Hotel to Home Show
Segment 1: Hotel to Home Preview
We'll explore how to get great ideas from public spaces you can use in your home. We'll also talk to Peter Greenburg, travel editor for NBC, who has used ideas and products from staying in hotels when building his own home. Upscale hotels might have amenities like a CD player, a bathrobe, lavender water, a shoe horn or choice of pillows. Boutique restaurants also are good places to look for design ideas. Many people assume if they cannot afford to stay in a five star boutique hotel that they can't go inside them either, however, hoteliers look at people as potential customers and welcome the visits, including previewing the room. Christopher discusses his design of the Shade Hotel.
Segment 2: Christopher's Design of the Shade Hotel
Boutique hotels allow you to see the living breathing space of a hotel with guests. You can also spend the night and see how the light changes from day to night, observe how people move through the spaces and also observe the non gender specific quality and see how it can be very inviting.
One of the top ten boutique hotels in the country is the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach, California, designed by Christopher Lowell himself! Recent press in AOL, Conde Naste and City Search has ranked The Shade Hotel one of the tops hotels in the country. The goal of the hotel was for it to be a place not only for visitors but also to become a meeting place for the local townspeople. All should feel equally comfortable. Many conventional hotels have a lot of glamour in the lobby, but the rooms feel completely disconnected from that. Christopher decided he would design the hotel backwards and start with the rooms first. By doing so, many great things about the room would only become bigger and bigger as you walked from your room to the public spaces. For instance, when you first get to the Shade hotel there is a big wedge shape as you enter. When you get to your room you will find the same shape surrounding your bed. Christopher also wanted the space to feel connected to the beach, which is nearby. After visiting some yachts, which have many built-in ideas versus separate furniture, Christopher took the same concept and applied it to the rooms. "Understated luxury" was included in one of the reviews and Christopher describes this as "No froo-froo" in his design of the hotel. The rooms have very unique features, such as when you remove something from the mini bar, the staff is immediately notified so that it can be replaced immediately. There is also a computerized shield which allows the guest to send a command of whether they would like their room to be cleaned, have a turn down service, or have the mini bar replenished. Christopher also wanted the rooms to feel like they enveloped you so they took the bathtubs and surrounded them with fabulous shoji screen which can be opened up to the room if you would like. The shoji screens are made of frosted glass and when closed, with the touch of a button, you can change the lighting on them to reflect whatever mood you are in. Much of the room is halo lighted, and the armoire is up lit so they appear to float. These projects can be done in your own home and are featured in some of Christopher's webisodes as well as in Christopher's latest book. The sheets have an 800 thread count and are starched. Many people have are particular on their preference for a pillow. Some like memory foam, other people prefer 100% down, and there are those that are allergic to it, so Christopher was the first to introduce a pillow wardrobe/library. There are many to choose from which make your stay even more comfortable.
Condé
Nast Traveler Hot List 2007 - 11th annual insider look at the latest
scene stealing hotels:
Los
Angeles City Search
Segment 3: Making Guests Comfortable
Christopher designed the Shade Hotel rooms so that nearly everything can be adjusted and moved within the room without getting out of the bed. All of the lighting can be controlled from the bed as you lay comfortably. For the price it takes to take a family of four to a nice resort, you can easily invest that money to enjoy the same amenities at home on a daily basis. Rooms in boutique hotels should be all inclusive, with coffee makers, mini fridges and gourmet treats so that you can enjoy the experience just as much in your room as in the public spaces of the hotel. This works especially well with traveling families.
Tips for making overnight guests feel welcomed in your home::
A bathrobe to be able to answer the door without having to get dressed.
Coffee and water should be available in the room.
Shampoo, conditioner and a blow dryer should be available.
A new bar of soap should be provided.
A tray for jewelry should be on the bed with new magazines.
Plenty of space in the closet for hanging clothes as well as space for
a suitcase.
Segment 4: Design Dilemma Caller
I'm hosting my book club Sept. 15th. I will also have out of town
guest that weekend (total of 20 people). I would like to throw a Champagne
Cocktail party in my apartment living room and dining rm. (about 1,000
sq. ft.). I would like an elegant, but inexpensive tablescape as a centerpiece
to the party and can't find any ideas online or at the library. I would
also like to have people mingle throughout the house. Is that best achieved
by placing food stations in different rooms? If so, do I also provide
drinks in that same area?
