullman brand launched its Artist Playground, which dedicates a rotating art corner in select hotels, highlighting local artists and designers and offering elements like live performances and workshops. Pullman has rolled out the program in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Barcelona, Aachen Quellenhof, Munich, London and most recently, Brussels.
According to Xavier Louyot, Accor’s senior vice president of marketing for luxury and upscale brands, the initiative taps into the profile of a typical Pullman guest, for whom contemporary art is a high priority, as well as encouraging communal space for the neighborhood.
“When you’re a hotel, what’s beautiful about working in hospitality, you’re really in the center of the local community,” he says. “So the hotel has to be in tune with the world that surrounds it and also in tune with the lifestyle of the customer.”
Written by Chloe Riley
Get out
With “experiential” the buzziest word in the business, design that seamlessly and even unpredictably incorporates outdoor spaces is emerging across segments.
At Rosewood Mayakoba on the Riviera Maya in Mexico, Aqui Me Quedo (“Here I Stay”) offers a casual approach to F&B with a US$100 minimum. It takes a cue from the relaxed vibe of beachside cantinas along Mexico’s Caribbean coast, cooking fresh fare from a vintage, retrofitted truck and offering tableside service in lounge seating underneath a canopy of palm trees. The menu ranges from chilled coconut cocktails to citrus-laced ceviche and charcoal-grilled Veracruz memelas.
Urban spaces need to deliver a similar experience and every Mob Hotel, with several under development by Cyril Aouizerate and investors such as Steve Case, Philippe Starck and Glyn Aeppel, must include an outdoor garden. “Mob Hotel is an open environment designed for continuous movement with its outdoor bar-restaurant, organic produce from cooperatives, food trucks and well-tended gardens,” Aouizerate says. Outdoor entertainment facilities, designed to attract locals, include a cinema and a live stage, while garden activities offer meditation and cookery, music and workshops hosted by entrepreneurs, associations and artists.
Written by Jeff Weinstein
Truly hot hygge
It’s the trend that only Danes can pronounce, but everyone’s eager to jump on. Get your mouth to say “hoo-guh” and you’re on the right track. But not every hotel that’s embracing hygge – the Danish concept of candles, coziness and comfort – has been doing it justice. Touting a fireplace doesn’t cut it, but some have gone the extra mile. Designer Linda Bergroth created the KOTI Sleepover pop-up installation for Paris’ Finnish Institute. Guests rented communal pine cabins via Airbnb and woke to lights that mimic daylight and a Scandinavian breakfast. “It is a bit crazy and experimental experience that requires the guest to engage in something completely new,” Bergroth has said of the project.
Kimpton’s grabbing the hygge by the horns by relaunching its classic robes (out with animal prints, in with patterns such as a menswear houndstooth and a Japanese-inspired shibori print), as well as selling its first candles and stocking its showers with Atelier Bloem bath products, which come from Amsterdam and smell like the first day of spring. We feel imbued with the cozy spirit.
Written by Chloe Riley