Yes, I broke up, the sight of too long paragraphs made me anxious. Another meaning of durability is closely related to maintenance. As already mentioned, the quality and performance of the materials and design affects the cost of maintenance and the type of maintenance.

If the hotel owner is also ecologically and sustainably aware when it comes to cleaning and the products used to do it, the argument is amplified. 

For example, at the moment we are carrying out the Base Genève project which is moving in this direction. 

Norwood launched the innovative and eco-responsible “Base” concept for aparthotels. 

In 2017 we were in charge of the Base Vevey project, this year the Group has decided to entrust us with the Base Genève project. These two projects have in common the underlying thought. The concept in fact is very clear; build smart, sustainable, technological and comfortable hotels.

Although this year’s project is more or less similar to that of 2017, the customer has modified some solutions and fabric choices. Precisely, because the Group takes these issues to heart, each material and fabric proposed was subjected to prior approval so that the cleaning could be planned and the ecological products chosen to do it could be verified as suitable for the type of material proposed. In this case, more attention was paid to technical aspects rather than design.

Maintenance is a cost and an activity that all hotels have to bear/do. 

Evaluating these aspects prior, at the design stage therefore, can prevent not only damage to some of the solutions realized, but also reduce the costs to replace any damaged elements.

We got almost to the end, I was good this time. 

Sustainability. This aspect is closely linked to the other 3 facets of durability. ‘Being sustainable’ has become a real factor on which many companies base their competitive advantage and business. A theme that is becoming increasingly important in the Hospitality world. 

Therefore, in order to reduce waste, exploitation of resources and materials, chains, management, and hotel directors demand durable projects that lengthen renovation cycles by moving them to approximately every 12 years. 

Again, the key to achieving these goals lies in the design, in the use of materials and in the construction process. Recycling and conservation become important topics. 

Here is an example, please allow me. For the Victoria Hotel & Residence public areas project, in order to fully comply with the sustainable design concept, not all persistent elements were removed. 

In fact, some solutions have been readjusted to preserve the original materials. 

The handrail of the persistent wood-paneled staircase was not removed, but was encapsulated within black glass to give it a more modern connotation. 

I could give many other examples. This has reduced the disposal costs and ‘waste’ produced by the project,  with a positive impact on both the environment and wallet 🙂

OK, we are at end. Conceiving, designing and implementing durable projects is for us one of the key points in our work. 

Perhaps a little counterproductive, the renewal cycles are thus lengthened (good for you, bad for us), but we will never sleep soundly without knowing that we have done the best for our clients and without having the conviction that we have been able to optimize each project aspect.

You’re right, I used “we” also in this title, but I wanted to clarify that what we write represents reality.

Let me be specific. Why do clients or architects often require us to make a sample room or, for example, to prototype a detail? I guess you’ll know better than I do, but I’ll tell you anyway. 

They want to touch what we “sell” on paper, to have therefore the absolute certainty that “we no sell a bill of goods”, to refer to the title. The desire is not only to make an assessment from the aesthetic and functional point of view, not. Often the realization of a sample room is a test to test the quality of the result or our organizational and management skills. 

And I, I’ve always been good at tests 😛

But we’re a little more romantic. Our job consists of creating spaces of daily life and designing scenes of this. We therefore believe that immersing ourselves in these prototyped spaces can be the most immediate way to analyze its pros and cons. It says that it’s hard to assess something “when you’re too deep in it”. I don’t think so. It’s only by really living the spaces, looking at them from the inside and impersonating themselves in those who will live them that you can have a global vision of the project and you can be able to make changes to optimize everything.

The relation with the customer is a fundamental point of our work, that’s why we love this phase. Everyone’s sure to have a voice,, we exchange ideas and it is from the comparison that the best things are born.

Perhaps you realize, as in the project of the Hotel Geneva City, that the sink shaped cylinder design and championship reminded that of a historical figure that does not enjoy great fame.