Carley from Chicago, IL
Use lifts and levels, some with flower pots on them and others with plates of food. You can add items from the theme of the book on the table as well. This can be used throughout the house at all of the grazing stations. Drinks should not be at the same place as the food to avoid the high traffic area. The bar should be at a more remote area, possibly in another room and make it as self serve as possible. Get a variety of reasonably priced champagnes, already iced in a variety of ice buckets and placed on stacks of books that can be used for lifts and levels. Have bowls of fruit (which you can purchase frozen) which can be dropped into the glasses of champagne. Also, make sure there are things for people who do not drink such as sparkling water, or ginger ale with a splash of pomegranate juice in it.
Segment 5: Guest Room Ideas
A fully self contained guest room will make a guest feel like they are staying in a boutique hotel. Other good ideas are to make sure the bathroom and sleep area are clean and free of clutter, there should be plenty of toilet tissue, clean towels, lots of toiletries, two or three books and a current local magazine. All the lights should be on a dimmer switch and an easy way to do this is to plug a lamp into a table top dimmer switch and then plug that into the wall. Add bottles of water, a coffee pot and some fresh muffins for your guests so they won't be wandering around in the morning looking for something to eat or drink. You can also provide your guests with a set of keys so that they can feel free to come and go as they please A map of the neighborhood is another good idea, especially if you live in a big city. It's good to know your guests' basic itinerary and if they will be renting a car.
Segment 6: Vacation Homes
Our guest, Sherry Shippee, rents vacation homes and condominiums through her business Crystal Water Villas located in the Ozarks of Missouri. Typically guests use a vacation rental home when looking for a larger family gathering, but it can also be used by a small family or couple for a romantic getaway. Sherry's homes range from a one bedroom to a five bedroom home, all of which are on private properties. The key things to look for in a property are that they are clean, tidy, presentable and inviting. Many use virtual perspectives which give a 360 degree view of the inside and outside of a property. Many of themed decors such as a beach theme and a white-on-white theme. They also have fully appointed state of the art kitchens available in many homes. Typically the rate Sherry charges is $100 per bedroom on a weekend night.
Segment 7: Guest: Peter Greenberg
Guest
Peter Greenberg
Peter Greenburg, travel editor for NBC, and award winning writer and producer, joins Christopher. Peter travels about 400,000 miles a year and only travels with carry on luggage. Peter's website has a list of courier services that can give you door to door luggage service thereby avoiding your luggage being lost while traveling as well as lots of other valuable information listed there. Peter lost his house in the '94 earthquake and had the chance to rebuild from scratch. Room by room he started to mention all the great amenities he had experienced on his travels such as great faucets, shower heads, sinks and toilets from various hotels he had stayed in around the world. Call by call to 47 different hotels enabled him to arrange for each of these items to be purchased for his home directly from the hotel or from the manufacturer. You can literally "test drive" your hotel rooms for many amenities and you might just want to take some home with you! With the exception of only a few items, most everything is for sale in a hotel and many have their own catalogs which have items exclusively designed and not available anywhere else. Peter's favorite hotels in major cities are:
Chicago:
The Park Hyatt
The Peninsula
New York:
The Four
Seasons on 57th Street
Gramercy Hotel
The Peninsula
The Bel-Air
The Lowell Down
Seven things to make your home feel like a boutique hotel:
- Turn down the bed and show off those 700 thread count sheets and stylish shams.
- Put a phone in the bathroom. You might only use it occasionally but it's one place where you don't want to be forced out of your chair. And while you're at it, add a small plasma screen, too. You can get them inexpensively from Costco.
- You might not live by the beach, but you can hear it every day. Get a sound machine and create the special effect yourself.
- Speaking of sound, the next time you have a spa treatment and you like the music, buy one of their CDs and recall the experience at any time.
- Make your own mini bar with a coffee station so you don't leave your suite until your ready to face the world.
- Eighty-six the overhead lighting and replace it with track light or recessed lighting and put everything on a dimmer because mood is EVERYTHING. Don't save the candles for company anymore! They can add romance to any room and if scented they can also be used for aromatherapy.
- Get rid of clutter and anything that you no longer have a connection to. Streamlining will add a sense of order while putting everything you love where you need it for the ultimate pampering experience.