BOUTIQUE, C'EST CHIC! - Hotel V

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BOUTIQUE,
C’EST CHIC!
WE EXCLUSIVELY REVEAL THE MOST FABULOUS
BOUTIQUE HOTEL ANYWHERE IN THE ARAB WORLD

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Nobody knows this better than Jean van
Gysel. As owner of the five-start hotel luxe Le
Plaza in the centre of Brussels; owner, restorer
and designer of the 16th Century Spanish palacio
hotel ‘V…’ Vejer; and now originator of a brand
new deluxe boutique hotel brand for the Middle
East, he has his finger on the international
luxury-travel pulse in a way that many others in
the hospitality industry do not.
Van Gysel’s Le Plaza Brussels is set in the most
traditional, top-end segment of the European
hotel market possible. Built in the Art Deco
style for which Belgium is so famous, it took its
inspiration from the world renowned Georges
V in Paris when originally built between 1928
and 1932.
“The hotel in Brussels was bought by my
grandfather. Before the war, that area just to
the south of Le Grande Place was a supremely
elegant place. But it slowly went down hill.
Ten years ago, it started to return to its former
glory and in 1996 my father and I decided
to renovate the building. Having travelled
“The percentage of
younger customers going
to the more traditional
hotel is decreasing
compared to beautifully
crafted boutique hotels.”
extensively around the world we knew exactly
what was right for the traditional, five star
European market.” (see the end of this article
for contact details).
Van Gysel used internationally renowned
architect Pierre-Yves Rochon to do the interior
designs. The relationship between Le Plaza and
the Georges V came full circle when one year
after Le Plaza re-opened, Rochon began to
refurbish the Georges V too.
But while van Gysel had created a stunning
new addition to the Belgian accommodation
market – now used by politicians like Madeleine
Albright and celebrities like Johnny Depp – van
Gysel had also begun to notice the limitations
of this approach to hospitality, both in terms
of design and function.
“Claridges, the Georges V, the Ritz; they all
have expensive copies of 18th Century furniture
and very heavy design, even when refurbished,”
he says. “The Georges V went through a total
remodel and while it went towards the design
destination market, it stopped short because there
was so much gold.
“I think that market is changing,” he
continues. “The younger, yahoo-generation
travel a lot more and their communications are
much faster. They are looking for something
much better; where the services are infinite;
where the architecture, design and materials
are all on-trend but created with warmth.
“That is why I decided to move to a more
dynamic, smaller product with much more
attention to detail. The percentage of younger
customers going to the more traditional hotel
is decreasing compared to beautifully crafted
boutique hotels.”
Van Gysel’s first foray into boutique came
when he began to renovate a stunning Spanish
property in the tiny Andalusian village of Vejer
de le Frontera.
“It is a charmingly small product,” he
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says. “I am promoting it as a house with 12
bedrooms that happens to offer the service of a
five star hotel. You can rent a room, or lease the
whole house. You can also be there as a famous
person, unrecognized and understated.
“The renovation was of a building from the
16th Century. It sits in a Moorish village, the
southern-most Pueblo Blanco in Spain. From the
top of the hotel you can see the Atlas Mountains
of Morocco, yet you are in the middle of this
absolutely charming Spanish village.
“The designs I created mix modern
elements with the old architecture. It is
very contemporary, with open bathrooms
that contrast with the stone columns in the
courtyard: A mixture of wood stone, metal and
glass. Again, elegant and clean. When someone
comes to visit, they relax immediately.”
“I have designed it as a
‘village by the sea’ with
a major emphasis on the
balance between interior
and exterior space and
landscaping.”
V… Vejer opened its doors on February 22,
and has already been vaunted as a design icon.
“It is not too trendy, though. Because that can
get old very quickly,” adds van Gysel. “I used
the Spanish interiors company Porcelanosa
for the flooring and bathroom fittings and
chose reclaimed colonial antiques from the
Goan jungle to make sure that wasn’t the
case.” In combination, van Gysel’s designs
and Porcelanosa’s materials have created a
genuine retreat (see the end of this article for
contact details).
