Adding a contemporary artistic touch to hospitality

From the basement right to the atrium, the Le Meridien Delhi now offers stunning sensory experiences - be it in the visual effects or the soundscapes like its every other hotel across the world going through a similar transformation. The idea behind the whole exercise is to position the chain as a throbbing hub for creative minds.

The focus on part of the chain’s new owners Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide is obviously to offer their elite guests an immersive and holistic cultural experience. For instance, if you take a quick ride up the see-through glittering glass elevator and curiously peep down, the coffee shop in the lavish lounge area will suddenly seem like a captivating canvas – the patterns on the floor appear to exude a surrealistic hue of a cup of espresso or anything your imagination conjures up.

At the recent India Design Forum, some of the brains behind its brand transformation, including the hotel's cultural curator Jerome Sans, and its Senior VP (Design & Innovation) Michael Tiedy narrated the experience. The launch pad for Starwood was ‘The Rise of the Creative Class’, a bestseller by Richard Florida, which put the worldwide creative population at not less than 150 million from across the domains of engineering, the arts and architecture.

The Le Meridien sensed a business opportunity there. The group hired Jerome Sans who has curated prestigious art events like the Venice biennale. As cultural curator, he was handed the task of ‘nourishing the brand experience’. Based on the brief, he conceptualized the LM100 program, forming an elite club of innovators and creators from the diverse fields of cuisine, fashion, art, architecture and design. The famous pop art duo from India, Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra, has also been invited to be part of the LM100 club.

This unique, full-fledged experience of a curated hotel is imbibed in every aspect of your stay ‘to arouse curiosity, stimulate and lead on to new creative discovery’, starting with the entry door transformed as a canvas at most of its hotels. The guests get a designed key card at check-in - the signature work of a talented contemporary artist they can carry with them as a souvenir.