Prototyping therefore helps us to draw up a list of corrections that can also relate to our engineering, to optimize some aspects, to make you understand if the end result is what you expected, to improve the process, installation and to reduce the timing (installed one chamber, for example, then the others are made accordingly).

Moreover, we believe that “on paper” or through 3D images you can not fully appreciate the project, for this reason we often propose the realization of the sample room or the sampling of custom furniture or details. 

Even you, architect, can benefit from prototyping. Why? Simple, because you have the opportunity to refine even more all aspects of your work and your project, from the aesthetic to the functional ones. When we work with you, we take the samples. 

In essence, prototyping index very much and positively on the final result and on the expectations you have of the same. 

It is impossible, difficult to realize and expensive of economic resources to think of being able to make the corrections into the final phase. Do you take it for granted?

I state, it’s not an order according to importance, you’re all important to us.

I’m talking about you, owner, facility director, realestate, hotel purchasing manager. But stop it all. If you aren’t among them, I advise you not to skip the reading and not to go to the next paragraph. Yes I know, our articles are always a bit long (we have a lot to tell you), and you can’t wait to leave out parts that surely do not interest you. But I ask you not to, because you do care. If you are an architect or work for a construction company I imagine that it might be useful to know or review something about your customers, that maybe often, are the same ones I mentioned above. 

So, even if in this paragraph you are not directly “called into question” and even if with the word “you” I do not address you directly, know that I wrote this paragraph for you too. 

Over the years, for 30 years now we have been doing this work, we have understood that what interests you most (owner, manager of a structure, Realestate, purchasing manager of a Hotel, I repeat) is the final result. Obvious no? FFor you it is important that everything positively affects the judgment of your guests, you do it for them, as we do for you.

How romantic we are today, I know.

For this you need concreteness, and for this we dedicate a wide range of services offering you an overview of the project, implementation and budget, from the earliest stages. 

You also need that every aspect of the project must be functional, technical, respectful of the rules and standards imposed by legislation or your brand, but at the same time great from an aesthetic point of view. And how to blame you.

And what do we do for you? First of all we listen to you and then we put our knowledge at your disposal to be able to optimize every aspect of the project and realize together the best solutions.

I’ll tell you more, our consolidated experience (we often wear your shoes), allows us to choose, to advise you, to propose to you the materials, the elements, the solutions, the most right and performing items for every type of environment.

An example? Maybe in your project you have inserted marble to make the bar counter, or the flat tables of the breakfast room (beautiful marble), but we, knowing that it is a very delicate material not suitable for this function of use, we are looking for and we propose a material that looks similar to the eye but that is more performing from a technical point of view.

We also know, in particular in the case of a Hotel, that the needs contained in a project derive from a plurality of subjects. And so we sit at the table, we hold meetings, for example, with the heads of Food and beverage to integrate their requests into the realization.

Besides, let’s be honest. We verify feasibility, safety of every aspect of the project and therefore we are able to indicate what you can and what you can not achieve and/or if you can do it better.

I also told you that every project for us is a unique artistic gesture, which must be distinguished from the others; for this reason we characterize it both with elements of known brands and with custom solutions, custom designed and made for that specific customer.

All right, let’s move on to you, architect. I ask you, the same favor I asked before, if I haven’t spoken about you yet or I have already spoken, continue reading, we know that you continually deal with architects.

I know, maybe because I’m an architect too, that when you contact us, you do it mainly for two reasons. You have very clear in your head and on paper the project for your customer, but you need to know how much it costs, ask us an economic analysis of the project, or to realize the detail drawings of solutions you idealized, especially when they are custom furniture.

We can meet both of these needs. We are able to quote every element both custom or purchase and every type of intervention needed (paintings, masonry works, etc.), and to provide you detailed drawings of each tailored article of the project (we have a technical office at your disposal to do this). We can also count on the fact that many things, thanks to our experience, we already know how they must be realized.

