As the major groups in Europe start to sell off their properties in favour of management contracts they start to have major problems with controlling the nature of their room stock. The higher the star rating the hotel aspires to the more these problems become evident. At a five star level all hotels should be boutique – that is individually designed unique properties. However a family likeness or set of similar quality standards needs to apply across a chain – something managed very well by, for example, Four Seasons. The control of the franchise is a primary task for the chain management, whilst control of the build standard is a one off task.
Often owners now undertake renovations and refurbishment of properties before taking on an operator, giving an even more individual feel to properties nominally part of a branded chain. Leaving aside the turmoil at le Méridien before it became part of the Starwood organisation, or indeed the changes it is undergoing as a part of Starwood, the difference in style between Hotel des Indes in the Hague and others in the group such as the previously Reviewed le Méridien Vienna can leave a guest wondering whether a brand at this level has any meaning.
|
 |
|
 |
| Rollover this image of the entrance to the restaurant to see more of its interior |
|
|
|
:: Panoramic Views
|
|
|
|
Of course branding is not just related to the interior’s design or furnishings but more strongly to the operational parameters of service, the smile guests are welcomed with, cleanliness, food etc. Contrasts between hotels within the same brand in this area are potentially more problematic than they are in design.
Driven by a sense of history, and by a familiarity with a restaurant in Paris designed by Jacques Garcia, the new owners of the Hotel des Indes spent around €40 million on commissioning the Frenchman to refurbish the hotel. For a long time minimalism has ruled the roost as a design style in Europe, and many a guest has prayed for the day when pattern and fabric would return to banish the Scandinavian bleakness of many hotel interiors. If pattern is the measure of success, then here the prayers have been answered.
As a young designer I was told that patterned carpets hid the dirt and wear of everyday use and should be preferred to plain carpets. The carpets here may well have hidden depths, and they have a patterning that goes back to the same era that appears to drive much of the decoration. That era relates to the original building of the hotel, once a favourite haunt of Royalty and International diplomats, and the designer has attempted to create a feel in keeping with the era of carriages and top hats.
|
Above: detail of light fittings set into the ornate plaster mouldings. Rollover for detail of metalwork balusters to the rotunda (bottom). The plasterwork is enhanced with gold leaf in the area around Reception(right) whilst the reception desk itself is restrained. The overall effect of the lighting (chandeliers, wall lights, the lamps in the plasterwork)is illustrated in the area outside the meeting rooms
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Problem solving is a key designer skill. I would imagine that this hotel was an early pioneer of the use of electric light because of the way in which the fittings were made a part of the original ornate plaster mouldings in the ceiling, and this posed a problem seeking solution by the designer. Probably faced with a large bill for ripping out all the plasterwork and replacing it in order to remove the fittings, the designer has opted to keep them in place installing small lamps into them. The result is to create an interior in which lighting plays a dominant rôle. The lamps follow the form of the columns and arches, much in the way that lighting is traditionally used to outline a big top or on a fairground wagon. When added in to the patterning of the carpets, the liberal use of red, black and gold, the palms and marble the opulence of the interior is overwhelming.
The intent of the designer is fairly clear and it may be that when the palms achieve the scale one sees in photographs of Victorian interiors then it may start to achieve that intent, but the over-lighting tends to flatten the interiors except in areas like the bar where outline lighting is missing, allowing the designer to achieve more subtle variation of light and colour.
|
