Hospitality Design - December 2011 - 40

perspectives
generation, we were more casual in our approach.”

trends: lobbies

Holiday Inn
On the heels of a $1 billion rebranding effort, Holiday Inn recently launched its Social Hub concept. “Sixty percent of our consumers were going out to other quick service restaurants for dinner,” shares Eric Nicolas, global brand management, Holiday Inn family of brands. “We had to understand why they were going to all those steps to avoid our restaurant, and the consumer told us, ‘You almost chase me out of the hotel’ with restaurants tucked back in a corridor. Consumers use F&B as a social lubricant—food is very important to them, the ‘b’ especially. We can’t beat the local QSR restaurants; they can do it better than us. So we decided to capture them before they go out and when they come back.” Adds Craig LaRosa, principal of West Newton, Massachusetts-based Continuum, who collaborated on the project with Atlanta-based ai3: “We had to validate the food. Once we realized the competition wasn’t the other hotels, it was the restaurants that were in walking distance, it completely changed what we were doing.” The restaurant and bar were brought out front, sliding panels transform the breakfast area into a bar, and the menu now focuses on sharing options; and there’s now a 24-7 market ﬁlled with healthy options and a to-go café with hot food. Another new addition: a game area and in some hotels, an outdoor section replete with ﬁrepits. “Guests can eat, drink, and relax in one space, much more like a house,” says Nicolas. Natural, warm materials abound, for a “familiar, inclusive space that’s as comfortable as a pair of your old jeans,” says Patrick Johnson, founding principal of ai3. The two design hallmarks? Custom modular furniture that’s like “putting a puzzle together to make the space change and form,” Johnson says, “which makes it more purposeful than just a couch, since all it takes is one person to sit down to make it non-usable for anyone else.” The second is the peninsula bar, which encourages social interaction by allowing three or four people sitting at the bar to face each other, rather than the bartender. And it’s working: the ﬁrst hub at the Holiday Inn Gwinnett Center in Georgia has been operating for three months and food RevPAR is up by 20 percent, beverage sales increased by 50 percent, and comparing September’s sales year-over-year, the 24-7 market is up 147 percent, all without increasing labor costs. Scars Struck plays in the elevators. “The elevator used to be a mundane part of the circulation, but we feel it is part of the complete journey, an extension of the hub,” says Ted Jacobs, vice president of brand design for Le Meridien. “Everything is integrated so it’s one seamless experience.” The interaction zone is decked out with communal tables and coffeehouse-style seating. There’s also a library ﬁlled with books curated by LM100 members Richard and Rana Florida. At the center stands the Latitude Bar, modeled off cafés found in the best cities of the world, which offers coffee and food by day, and a wine bar atmosphere at night. “It’s the hub of the hub. The most well-designed lobbies are those where locals are hanging out as well,” Jacobs explains, adding that programming plays a key role as well, like wine and coffee educational tastings. “We want to create an authentic, true sense of place.”

Left and above: Modular seating defines Holiday Inn’s new Social Hub lobby; the tech lounge at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner in McLean, Virginia.

Hilton
Similarly, Hilton Hotels & Resorts wanted to “feed the lobby with adjacent energy centers—an approachable reception area, a three-meal restaurant, grab and go area, and a tech lounge—making it iconic and memorable, a space that you would circulate to instead of through,” says Larry Traxler, Hilton Worldwide’s global head of design services, of the new lobby concept unveiled in April, part of a three-phase $40 million renovation of the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, done in collaboration with Atlanta-based TVS (Hilton is also working with Yabu Pushelberg on a design narrative/DNA document, a manual that enables other hotels and owners to incorporate the principals as guidelines). “We wanted to make the lobby relevant again.” There’s no traditional reception desk here either; instead it’s a residentially inspired piece of furniture backed by a piece of art. The anchor of the space is an 18-hour bar, which features a sculptural light element that transforms throughout the day. (There’s a “magic” glass cube that hides grab-and-go breakfast and lunch items in preparation for cocktail hour.) “We wanted the lobby to morph from one experience in the morning to another in the afternoon to another in the evening,” Traxler says. And with a variety of ﬂexible seating options, “we made the lobby actually functional and useful for a variety of guests.” The tech lounge, meanwhile, is quieter and darker for those more serious about doing work, complete with lounge furniture, computer workstations, and TVs. Even though it is a bit separated, Traxler says it still acts as a connection zone for those that don’t want to leave the energy of the lobby. And the new three-meal concept restaurant Härth features communal tables that do double duty as buffet stations and dinner seating, and as the name implies, there are ﬁreplaces and ﬁre elements throughout, many at the front of the space to “draw guests in, like a moth to a ﬂame,” Traxler says.

Le Méridien
Le Méridien’s new lobby is also dubbed the Hub. Says Eva Ziegler, the brand’s global brand leader, “We are seeking to draw guests away and out of their rooms into a communal space where they can converse, debate, and exchange ideas. We found that the ﬁrst 10 minutes of a guest’s stay deﬁnes their mindset for the entire stay.” The lobby is divided into three zones: arrival, interaction, and the Latitude Bar. Artwork deﬁnes the entry, created by the brand’s LM100 members. But the arrival experience doesn’t just stop at what the guests can see—Le Meridien has a signature LM01 scent developed by Le Labo and a 24-hour soundscape by Grammy Award-winning composer Henri

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - December 2011