Daily Archives: November 9, 2007

Breaking the hotel chains?

0
Have you ever stayed in a hotel that is just very, very cool? Not opulent. Those are nice, but I always find myself checking my jeans for spots and feeling a little violated reviewing the bill.  Not corporate. Those are clean and crisp, offering starched white sheets at turn down with semi-firm, enveloping mattresses.  They tend to blend into one another and have names like Sheraton, Embassy, Marriott.   But in the cool ones?  In those you feel like you’re on a movie set. The design is beautiful. The art ravishing and inspiring. In the cool hotels the people are more interesting than the hotel, but it’s hard to keep your eyes off both. The Mondrian in Los Angeles is one such hotel.
 
Le Meridien is a hotel chain on a mission to deliver “cool.”  They are doing all the right things, starting with hiring a cultural curator.  Le Meridian is also working with Jean-Georges Vongerichten the world-class chef, and Andrea Illy a famous coffee purveyor. In addition, Le Meridien is hiring designers of every art discipline to help fill their buildings with candy for the eyes.
 
This approach will work. There will be some bumps in the road, but should the company not fall prey to favoring opulence over style, they will differentiate themselves.  And will never be called a chain again. Uncool.