Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn

Large luxury hotels, as opposed to small and quaint boutique or country house hotels, are pretty hard to pull off in the style stakes.  They somehow always seem to age badly and end up being a slightly better version of a Holiday Inn within just a few years.  They can fall into the over glitzy category, over beige, over coloured and over everything.  I recently watched a fascinating French documentary about the Park Hyatt in Shanghai.  The film was not so much about the decoration but more about the unique service and attention to detail and 'l'art de recevoir', loosely translated as the art of  receiving guests.  It is something most of us take for granted when in fact it is a very subtle and skilled art requiring many years of experience often if not always starting at the bottom.  I have enormous respect for those in hospitality who perform with finesse, largesse, without effort as if it is second nature to enhance someone elses journey.  There is so much bad service today we make do with what should be cast as unacceptable.

Back to design and decoration and in my opinion the Park Hyatt pulls it off, it is very beautiful indeed

Park Hyatt Shanghai Lobby

The Spa pool

Park Hyatt Shanghai bathroom

Park Hyatt Bedroom

Imperial Suite Park Hyatt Vendome

I understand the Park Hyatt Shanghai was designed by New York based Tony Chi whereas the Imperial suite in Paris was designed, along with the rest of the hotel a few years ago, by US architect and interior designer Edward Tuttle.