Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #40

ELITE TRAVEL TRENDS
7132 HOTEL – A NEW
COMBINATION FOR
DESIGN AND LUXURY
JoAnn
Kurtz-Ahlers
President, Hidden Doorways
WHAT’S
IN A NAME?
A new name and new web address could, in many
cases, throw a cat among the pigeons when it
comes to brand identity. JoAnn Kurtz-Ahlers
took the plunge earlier this year, evolving into
“Hidden Doorways”. We asked her why.
Especially in the travel
space, with all the agencies
and sub-agencies that have
sub-branding, it’s very hard
to come up with something.
I had a consultant and we
were working on other
things, and I said, ‘You
know, I would like to really
attempt again to change my
name’. When you do that,
people think you sit around
and brainstorm words –
but it’s not really that. It’s
really a case of digging
deep and expressing who
you think you are and what
you bring to the table that
differentiates what you do.
When I started, I was doing a
lot of consulting, so it made
sense to have my name.
But a lot of times, if I was
consumer-facing, I spent so
much time explaining what
that name was and what
we did, and it was wasted
moments. So, “Hidden
Doorways” is I think what
we bring to the table,
whether it’s new properties
or new experiences, or new
ways of looking at things,
if it’s a consulting project
… it’s those doorways that
take you into a different
knowledge
Joanna Peyer
Director of Sales
and Marketing, 7132 Hotel
Roman Frauchiger
General Manager,
7132 Hotel
A recently named member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts,
7132 Hotel, Vals was an eye-opener for many a Virtuoso
member in Las Vegas, thanks to its exceptional design, by –
among others - the Pritzker prize-winner Thom Mayne.
With original designed by Peter Zumthor in the 1990’s, the
property had already become renowned over the years,
but with recent renovations, it has become even more of a
“masterpiece”.
New five-star superior rooms have been designed by a local
architect – built primarily for comfort, but General Manager,
Roman Frauchiger, underlined the exceptional work being
done in other zones: “The thermal baths by Zumthor… that
was the masterpiece of his career, built in the late 90’s. The
hotel also had some rooms by him… but it became a little
bit ‘old’, and people forgot about the hotel connected to
the thermal baths. The owner bought the hotel four years
ago, and he renovated rooms in the four-star ‘House of
Architects’ tower, where we now have rooms from four
world famous architects. They had ‘carte blanche’ to do
what they wanted with the 20 sqm rooms. There are still
rooms by Zumthor, but also now by Thom Mayne, as well as
two celebrated Japanese architects. Next year, we will build
a new entry gate designed by Thom Mayne.”
The property is family oriented, with a separate building
“just for kids” – designed with fun in mind!