Happy but not completely fulfilled by just one
iteration of his ideas about the future of luxury
accommodation, van Gysel began looking for
further projects that would appeal to the
wealthy international traveller. The result is
the V… brand.
The concept is simple. He takes all of the
elements that suit the modern voyager – the
super-exclusivity; the infinite services; the
fabulous transport; the ultra-modern spa and
the ultra-fine dining – and packages them
into a single, five star hotel and a single,
extraordinary location.
The first hotel in the Middle East ‘V…
Greece On The World’, a 484,882sqft island
off the waters of the Dubai coast on Nakheel’s
remarkable development, The World.
“This project is inspired by light and
water,” says van Gysel. “I have designed it
as a ‘village by the sea’ with a major emphasis
on the balance between interior and exterior
space and landscaping. It offers pure and
simplistic comfort while providing the ultimate
in luxury.”
V… On The World has 65 living spaces
overlooking ocean, waterways and lavishly
landscaped gardens. You arrive at a 100 metrelong
wooden marina and enter via a giant,
freestanding, glass reception through to the main
square – the focal point for the island. Wooden
walkways lead you to villas, lofts and suites
of simple, contemporary architectural form,
enriched by the water and light that is being
guided to divide and penetrate the complex.
“It goes along with the feeling that one has
when entering V… Vejer in Spain. I want to
recreate that feeling in the UAE. That I feel
at peace. That I don’t want five or six or seven
people coming to see me every few minutes
when I am trying to eat a meal. Not everyone
wants that experience. It is that subtle attention
to detail. Our clients’ lives are about being
subtle - whether you are negotiating a business
transaction or in your personal life.”
V… On The World has been designed by
Architetti Associatti, a group of young Italian
designers that specialize in handcrafted materials
and forms in the tradiziona moderna style. A
basic translation would be that traditional form
follows modern function.
In this case, the function is the ultimate
leisure experience of the lucky 65 people that
buy these spaces and use them for up to 60
days a year. The properties are then leased out
as part of the hotel for the rest of the year,
allowing further guests to be lavishly saturated
in water and light.
The upper floor of the dramatic glass
–
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“V… On The World is
due to complete in 2010
and Abu Dhabi is about
two years further away,”
structure, for example, contains a restaurant
overlooking the island’s marina. There is a
state-of-the-art business centre ready for 100
people and a spa spread over two floors with
treatment rooms that open on to a central,
private water-courtyard with gymnasium and
studio, hammam, swimming pool and salons.
“We have signed with Cinq Mondes,” says
van Gysel. “They have most recently done the
spa at the Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne. It
is the perfect example of a traditional five star
hotel with a very modern spa. It has been in
the list of top 10 individual spas around the
world for the third year in the row.
“They give me a truly cross-cultural, crosscontinental
approach to services. A real mixture
of the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe.
They are not stuck in one practice or the other.
It is a small group that only does five spas a year.
The World and Cinq Mondes fit exactly.”
Back in Europe, if it is not a spa like those at
the Beau-Rivage Palace or Georges V that have
modernized the traditional five star hotel, then
it is the food. And van Gysel has recognized
that the boutique segment he is trying to fill
can synthesize this into a whole new niche:
The food spa.
“I want to have this across the V… Group.
The ability to go to a spa and then eat pure, fresh
organic food after the event,” says van Gysel. “It
won’t just be small and luxurious. I will also have
a food menu which is out of this world.”
Van Gysel’s plan is to launch a hotel under
the V… brand every year for the next five
years in the Middle East. “V… On The World
is due to complete in 2010 and Abu Dhabi
is about two years further away,” van Gysel
says. “Oman and Qatar are on the map. Russia
is on the map. After that I will be searching
for further locations. It is important for me to
find places that are not overly crowded with
boutique hotels.
“There is one group doing something similar
to what I am trying to do,” van Gysel says. “It is
called Aman Resorts. They have 20 properties
– some very interesting hotels with beautiful
products. Jean-Michel Gathy of Denniston
architects has done a fantastic job with them.
But the group’s strategy is to sell the magic in
a magical place. That is not necessarily what I
want to do. I want to create the magic where
it is least expected. In unusual places. Create
something that is very, very interesting.”
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