The George V of Paris
Flowers in hotels, what a great theme. They are necessary? No. Do they define the hotel experience? Either. Will we choose a hotel based on its floral centers? Absolutely. Flowers at first sight are zero functional, a huge investment and nobody demands them. But therein lies its charm: the useless is useful . For a guest to check-in with peonies as a witness is unnecessary but, thanks to those delicate little things called flowers, something begins to happen there. When flowers enter a space, life enters and sorry for this poetry of "everything at 100". If we feel that someone has taken care to place a fresh cut flower on the bedside table, we will feel that that person has taken care of many other things before. To reach the flower you have to go through other stages. The flower is a guarantee.
Tivoli Palácio de Seteais: flowers and good taste
There is a hotel that has taken the role of flowers to the extreme. Is named george v (Four Seasons). We know it and we have it written down in that Evernote notebook that says: "Hotels to sleep before you die" . This Parisian hotel is the world reference in flowers and if it is not, we have just named it. There is a person behind Jeff Leatham who is an absolute magician . Every week he decides on a theme and with a team of seven assistants he carries it out. The great Leatham (a guy from Ohio who has ended up on the right bank of the Seine), buy 15,000 flowers per month and 150 bouquets per week . We must forget everything we know about flowers and hotels when crossing the lobby of the Georges V.
Floral arrangement by Jeff Leatham in the Marble Courtyard of the George V
In Spain we have a couple of very interesting examples. The Hotel Arts has a donna stain behind her flower arrangements. Donna, thank you for leaving Australia and coming to Barcelona, because they are fabulous. This woman has been working at the hotel since 2004 and, in addition, she teaches workshops throughout the year. The next one will take place on June 1. She in it she will teach to play with flowers in centers with water. That the Arts would be another (sadder and less nuanced) without Stain's flowers we have it clear.
Donna Stain behind the scenes
In Madrid there is a good example of a hotel that uses flowers subtly but with great awareness. Is he Hotel Villa Magna ; It is a great hotel and it is because of details like these: that glass vase that appears like-who-doesn't-want-the-thing with yellow flowers by the sink , for the dwarf orchids in the restaurant or for the orchid tree that is in the lounge from January to June. All rooms feature orchids. Customers already expect it, as they expect the welcome fruit. The hotel has a history of VIP clients and knows which flowers each one likes. For example, the Japanese or Chinese are never offered white flowers . To the rest, what they like the most. The flowers at this hotel also come from Holland, but in this case, they don't make as much noise as those at the Arts or the George V. But there they are, massaging our subconscious and sending us a clear message: I take care of you and surround you with beauty.
Hotel Villa Magna: floral subtlety
Flowers are delicate material and that is why not everyone dares. They neither can nor know. They are not the heritage of luxury hotels, this is important. Sometimes a few coves in a room, or a cove, are enough to generate a good memory. And isn't that what traveling and living is all about? I already warned you: this text was going to border on (go through) kitsch.
Vases and flowers that justify a trip