REVAMPED HOTELS IN EUROPE

By: Christian Stan

Europe’s hospitality scene is one of “storeys” retold. The heartland of the Renaissance is accustomed to reinventing itself – here’s what’s new, improved and reimagined on the continent

HOTEL PULIZER, AMSTERDAM 

From the W Hotel to the Waldorf-Astoria, there’s a bevy of new luxury hotels in Amsterdam. In light of this competition, Hotel Pulitzer underwent a renovation in 2015 and officially relaunched on February 1, 2016 as part of Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ new LVX Collection. The Hotel Pulitzer, formerly a Luxury Collection hotel, left the Starwood portfolio in April 2015. Comprised of 25 restored canal houses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, the Pulitzer originally opened in 1970 as Amsterdam’s first five-star hotel (it was founded by the grandson of the Pulitzer Prize’s founder).

After the “largest renovation in its history,” what’s in store at the Hotel Pulitzer? There’s a swanky new bar and the Restaurant Jansz, and 80 guestrooms redesigned by Jacu Strauss with a clever combo of vintage and contemporary décor.(These rooms are on the Keizersgracht side; the rooms facing Prinsengracht will be renovated this year, and the total tally will be 225 rooms.)

All rooms come with free treats, free wifi, marble bathrooms with Le Labo amenities, and bike repair kits. The stand-out rooms are the four new themed “Collector’s Suites” including the Music Collector’s Suite, the Book Collector’s Suite, the Art Collector’s suite, and the Antique Collector’s Suite.

Rates start from EUR 369 per night for a Classic King Room.

GRAND HOTEL TREMEZZO, ITALY

Further south in Italy, there’s a grand dame that seems to reinvent itself ahead of every summer season. Following 2014’s T Beach unveiling and 2015’s signature suite launches, Lake Como’s Grand Hotel Tremezzo now has an all-new spa offering.

The new 1,000-sqm wellness facility has taken residence in the 18th-century Villa Emilia, with indoor and outdoor spaces for full lakeside relaxation, boasting views of the Bellagio and Grigne Mountains. The design comes courtesy of Venelli Kramer – also the mastermind behind T Beach, the TSpa Infinity Pool and the hotel’s new rooftop suites – in partnership with ESPA, maintaining a host of the villa’s original features with contemporary design elements, including the hammam’s central raised massage platform, steam room, sauna, warm bath and rain shower with nebulised waterfall, all realised in white Lasa marble.

Rates start from EUR 382 per night for the Park View Prestige Room.

NEW SUITES AT HOTEL ROYAL-EVIAN, FRANCE

European hotel refurbishments are two a penny, but interior designer François Champsaur is said to have completely “reinterpreted” the Hôtel Royal – Evian Resort in Évian-les-Bains, France. The Leading Hotels of the World member has seen its hundred-year-old building returned to its “original splendour” and crowned with seven new luxurious suites with views of Lake Geneva and the Alps.

With an emphasis on period furniture, and mahogany, oak, rosewood and satinwood furnishings, as well as Carrara marble with white and grey veinage used in the bathrooms, Champsaur himself commented that hotel “reveals in equal measure its connection with the mineral content of water and the water spring as well as its place in the sophisticated world of the Palace hotel”. The seven new suites are said to be a renewed tribute to King Edward VII, in whose honour the hotel was built in 1907.

Rates for the Suites start from EUR 753 per night.