Nightclub & Bar - October 2009

At a new sports bar concept from Marriott, High Velocity at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, the goal of designers was to make a “contemporary, gender-neutral” sports bar, Von Ertfelda explains, a goal that resonates throughout the Marriott sports bar realm as a means to increase traffic.

The bar, the first of its kind from Marriott, took the place of the Champions concept at the hotel. Gone was the dark, wood-heavy area with memorabilia hanging on the walls and small TVs above the center bar, replaced by a light, open area with projection screens, flat-screen TVs and cozy viewing areas. Liz Neiswander, principal and hospitality interior leader for Atlanta-based tvsdesign, explains, “It was concepted more as a media bar, a high-energy place where you could come together to watch everything from the Super Bowl to the Academy Awards.”

High Velocity came to the Atlanta Marriott as part of a public space redesign by tvsdesign that involved two more brand-new concepts: Sear, the hotel’s three day part restaurant and fine-dining venue, and Pulse, the lobby bar.

Sear needed to have a functional yet upscale feel, Neiswander explains. Located next to Pulse (to take advantage of a shared kitchen), Sear features an intimate bar and a vast wine collection, so wine display became a major element of the area’s design.

And just outside of Sear lays the “heart” of the hotel, Pulse. Building upon the original atrium design by John Port-man, Neiswander and her team developed an illuminated bar structure resembling a sail that can change color or even serve as a projection screen for TV or other images. Because it stands in the center of the atrium and can be approached by guests on all sides, proper and clean bar design was critical. “Nothing is hidden, so everything needed to be thought through,” Neiswander says.

The bar itself “anchors the space,” in Von Ertfelda’s words. “It’s a very distinctive design. It’s a beacon, and I think it’s a good example of where we want to go in terms of our lobby design: always being distinctive and relevant.”

The inception of the BarArts initiative, with its fresh cocktails, improved bartender service and renewed bar design, has

prompted a notable increase in sales and traffic across all Marriott properties, Von Ertfelda says, citing “numerable instances” where revenue and profits have exceeded corporate expectations. “The level of activity in our public spaces has increased dramatically, and the GSS (guest satisfaction scores) have gone up substantially, both in terms of quality of food and beverage offering as well as service and overall atmosphere,” he explains. And sales

— particularly with beverages — have been up significantly at Champions Boston since its opening, according to Rutigliano.

So far, it seems the team at Marriott

has succeeded in achieving its goals: to “activate public space and to drive guest satisfaction by providing guests with exciting drinking options on property,” according to Von Ertfelda.

“There was a time when hotels only offered the staid, quiet, soulless lobby bars that were very ordinary in design,” he said. “They ensured that our lobbies were really just transient points versus spaces were you would linger and enjoy the company of friends, colleagues and other guests.”

Luckily, at Marriott properties, those days are gone. NCB

Desires Hotels

Boutique hotel company Desires

Hotels, headquartered in Miami with 10 properties around the country, initiated its “Select Your

Altitude to Accommodate Your

Attitude” program this summer where guests choose the level at which they’d like to party ( lounging, dining, listening to live music or dancing in a club) and the place they’d like to do it (terrace lounges, restaurants or rooftop bars).

embodying modern-day muses in New York, like a violinist on the

Brooklyn Bridge or an artist in front of the Flatiron building. Even the bathrooms have a quirky, Kimpton-esque twist: Each of the six unisex restrooms features a “pick your personality” theme that illustrates a vice: glam, vanity, rebel, macho, lust and envy.

Resorts Worldwide is Aloft Hotels. Each property features the w xyz bar, where signature cocktails, house-made infused spirits and evening events make the bar a hotspot — especially its happy hour, twilight w xyz. Every night at 5 p.m., as the venue changes from daytime to evening, an oversized video wall displays rotating sunsets and colorful carriages behind the bar open up to reveal a backlit back bar. Twilight w xyz features different signature cocktails each weeknight.

Hotel Bar Hopping

A number of cutting-edge hotel companies are implementing new bar concepts and plans designed to drive traffic, sales and guest satisfaction.

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Always an F&B innovator, San Francisco-based Kimpton, which operates more than 50 restaurants and nearly 50 hotels in North America, presents its newest venture: NIOS, a regional American restaurant and wine bar located adjacent to The Muse New York in the Big Apple. The venue’s wine program is directed by Master Sommelier Emily Wines, and Puccini Group redesigned the restaurant. The 52-seat eatery features a marble-topped bar, offset with beveled mirrors to resemble subway tiles. The video art pulls from the restaurant’s namesake of the nine muses of Greek mythology by

NYLO Hotels All three NYLO properties (Warwick, R.I., and Plano and Las Colinas, Texas) feature hip bar scenes at The Loft. Located on the first floor, each Loft features a restaurant, bar, game room and more, with designer couches, a custom bar and original artwork that speaks to the locale. Its most recent opening, NYLO Dallas/Las Colinas, offers a sleek Texan vibe, with black chandeliers shaped like longhorns and star-covered carpeting, tipping its hat to the Lone Star State.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide
One of the newest brands filling
the 966-hotel portfolio of White
Plains, N. Y.’s Starwood Hotels &

Wyndham Worldwide Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, a brand under Parsippany, N.J.-based Wyndham Worldwide, which offers 7,024 hotels and 11 hotel brands around the world, soon will roll out its new core wine and spirits menu focusing on organic options. Also, Wyndham is taking advantage of the trend of lobby spaces becoming more communal: Its new Eat. Refresh. Live. program involves a combination café, barista and food mart, and the café transforms from a coffee bar by day to a cocktail bar at night.