Smart is another word for intelligent or clever; and design company Michael Graves & Associates wasn’t out of line in calling one of its newest creations the Smart Chair. It is an innovative addition to the wide range of seating for hotels available today, another example of so-called “technologically interactive” furniture that consumers are seeing more and more.

The Smart Chair is part of the Wyndham Hotels’ latest upgrade. At present it can be found in several of the chain’s locations in the United States but is slated to be installed in all Wyndham hotels by the end of 2008.

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What do American business travelers want most when they’re attending meetings in a hotel? It isn’t better food, nor more high-tech gadgets, nor more attractive hotel staff. What they wish for the most, according to a survey commissioned by Crowne Plaza Resorts & Hotels is – drum roll – a more comfortable chair! We aren’t talking about bar chairs or contemporary bistro chairs or dining room chairs here. Non-business travelers sometimes forget that hotels are popular destinations for business meetings too.

It isn’t too surprising that businesspeople want and expect comfortable seating when they attend corporate functions held in a hotel. After all, business meetings can take hours, and not feeling comfortable wouldn’t be good for productivity. Having to use bad chairs would, in other words, be a pain in the butt.

Here are some of the survey’s other findings: (more…)

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Some chairs look so darn elegant that even though they were primarily designed with residential interior decoration in mind, they would still not look out of place in a hospitality setting, such as a hotel or inn. Consider the Salvador Sofa designed by Spaniard Carles Riart. Though he designed it for the home of someone named Salvador Pedreño (hence the name of the sofa), I think it would do nicely for hotel seating, maybe in the lobby of a small boutique hotel or inn.

The sofa’s large proportions and graceful style were inspired by Riart’s own Vallvidrera design, and he conceptualized it as an objet d’art – not merely functional but beautiful to look at as well. That’s why I think it would do well in a small hotel’s lobby. It would help form part of guests’ initial impressions of a hotel, and what better way to do that than to give them something elegant and impressive to look at when they walk through the doors?

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. But if we’re going to talk about chairs for hotels, one of the first that will probably come to mind is the Egg Chair. Designed in the 1950s by Arne Jacobsen for the lobby and reception areas of the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, this chair has become a design icon.

Believed to have been influenced by Eero Saarinen’s Womb Chair, the Egg Chair weighs just 13 kilograms and was originally available in leather, but later Jacobsen permitted renditions in cloth to lower its price. It was introduced to the public at an exhibition in Paris, France, in 1958, and then in Denmark in January 1959.

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Supreme comfort and supreme luxury – these are the inspirations behind Georges Karam’s Karavel line of furniture. One of the superstars of this collection is the Karavel Chair. Measuring 80 cm high, 70 cm wide and 76 cm deep, with a seat height of 46 cm, it looks so inviting not only to sit in, but also to lean back and relax.

The Karavel chair would have no problem finding its place in today’s contract hotel seating industry. Hotels are all about comfort, and comfort is what this chair provides. If chairs had a gender, this one would probably be termed androgynous since it seamlessly combines flexibility and femininity with durability and manliness. That’s what the Georges Karam Designs website claims, anyway. But I tend to agree. The lines do seem to flow in a way that suggests both softness and strength. Made with a solid beech and molded shell superstructure, it is said that it makes whoever is sitting in it feel secure and comfortable at the same time. What’s more, it’s user-friendly for people of all shapes and sizes because of the ergonomic engineering and ultra-sensitive suspension that make the seat adapt to a person’s body form. Karam’s Karavel collection is manufactured exclusively by SOCA of France.

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The concept of hospitality furniture encompasses a wide range of products: reception seating, funky chairs, comfortable beds, versatile tables, to name a few. And these aren’t confined to a just a hotel’s interior space, it also extends to its outdoor areas, including the poolside. Chairs especially have a significant influence on contributing to guests’ poolside experience. Lounging by the pool in a comfortable chair, soaking up the sun’s rays, sipping a cool drink – now that’s a relaxing scenario.

Something that made ripples in the furniture design industry recently was the news that the celebrated New York architect and interior designer David Rockwell debuted a furniture line called Uni Form for Appoggi. He created the collection especially for the poolside areas of Aloft, a planned chain of hotels owned by the Starwood Hotels group.

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All modern-style hotel rooms are not created equal. By choosing different chairs for rooms in your hotel you can easily add variety and adventure to your hotel. Choosing appropriate themes for different parts of your hotel can help define a room’s purpose.

For example, you might choose a classy reproduction chair for your sitting room or lobby. The MC P102 is a classic reproduction chair framed in stained beechwood. By combining this type of chair with rich wood bookshelves and trim you can easily create a sophisticated feel that draws patrons in and sets a standard that they will expect to see continued in their rooms.

With the right seating in your hotel rooms, you will easily exceed those expectations. Keeping with classy reproductions, a range of chairs such as the MC P105 upholstered with varying designs and colors can easily become focal points of each of your individual rooms. By combining consistent furniture design with a variety of colors makes each patron’s stay a unique experience.

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What does it take for a bar to be counted among the best of the best? The quality of food and drink ranks high among the criteria, most certainly. But things like quality and efficiency of service, glassware and tableware used, perhaps even the design of indoor or outdoor bar chairs and tables, may just play a role in how a bar gets noticed both by the media and by customers.

The following, according to Gridskipper, are the best hotel bars in Paris, France. Perhaps the combination of the food and drink they serve and the ambience they offer make them deserving to be ranked so highly among all the other bars in the City of Lights.

1. Hemingway Bar at the Ritz
2. Fontainebleu at Le Meurice
3. Bar Montaigne at Plaza Athenée
4. Jaipur Bar at Hotel Vernet
5. Bar at Pershing Hall
6. Bar at Hotel Costes
7. Ice Kube at Kube Hotel
8. Bar at The Murano

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