There are two chairs in the room, one of them the design classic from the designer of the Royal in Denmark, (see Royal Hotel Copenhagen), Arne Jacobsen’s Swan chair, the second another classic office chair at the minimalist desk, height adjustable and comfortable for working in.
This room is perfectly adequately designed to meet the needs of the travelling business man who wants a no fuss no frills sort of accommodation, whilst being funky enough to appeal to the youthful or budget weekender who wants a little style but doesn’t want to pay through the nose for it.
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The restaurant area is just for breakfasts, although availble, and used, by guests as meeting zone all day. There is also a small bar area. Click to see a wide angle view
The same patterning as in the restaurant is funky here. Click to see the ironing station
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The same no frills approach is made in the public areas. This is not a full food operation, the hotel providing a breakfast buffet only, but it does have a small bar (echoes of HI Express and others), with newspapers and details of local events, restaurants etc.. The public areas have a funky design style of their own. Here the colours are reminiscent of the sixties as is the imagery, and if you are of an age where you remember Yellow Submarine you will recognise the design sources for some of the patterning here. Even the graphics in the hotel lobby hark back in their simplicity to the naivety of the earlier era – no less effective for all that.
"if you are of an age where you remember Yellow Submarine you will recognise the design sources"
Intelligent use is made of electronics to provide security in the parking area as well as for the bedroom areas. Each corridor is secured, access being to your own floor only with your room key. Bedroom corridors use low energy lighting and are not over lit, but the whole is governed by effective movement sensors. Too often these have a time lag that can leave one in the dark, but not here, with the lights coming on so quickly that it is not easy to spot the time lag at all. Other saver measures are the addition of ironing rooms so that there is not need for there to be an ironing station in the bedroom. Each bedroom does, however have its own tea and coffee making facility, as well as the flat screen multi-channel TV.
Unusually for a budget hotel the room provision has been thought out to give a number of alternatives, including family rooms that have bunk beds and sleep five, and a number of suites. The family room is the only room I noticed a variation on the furnishing, where an IKEA cupboard had been used rather than manufacturing a one-off in Formica. Throughout the use of the materials was creative and well thought through, and nowhere was this more noticeable than in the larger suites.
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