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Arrival of a guest at any destination hotel should open with a view of the attractions of the hotel – the bar, the restaurant, lounge areas etc., where the guests can enjoy the hotel facilities and from the hotels point of view, see where they are going to spend their money. Alderbrook welcomes guest with a log fire and a view clear through the building and its spectacular interior architecture to the landscape beyond. The welcome emphasises the location, in wilderness on the Hood Canal, adjacent to the Olympic National Park and surrounded by forest.
The setting is idyllic, and settlements around are either into the logging or fishing, whilst neighbours include Bill Gates and others from the high tech industries (such as Boeing and Microsoft) that dominate Seattle some two hours drive and ferry ride away. Floatplane from Seattle makes it a twenty minute ride, and the hotel has its own landing stage and marina area. Indeed originally the hotel welcomed most guests at a landing stage as arriving by steamer was the easiest access route.
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The architecture is in the contemporary timber build that is popular in the US, and provides the dominant visual elements
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"a view clear through the building and its spectacular interior architecture"
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When the hotel was redeveloped in the early years of this century the opportunity was taken to move the road away from the front of the building to enable vehicular access, car parking and the building of an attractive small administration block in front of the hotel. Essentially the hotel was largely rebuilt and a new marketing and operational philosophy brought into play. Whilst the hotel services a largely local business market, it is also into the marketing of its environmental attractions to families form Seattle seeking escape from the city, and parallels with the previously Reviewed Mohonk Mountain House, or the Intercontinental Resort Berchtesgaden are inescapable.
The entrance opens into a strong architectural interior dominated by the huge chimney breast. A large log fire greets the guest, double sided so that its flame is seen from both sides and the fire grate can be seen though to the vista of water and mountains beyond. Unfortunately the hotel has decided to use propane fired pseudo logs rather than harvest the forest it owns outside. This robs the interiors of the scent of wood smoke and the crackle of logs burning, reducing what should have been a piece of carbon neutral theatre setting the tone for the whole building to a plastic imitation redolent of a city dwellers pastiche. Burning wood is carbon neutral as young trees grown to replace those felled use more carbon than is given off by burning old trees. Burning propane on the other hand is at odds with the environmental credentials that should be worn by a resort at one with nature.
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The use of native American art in the design and ornamentation is strong and seems appropriate here. The interior designer has worked with the architecture, using large natural stone areas such as the chimney breast to reinforce the frontier ethos
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Alderbrook Resort and Spa
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