The masked welcome at Mama Shelter hotels
Photo: Francis Amiand/ Elodie Dupuis © copyright Mama Shelter SAS
Between barrier gestures and reinforced hygiene rules, we no longer receive guests in hotels as we did before the health crisis. New tools are appearing and the changes are being made even in the layout of the rooms. Here are some explanations.
A hotel reception area without hydro-alcoholic gel is unthinkable today. The gel is often in the form of a transparent bottle or covered with the hotel’s logo. Sometimes it is a column with a dispenser. But at the brand new Mercure-Paris Gare de Lyon-Opéra Bastille, interior architect Laurent Maugoust has designed a light fixture, like a totem pole, to conceal the body of the gel dispenser. Named Ygy, this column, designed with the help of Cécile Chenais for Laurent Maugoust Editions, also incorporates a temperature control device and an air purifier. After the widespread use of computers for check-in, a spa or even a rooftop, these new tools, linked to well-being and health, have naturally found their place in a hotel. Behaviour is changing, and the hotel industry is adopting and adapting.
Ygy, the first totem pole that is both a light fixture and has sanitary functions. A creation by Laurent Maugoust Editions.© DR
Customers gain in safety, comfort and ease of use
In the bathrooms too, things are changing. Automatic sliding doors instead of handles, Japanese-style toilets, taps with electronic cells… these accessories will gradually become widespread, as Covid obliges. Should we be afraid of this? Of course, it’s an additional investment. But if you look back, you will see that customers will immediately gain in terms of safety, comfort and ease of use. Nowadays, travelers want to be reassured. This is one of the keys to building loyalty. So much so that the very layout of rooms or the organisation of a lobby is also bound to change. Space is a priority. Even in a small area, superfluous objects and furniture are removed. Partitions are disappearing to make the circulation more fluid. During a webinar organised by Ameublement français in April 2020, the interior designer Jean-Philippe Nuel spoke of “rooms designed as protective cocoons, with the same functions as in a flat”. Laurent Maugoust, for his part, goes even further: “Today, the room is also a meeting room, an office. It can host an event, a dinner with a chef, a wine tasting, a film shoot, a photo shoot… It’s a place to live, day and night. “. »
The room without partitions imagined by Jean-Philippe Nuel ©Jean-Philippe Nuel
36 rooms transformed into private screening spaces
Message received at MK2. The film production and distribution company has imagined the first cinema-hotel on Boulevard Diderot in Paris. Its name: Hotel Paradiso. A special feature: each of the 36 rooms has been transformed into a private projection area. Another way to go to the movies, especially when the cinemas have not yet reopened. In addition, many hotels are now offering the “sleep with dinner” formula: you book a room, where a table will be set up and dinner served. Finally, every Wednesday until Sunday, the Staycation start-up puts a selection of weekend getaways online, close to home. This is an opportunity for local customers to enjoy a swimming pool, a room with a sunny terrace, a massage in a spa or another mixology course, without taking a train or a plane. As for the hotelier, he opens up to his local residents. A godsend in a city like Paris, which has been without tourists since the beginning of the health crisis.
Private projection room in the bedroom at MK2 Paradiso. © Romain Ricard
