When the Four Seasons Hotel Boston undertook a massive renovation in 2005, the owner wanted a unique look that would become a signature characteristic of this downtown landmark. “Luxury hotels spend significant time attempting to differentiate themselves,” said Eric Vogel, a designer for CBT Architects in Boston. “The bathroom is an area where this differentiation is particularly critical since most hotel guests place a high premium on the bathroom experience as a factor in their overall satisfaction.” Vogel presented a number of standard fittings to the owner, but none of the solutions proved “custom” enough.
The Solution
With the Symmons Design StudioTM, the process was seamless. “The owner’s idea was to take a little bit of this, a little bit of that and transform it into a Four Seasons Boston faucet,” said Vogel. “So we pulled together all of his ideas and developed the basic design of the faucet, after which the [Symmons Design Studio] designer turned it into a working prototype. Ultimately, we were able to do something custom with incredibly fast turnaround. It was actually quicker, not to mention more cost-competitive, than choosing a stock product from another large, traditional manufacturer.”
The Outcome Of the 285 guest rooms, 250 were completely retrofitted with new custom-designed faucets, shower mixing valves, tub spouts and showerheads, as well as accessories that included towel bars, robe hooks, towel rings and toilet paper holders. Vogel notes, “I would turn to [the Symmons Design Studio] for every hotel we work on in the future, rather than selecting from a standard line. Getting a full bathroom fixture suite that is unique to one hotel is actually quite innovative…. As an architect, it actually helps your services since it allows you to provide products with higher perceived value than you typically could.”