GLOBAL REPORT—Choosing the right color in hotel design long has gone beyond what looks vibrant or pretty. Color and surface design send a message to the type of guest hotels wish to attract and make loyal.
Some properties, such as Paris’ Color Design Hotel and Belgium’s Pantone Boutique Hotel Brussels have taken the notion of color and engrained it into every aspect of the properties. A love of color, and the transforming quality it has on the guest experience, is a major reason guests stay at those hotels.
A riot of color might not lure those preferring the refined luxury of a Waldorf Astoria or a Ritz-Carlton, but even those properties play with color and texture, if not more subtly, to produce exciting atmospheres.
Further down the chain scale, color was a major aspect of at least two major brand refreshes. Courtyard by Marriott unveiled a Next Gen look at the end of 2012, while Accor’s Mercure brand did the same this summer.
“With our Next Gen guestroom, we targeted millennial business travelers, (who we saw were) attracted to a very different design aesthetic than what we have typically done in Courtyard,” said Janis Milham, senior VP of modern essentials and extended stay lodging for Marriott International. “They told us they preferred tone on tone, organic, calming colors with just a few pops of color.”
Color sends messages and creates perceptions of hotel brands, whether in logos or interiors, she said.
“Color really sets the tone and creates a backdrop for the guest experience. (These guests) told us they wanted to ‘relax first and work second in the room,’ and they responded well to our neutral colors in our new room, saying they were ‘calming,’” Milham added.
Jonathan Sheard, senior VP of northern Europe for Mercure Hotels, said his brand’s new look is about creating harmony between people and places.
“We also want to be locally inspired, to use natural elements. So, in Edinburgh (Scotland) that would mean using granite and related colors. Our designers understand what it is we want,” he said.
Mercure’s refresh also spilled over to its logo.
“The old colors were burgundy, pink and white, but after 12 years we changed that to the current violet, bronze and ice blue, which we felt was warmer and had the longevity to replicate the brand repositioning,” Sheard said.
Colorful trends
Nearly as varied as the infinite combinations of colors and hues is the design trends that highlight them, sources said.
“Color combinations that previously were considered to clash have grown to be seen as fun and imaginative. For example, oranges used alongside reds, violets and/or pinks. Different berry hues have freshened up settings, with these warm notes juxtaposed in unexpected ways against cooler tones,” said Corinna Kretschmar-Joehnk, co-managing director of Hamburg-based JOI-Design and co-author of 2013 book “Colours for hotels.”
One property Kretschmar-Joehnk has worked on with such radical juxtaposition of color is Le Clervaux Boutique & Design Hotel in the Luxembourg town of Clervaux. For example, at the hotel vibrant stripes of fabric are offset by the floor lamp’s glossy finish to add extra zip to the ambience.
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“Buttercream yellow” is the color of the year for 2014, according to Pittsburgh-based PPG Industries’ “2014 global color trends,” which also stresses the importance of using color to enhance the guest experience.
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Kretschmar-Joehnk also advised not placing too much emphasis on any one color.
“The best approach is to start with a neutral palette and then add vivid, eye-catching splashes in the accessories, or soft accents, as we’ve done in the People’s Bar at the Hilton Munich Park,” she said.
Yellow tones also are experiencing a resurgence, she added.
“It’s been quite a while since they’ve shown up in interiors, but these shades have been popping up in the fashion industry, which often acts as a catalyst for residential and commercial design trends,” Kretschmar-Joehnk said.
But no one color or color scheme can be deemed right for all a property’s spaces, she said.
“Selecting the right tones that will serve the right purpose and create the right atmosphere for a space’s intended use is all a sensitive process. This becomes even more specific when we differentiate between a hotel’s public areas, which should have a livelier décor and vibe, versus its bedrooms, where travelers are alone, and calming interiors help fulfill their desire to relax,” Kretschmar-Joehnk said.
“In the truest sense of the words, it has become increasingly crucial to ‘see the woods through the trees.’ As a warm hue, green is always inviting and welcoming. However, it also accentuates our commitment to global responsibility and sustainability,” she said. “We work more hours per day than in the past and do so in closed rooms, so the need to bring nature indoors is more important than ever.”
The next dimension
Surfaces play a major role in hotel design, adding dimension to accent color choice, sources said.
Daniel Nevitt, group marketing director at Sevenoaks, England-based Armourcoat, a manufacturer of decorative plaster, surface finishes and sculptural effects, said he has seen a recent trend toward concrete colors and finishes.
“This is a very urban effect suitable for contemporary projects, and with (such a) finish, we can offer a wealth of design options to achieve a distinctive modern look, including distressed effects or highly polished or lacquered effects with very little surface movement. This works best in black or white, great for minimalist interiors,” he said.
Another up-and-coming treatment is living walls, which are surfaces of grass or other plants that look aesthetically pleasing and also help cut down on energy costs.
Anna Roochove is business development manager of Scotscape, a landscape developer that recently has moved into creating such treatments for properties, including hotels such as The Rubens at the Palace, a Red Carnation property in London.
“Living walls not only look beautiful and make bold visual statements both inside and out, but they insulate buildings in winter and cool them in summer, improve air purification in urban areas, mitigate flooding from storm water and improve biodiversity,” she said. “Interior living walls have proven health benefits to staff and clients. They also assist with communicating (brands’) sustainability message.”