In addition, doing this work for many years now (even your shoes we have worn very often), we can offer you indications and we are able to propose to you the materials more performance for your project, suitable to meet both your requests and those of your customer.

For example, in Villars Alpine Resort’ project, the architect had chosen wood as a finish. The material chosen, however, had very long supply times, which did not respect the customer’s timing, so we put in place a research to identify a similar material that could satisfy both parties. We know how important your client is to you.

Okay, I’m gonna go out on a limb. Our strength lies in the fact that we have a broad competence; our team is composed of a plurality of people, with different roles, skills, experiences and this allows us to understand every aspect of the project. We understand the artistic gesture behind it, thanks to our architects, designers, and we can translate and concretize the intention thanks to our technical office.

Wow, that sounds like poetry.

But if you’re not convinced, I’ll give you just one example. For the Crowne Plaza Geneva, we collaborated with the architect and designer Celia Chu who had chosen finishes available only in the market where his studio is located (Taiwan) and therefore impossible, for many reasons, to buy them.

Understanding, however, the intentionality of the architect, the stylistic choices and the concept, we have remade all the moodboards and the sampling inserting variants available but at the same time able to “go” towards the direction desired by Celia Chu and by the client.

Well, now that you have no more doubts about it, even if the subject is vast and impossible to deal with everything in this article (we’ll think about it later), I want to give you some examples of when the union really made the strength.

Where do we start? Ah yes, from this that I really like and I’m very proud of; the bottle holder we made for the Crowne Plaza Zurich. 

For this element of the project we coordinated and coordinated with several suppliers to find solutions “to creativity” of the customer and the architect. 

In fact, in order to realise the different elements of this element we have turned to several suppliers, each one highly specialised in a component. Just think, the same element has been treated by different suppliers to be able to ensure the desired result. 

Starting from the supplied concept we take care of prototyping, sampling, industrialization up to the final assembly. Every little aspect is followed and monitored, coordinating everything within the deadlines and budget.

And that’s just the result.

Always to satisfy the requests of the client and the architect of the Crowne Plaza, this time in Geneva, however, who wanted a fabric in jeans for the lining of the seats of the restaurant, we tried “for seas and mountains” a supplier that was able to make a fabric in jeans stain and water repellent (essential characteristics).

Being fashionable (it’s a joke) and not having found a supplier of furniture for Hotels that had a similar material, we turned to a manufacturer of jeans, able to replicate a fabric with these characteristics. 

Also for the Crowne Plaza Geneva, we have created a breakfast room counter that incorporates materials and solutions from different suppliers, such as Laminam or Silestone. You can find it in our Newspaper. 

I have already told you about the bathroom washbasins in the rooms of the Hotel Ginevra City of M3 Hospitality.

But if you missed the article about it, I’ll mention it here. 

In order to produce the “prince” shaped corian wash basins, the classic top hat emblem of the 18th century that dates back to the building, perfectly in line with the philosophy of the M3 group, an intense collaboration was required with our supplier of corian, of which we accepted all the advice, to give the element the desired appearance.

It was not easy to model a resistant material like corian. To do this our supplier has made a multitude of different samples in shape and colour to be submitted to us for approval, only so we could locate the appropriate portion.

I just want to go back and tell you that locating the material to do this was a difficult task. We succeeded thanks to a direct dialogue with our different suppliers of materials, which, thanks to their know-how, have allowed us to identify the corian as the best material to use.

Even for the Hotel N’Vy, every solution has been studied by our designers and technicians together with various suppliers of our network. I could talk to you about many, too many elements, but there is one in particular that you will surely like; ; the partition wall of the perforated metal restaurant.

So behind this idea was a deep study of metal carpentry that made it possible to make the round tunnels in the wall. I can tell you that we are good and have extensive knowledge in many things (yes, I dare say it alone), but we would never have been able to achieve this without the help of our suppliers specialised in this industry.

I could go on indefinitely, but the last example I give you, you can also find this in many other articles is the Oste table that we have created for Le Domaine Du Mas De Pierre Hotel Resort & Spa – Relay Châteaux.

