Hotels hire designers for hot, luxe looks
— -- Hotels increasingly are turning to the world of fashion to make their properties more attractive to guests who want a touch of luxury, and to create a source of buzz.
As New York City's Fashion Week 2013 spring collection shows get underway, Starwood's trendy W chain on Wednesday is announcing a partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, in which emerging clothing designers chosen by the council eventually will visit W's 42 hotels around the world to display their new designs.
W hotels from Boston to Bali will host designer trunk shows that will give budding designers exposure to potential customers, says Starwood executive Carlos Becil.
"Introducing our guests to emerging designers — and the next wave of what we anticipate will make an impact in fashion — will help benefit our whole promise of what's new and next," he says.
The partnership also is aimed at drawing attention to the hotels.
W plans to videotape the designers and events for W's Facebook and Twitter accounts, its in-room "W Vision" TV channel or its website whotels.com, which gets more than 1 million page views a month, Becil says.
The W chain first turned to fashion nine years ago to create buzz by opening a pop-up location at New York's Fashion Week, which now is sponsored by Mercedes Benz and attracts other sponsors ranging from American Express to Skyy Vodka to its events.
Now, other hotels are turning to fashion designers in search of similar buzz.
Last month, the Hilton chain signed a deal with designer Vivienne Tam to create limited-edition slippers as special treats for Chinese guests.
Some designers have put their names on entire hotels. Italian designer Giorgio Armani opened the Armani Hotel Milano in November after opening his first hotel in the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
"A big percentage of our clients are Armani fans," says Aaron Kaupp, the Milano's general manager. "Obviously, everyone is very stylish."
When guests first enter the hotel, they smell an Armani fragrance and see Armani-designed lounge chairs and draperies. The result was so stylish, Kaupp says, there was no need to hang artwork on the walls. Rates also are stylish, starting at about $750 a night.
Luxury customers, especially, appreciate the touch of fashion designers because they may regularly purchase the designers' clothing and other merchandise, says Albert Herrera, a vice president of the Virtuoso luxury travel agency network.
"It elevates the bar for hotels," says Herrera. "It's cachet. More importantly, it draws a certain level of clientele who look for that."
Other fashion designers can be found working nearly every aspect of some hotels' properties, staff and locales:
•Haute couture suites and spaces. Many are increasingly putting their stamp on luxury hotels' priciest suites. Diane Von Furstenberg, for instance, designed 20 rooms and suites at Claridge's in London with signature prints, fabrics and accessories two years ago. Bottega Veneta recently transformed a suite at the St. Regis Florence, and the St. Regis New York unveiled its Dior Suite. Even iconic designer Karl Lagerfeld has gone from catwalk to hotel. He's in the process of redesigning the pool at the luxurious Hotel Métropole in Monte Carlo.
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