LUXURY HOTEL GUESTS ARE NO LONGER PREDOMINANTLY WESTERNERS . THE INCREASE IN disposable income in Asia , South America and Eastern Europe means more guests from those regions are staying in luxury hotels .
GLOBAL UPDATE
URBAN RETREAT
30
SECONDS WITH …
WHAT ’ S HOT IN LUXURY HOTEL DEVELOPMENT ?
Viceroy Hotel Group has introduced its Urban Retreat Collection to San Francisco with the opening of Hotel Zetta .
Acquired as the former Hotel Milano last year by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust , the 116- room property , originally built in 1913 , has been renovated to combine neo-classic architecture with state-of-the-art amenities . Seattle-based interior design firm Dawson Design Associates incorporated eclectic and sustainable features including recycled elements in addition to modern furnishings . Guestrooms offer desks made from kitchen butcher blocks as well as flat-screen TVs
CREATING A NEW MARKET
that can display content from any tablet or smartphone wirelessly . S & R Lounge showcases all things salvaged and rescued , such as a backlit bottle wall , and a game lounge features a pool table , shuffleboard , classic London telephone booth and wall paneling made of antique doors to evoke the feeling of a sophisticated family room .
“ Our goal with Hotel Zetta is to create a rejuvenating environment ,” says Andrea Dawson Sheehan of Dawson Design Associates . “ Every aspect of the hotel is designed to feel playful and distinct , yet productive and work-conducive .”
“ Airbnb ( selling apartment and house rentals ) has created a new market by competing with business and leisure hotel brands . It has become a total disruption to the hotel market , to the online travel market and to the vacation rental business . The barriers to entry were very low , if not zero , but none of the established hotel players ever dared to explore the residential market or even imagine that this could become a viable path to deploy new hotellike capacity in the market .” – IVAR YUSTE , ASSET ADVISOR WITH PHG HOTELS & RESORTS , MADRID , ON THE
DISRUPTION BEING CREATED BY THE LIKES OF AIRBNB
A game lounge at Hotel Zetta includes a classic red London telephone booth and wall paneling made of antique doors to evoke the feeling of a sophisticated family room .
LUXURY HOTEL GUESTS ARE NO LONGER PREDOMINANTLY WESTERNERS . THE INCREASE IN disposable income in Asia , South America and Eastern Europe means more guests from those regions are staying in luxury hotels .
SO THE PIE FOR LUXURY HOTELS HAS GROWN ,
and that has opened the doors for all of the fashion , jewelry and retail brands that have been rushing into the hospitality sector .
WE ARE IN A TIME OF EXPANSION , and then there will be a contraction when the guests start to really critique these new brands . The consumer will say ,
‘ WE THOUGHT YOU WERE LUXURY , BUT YOU REALLY WEREN ’ T , SO WE ’ RE GOING BACK TO THE PRODUCTS THAT REALLY DELIVER LUXURY QUALITY AND SERVICE .’”
IVANKA TRUMP , TRUMP HOTEL COLLECTION , NEW YORK CITY
16 HOTELS June 2013 www . hotelsmag . com