Unique element of its kind, 6 metres long, has been designed by us in every single detail, and our suppliers have been able to provide us with wooden boards of the length needed to make it. 

And now? I hope that at this point, you have understood how important our network is for us, but not only for us, but also for you, for your project, to be able to realise your idea by optimising quality, aesthetics, functionality, timing and of course the economic component: your budget. 

Oh, we’ve finally come to my favorite course. And what do you think I could match with dessert if not the thing I love the most when I write an article? 

But of course the examples.

Yes, I know, I’ve already made you some, but I want to show you different projects for concepts, thoughts, philosophy that represent and concretize the above.

And then, I want to give you some ideas (let’s go back to the famous ideas before), may it never be that you at this moment are planning to renew the restaurant of your facility, or are carrying out the project of this environment.

The restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Zurich is a clear example of a franchise whose standards have been adapted to the brand identity and concept idealized by the customer. In fact, the restaurant belongs to the Theo Randall chain.

The style of the restaurant and bar, visible from the street through very fine copper-coloured metal mesh, is characterized by black marble cladding enlivened by furnishing elements with metal finishes ranging from silver to gold, copper and chairs in elegant, yet decisive tones.

Instead, the restaurant of the Hotel Ambassador, has totally another style.

The ULIVO restaurant, in fact, reflects the mix of tradition, modernity and sophistication of Italian cuisine. In addition, the restaurant is located in the veranda of the Hotel and just to create a connection between the natural outdoor and indoor areas have been installed large windows and the colors are soft, relaxing, bright. 

I told you about differentiation, so I can’t not mention you about the restaurant of the N’Vy Hotel. What about.. Designed by the architect Patrick Ribes, and realized by us, the restaurant of the Hotel N’Vy is a different space, enriched with details, with gold and leopard finishes, hidden, perfect for the evening and for those seeking privacy and escape. The leopard carpet is a unique piece, designed by the architect.

I promise, the last and longer. This is something different from those described above, which is why I want to include it at all costs.

I am going to tell you about a restaurant on the beach of the Croisette in Cannes, that is Hotel 3.14. 

The whole Hotel has a special character. It’s defined as a journey through five continentes while remaining inside a Hotel. In fact, each floor is connected to one of the 5 continents called through colors, design and furniture. 

The restaurant, instead, located on the beach, is inspired by the ocean, to create a connection with the sea. 

For this reason the shades of blue have been used for all the seats, tables and accessories.The environment is relaxing and the curtains, soft fabrics emphasize the whole. 

How to be “on the ball” and then do a good job? Let’s take it slow.

First of all, as in everything, the choice of materials must start from the study of the concept. 

It’s necessary to analyze the idea at the base of the project, the concept you want to give life, the atmosphere you want to recreate, and the experience you want to make their guests live. 

Only in this way, it’ll then be possible to identify the best solutions at a functional and aesthetic level. 

And believe me, the choice of materials is one of the most important and delicate phases of a project. 

Yes, both because the success of the project depends on it (obvious to say?) and both because these choices will affect the maintenance costs that you have to bear. 

So? So, you need study, analysis, sampling, a large network of suppliers and the game is done… or almost, because it also requires a lot of knowledge and experience to choose the best solutions or to propose more suitable alternatives of those proposed by the customer.

And that’s what we try to do every day for you 🙂 

Let’s go to moodboard. Today, I propose to you the moodboard that we have realized for the hall of Crowne Plaza Geneva.

We said we should start with the concept. It was clear here. 

The concept had to be respectful of the materials introduced in previous projects in other areas of the Hotel, which reflected the idea of nature and gardens. 

In addition, the colors for the hall had to be warm to recall the idea of elegance but also had to give a touch of warmth and hospitality to this area.

The idea was to create not a large hall but a kind of multifunctional “living room” in which the keywords are sharing and flexibility.

Which study did we do and which materials were chosen to recreate this?