Hospitality Design - December 2011 - 68

perspectives

interview: hyatt house

and we added Hyatt to it. So we did brand and naming studies. We ended up with three in the end, and Hyatt House, an original name of our brand 50 years ago, tested the best in every segment, and in combined segments. HD: For the design, why was Stonehill & Taylor the right partner? GD: We didn’t want to bring in anybody that had preconceived notions about what you do or don’t do. They’ve done branding work, logo work. They think more broadly than just design. And if you’re going to do it right, again, you’ve got to cover all the aspects and make it a holistic brand. That’s why I thought they were the right ones to work on the project, and the ﬁrst thing I said was, I want you to go out and stay at every hotel that’s in the segment, understand it, and who does what well. HD: So did you guys do that, Mike? MS: In the beginning of July, we spent the ﬁrst week and a half, four of us, running around and staying in as many different major chain extended stay hotels as possible. I had never stayed in an extended stay hotel before we did our tour, so I didn’t really know what to expect. One of the things that struck us the most negatively was how in the morning, the breakfast area would be very busy, and then at 10:00, everyone leaves. They clean up the area, and they’ll either shut off the lights, or they’ll draw a curtain or close some kind of panel system, and that area is dead for the next twenty-three hours. There was never a single time during the day where you felt like the whole public area was active. We felt that those properties were losing out on the opportunity of synergism. Also, when you arrive in those hotels, you always walk into a small space. It might be a hallway-like space, or it’s an oddly shaped space that has a reception desk in front of you, or off to the side. In one new brand you walk in and you’re dead center on a glass-fronted refrigerator and some shelving, and it’s got Lean Cuisines and two-liter bottles of Mountain Dew, and you feel like you’re walking into a tiny little 7-Eleven. They just didn’t have a real sense of arrival, a sense of place. [We wanted to create a great room that was like] going to a fantastic vacation house with a huge family room with big sectional sofas, a huge TV, a big roaring ﬁreplace, and game tables off to the side, all of which open to a big outdoor space with a ﬁrepit or deck. Then that room is facing a big open kitchen with a big island. We wanted that sort of social magnet, the idea of that great island in the middle of a living room and a kitchen that everyone’s drawn to and have that be a main focus in our giant kick-ass living room. HD: How did you also solve the issue of people wanting to be social, yet also wanting their own space in this great room? MS: We looked at different ways to do that. One would be to create rooms within rooms, using low walls or elements that go up high enough to give you a sense of enclosure. And we used that as an idea, for example, to create what Hyatt’s calling our social sectional area, which has the feeling of a sunken living room. It’s a big, giant sectional sofa around a huge coffee table, big screen TV, and [the area] is surrounded by a low height wall, which in the morning is an area for singles or couples to eat breakfast on stools. In the evening, that becomes a drink rail. So the idea of that low height wall creates a space within the space, which gives you some privacy. Now, that privacy could be for up to sixteen people, because it’s a big, sunken living room idea. We’ve taken that even further to create these signature chairs, which can be grouped together in groups HD: What are the aspects of the hotel that you are really excited about? MS: One is the idea of the guest loaner library, which gives a guest things that you couldn’t normally afford to put in every guestroom, like a Fuzzy Logic Zojirushi rice cooker, folding bikes, and ultrasonic drink mixers; cool items that you would maybe not have in your home. The other is the signature chair we’re developing with Hyatt, that special dynamic social chair with blinders that you can plug your iPhone or iPad into. There may be some other features that we’ll take from automotive or airplane technology like a tray table that can fold out to do work on it. We’re working on creating an aspirational hotel, the kind of hotel that used to exist a long time ago, where as a guest you’d stay there and you’d see features that, from a technological standpoint or a cost standpoint, just weren’t available for somebody’s home. And it’s much harder nowadays because technology changes so quickly. So we’re focusing on a few ideas that we want people to be a little bit wowed by, and we’re calling them our ‘dream home’ ideas. One of those will be the shower experience. We’re also doing sort of a grownup game room. Some of it will be low tech, like 1970s pinball machines, and some will be high tech, like Xbox 360. And maybe, if we’re lucky, somebody’s going to go back home and say, ‘I stayed at this hotel and they had the coolest thing’ and go on to describe it. And nowadays, you don’t see that very often. HD: Another missed opportunity you mentioned was the entrance. MS: One thing that we really didn’t like when we saw a lot of the competition was you would walk in and be confronted by the front desk. And that’s a good idea if you’re a transient traveler staying for one night or two nights at a hotel. If I’m living in a place, I don’t necessarily want to have to say hi every time I walk in or be scrutinized by the receptionist. What we wanted to do is make you feel like you’re walking into your own living room, so we’ve pushed the receptionist to the backside of the lobby. When you ﬁrst walk in it’s about the guests and not the staff. There’s a signature group of furniture with a unique ﬁreplace element, so that it’s got that sense of warmth and welcome. of two or four. They have high backs and wings that become blinders, like on a horse, so that you can focus your attention on exactly what’s in front of you and the peripheral is cut off. By rotating the chair, you can be facing away from everybody, or you can spin it and face four seats, or a couch, and then you can be engaged in a group.

Above: A rendeirng of the buffet/bar area of Hyatt House’s lobby.

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