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Recently in a conversation with Rezidor Company President Kurt Ritter about the development of the Park Inn and Radisson Blu brands in Southern Africa, I asked him to recommend an exemplar Park Inn for me to update the view of the brand carried in our Review section, and he recommended Liége. The current example is the Park Inn Berlin - hardly typical of the brand as it was the first in Europe in 2003 when I wrote about it. As a 1,000 bedroom behemoth it is a very successful and busy hotel but I wanted a new build as an example of how the brand thinking has developed. I also asked Jacques Dubois, the Vice President of Operations for Park Inn the same question and he recommended the new Park Inn at Leigh in Lancashire. This led to visits to both, and the result will feature as a full Review of the brand in a few weeks time.
Restaurant bar and Reception. Note the brand coloured candles and pictures, and the compact plan form
However I was impressed by how the brand standard had been implemented at Liége. I decided, as part of my series on Branding in Hotels (see links below to some previous articles in the series), to produce an article on the implementation as expressed through the design, in this instance by French architecture and design group Creneau. I took some 80 images of the hotel interior and exterior, and if you want more than accompany this 'Miniview' then of course you will find them in the Gallery of the DesignClub. There you will also find the images of Berlin from 2003, the images of Leigh and images from the refurbished Post House/Meridien at Heathrow that has become a Park Inn too.
It is apparent from my conversations that the problems of bringing a 'bought in' property up to the brand standards are considerably more than those of a new build. However my experience of looking at other brands is that the real problem is in management awareness and its implementation of branding through design. Rezidor seems to have firmly grasped this particular nettle under the control of design Director Gordon McKinnon but with ample input it seems from the operational team. Indeed it seems to me that the great achievement of Kurt Ritter, has been the team building, loyalty and sense of purpose expressed throughout the organisation he has so ably led since the early 1990's.
Ground floor wall decor includes leaves in the brand logo colours - here by the public access computers
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External graphics, visible from the adjacent freeway, give strong brand image
Candles are coloured to the brand colours in the logo
Detail awareness on the operational side enhances interior branding - here with colour coded candle holder onthe breakfast table.
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