Entering the bedroom areas from the walkways moves the guest from the bustle of the busy atrium into the calm and quiet of the corridors. The lower lighting levels reinforce this contrast. In the ‘bridges’ from the lifts, the lighting is laid into the floor, but by day the light from the atrium windows floods across them. With these seeming to float in the atrium with their glass walls, the strong carpet colour helps avoid any vertigo. Carpet in the corridors is calmer and wall colours are also used to help create a feeling of calm. In many hotels the design of corridors is an afterthought, but the designer here has brought the same concentration and creativity to bear as in the design of the bedrooms. Carpet designs are asymetrical and slashes of colour cross the weaves, whilst wall colours are sometimes almost complimentary giving an edge in line with some of the edginess in the bedrooms, typified by the red chair and curtain beading. This hotel looks more like it is owned by a boutique operator than the normal chain hotel does.

Gordon McKinnon, the Rezidor SAS executive with responsibility for branding and design, has successfully managed the creation of an image for Radisson that is contemporary and funky. It is not often a brand can create a contemporary feel that contains the unexpected, and the Radissons do this more successfully to my mind than the ‘W’ brand does, with less fuss and without the hype. That hotels of this quality can be full in Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin and Stansted is a great success. Each has their own variation on the contemporary theme the brand has adopted, some with atria and some without, but all with some striking design effect in their public areas (a wall of rock salt and a spectacular chandelier in Krakow; the use of strong colour in Warsaw, Berlin’s aquarium and Stansteds Wine Tower) show that imagination and creativity can coexist with profitability.

Managing design and brand identity within a corporate culture is a difficult trick that has led to some spectacular boardroom arguments, and equally spectacular failures. However some of the best hotels Reviewed here, often best in terms of service as well as profitability and design, have worked where management has used design to create excitement, quality and theatre for the guest. In the Reviews I would single out the ‘W’ Union Square; Le Méridien’s Art and Tech epitomised by Vienna; Intercontinental’s bold hotel at Berchtesgaden; Hiltons Barcelona Del Mar; and the little Haagsche Suites in the Hague; but the Radissons above all surprise by their consistency in being able to pull off the trick in different countries.

Kurt Ritter has masterminded an expansion of the chain (which includes the Regent, Radisson SAS, Park Inn, Coutry Inn and Missoni brands) to over 200 hotels with a target of 700 set for the end of 2012.There are rumours that the chain is to float. Whilst design remains used as a strong tool in creating identity and appeal there is no doubt in my mind that they will make a strong and succesful competitor for larger more established operators.