Park Hyatt Milan, luxury and design
Alessandra Ruggeri, Sales & Marketing Director
A real jewel in the very heart of Milan. Alessandra Ruggeri, Sales and Marketing Director of the Park Hyatt Milan explains to Luxgallery the secret charm of the deluxe five stars hotel of the Milanese city. The brand name Park is set within the Hyatt family as a luxury brand taking the cue from smaller hotels, 100-150 rooms, though characterized by extraordinary locations, situated in the very heart of the city, endowed with customized services, well-conceived to satisfy the needs of very special guests.
The Park Hyatt is a worldwide synonym of luxury: how do you choose your locations?
Place Vendôme in Paris, the Bolshoi in Moscow, the Gallery in Milan. The choice of locations for Park Hyatt Hotels is mainly aimed at making out of them showcase hotels situated in the heart of the most interesting cities, able to interpret the mood of the place right from the first glance. The logics on which our strategy is based are those to find spaces in the most important international cities or in resort areas of international high-calibre. The typical Park Hyatt Hotel’s dimensions are around 100-150 rooms and the hotel is characterized by contemporary luxury, refined elegance, intense personalization of the design that differs according to the city where the hotel is situated.
How does Italy fit in the Hyatt global strategy?
Milan was indeed the first stop of Park Hyatt in Italy. An almost compulsory choice, thinking at the strategy that led throughout time Hyatt openings worldwide, always looking for the most vibrating and exclusive world cities. The next step in Italy will see the consolidation of its positioning within the city system. For this reason we are working hard to find the location that most suits our standards in the heart of Rome. The strategy of Park Hyatt in our country is that of reaching the number of three – four structures, although the focus of the Group, at the global level, at this moment, is that to have the brand well-represented in all developing countries.
Park Hyatt and exclusiveness: which are the extra features that make your Hotels, especially the one in Milan, stand out in comparison to others?
Luxury in terms of comfort and authentic hospitality in the first place. Our concept of comfort can be summed up with the innovative idea of space that aims at making out of spaces liveable and functional realities. Our smallest room is 35 squared metres and it’s a quite remarkable result given that during the renovation of a building like this we had to comply with precise rules. In the buildings that were built ex novo for Park Hyatt the results achieved are even more astonishing and in the new Shanghai Park Hyatt the basic room is 40 squared metres. Even the bathrooms are quite spacious, all have natural light and a dressing area; some Suites of the Park Hyatt Hotels, included ours, are provided with “mini-spas”, a space endowed with Turkish Bath, massage bed, chromotherapy and Tapis Roulant. The architects work so that the international taste is completed by and enriched with local characteristics, because the structure hosting guests coming from far away is their first approach to local culture. If structural elements constitute one of the most important premises for the brand, our staff is the signature as it takes our guests to the discovery of the truest aspects of our hospitality. Be it an advice or a small gesture, our focus is that of thinking of our clients as single unique individuals.
Care for design and perfect structure, but not only: your hotel is characterized by the presence of a great number of works of art. Could you tell us the philosophy that inspires your policy?
Hyatt has always considered design one of the most important aspects of the brand and it is the first time a hotel company considers architecture as a fundamental element. In favour of this preference it is enough to say that 23 Park Hyatt hotels worldwide were conceived by 18 different architects. Our policy does not envisage the presence of a corporate architect, but rather the most suitable designer is selected every time, through project competitions, so to have the best professional to interpret a specific city in a creative and peculiar way. The fact that the attention to design is a fundamental aspect of our philosophy is also demonstrated by the prize awarded every year by the Pritzker family, owner of Global Hyatt, to the living architect that contributed, in the most innovative and creative way, with the creation of structures conceived with great attention to environment too (famous award holders: Renzo Piano, Norman Foster and many more). Art as beauty is another key concept of Park Hyatt, so much so that the structures are generally enriched by works of art of great artists, private collections and peculiarities thought to detail. In our Imperial Suite, for instance, there is a huge hall where we should have put a carpet so to soften the noises but at the same time we did not want to miss out the absolute beauty of the travertine, of which the floor is made.
Then, the architect designed and hand-customized a carpet made of silk with veins recalling the floor, so that the difference between the floor and the carpet would almost be imperceptible; this is for me a work of art, a less cried-out kind of luxury but equally able to reach innovation through the beauty resulting from researches.
The guests of your structure are provided with many comforts, which are the most appreciated ones, and which ones the most requested?
Park Hyatt has always openly thought of luxury in the cultural perspective that does not mean “for everybody” but neither for just a niche group. Who enters our hotels has the feeling that space opens up, because Hyatt, right since the very first hotel, conceived common spaces as functional to the most intense moments of the guest’s stay, framed into a gastronomic reality. Keeping in line with this point of view, we too diversified the environments keeping into consideration the needs of our guests. The journey starts with a dive into the beating heart of our hotel; the Cupola, a spacious circular area covered with a suggestive glass cupola, dominated by the precious look of Medusa by Fontana. Guests find in this area a relaxing space where to have breakfast, meet friends or clients and eat any time, until midnight. The presence of international and local guests is harmonized by gastronomy: Club Sandwiches, rewarded by the magazine Monocle as the best in the world, and the typical Milanese veal cutlet in breadcrumbs, chosen also by our Milanese guests. Of course we could not leave out an area dedicated to “fine dining”, a cosy restaurant where everything is concentrated around the use of raw materials and where the chef Filippo Gozzoli prepares, for his guests, very creative dishes based on traditional food, presented in a very fresh way. Finally, The Park Bar, with a magnificent view upon the Gallery, was conceived based on an affordable conception of food&beverage, usable by the Milanese for the lunch break or the happy hour that is generally very lively at night thanks to different initiatives, among which the Green Out Aperitif, in the sign of fair and solidarity values. This is a tangible example of a how the concept of hospitality can be adapted according to the different kind of customer, be it local or international.
Could you tell us in secret some caprices of some of your well famous guests?
Contrary to what it is normally believed about internationally famous stars, actors or musicians, they indeed are the least extravagant of our clients. The kind of client that we host looks for tranquillity, loves privacy and wants to spend his day in a simple way; in other words, he looks for luxury to read the newspaper while seating in the Cupola without being disturbed. Sure, extravagant requests come in on a daily basis. A few weeks ago, for instance, a guest of ours wanted to surprise the wife for their anniversary and with only one day notice we had to set up a private lesson of samba in their suites, arrange furniture, call in the teacher and the band. Such kind of requests can be satisfied thanks to a top-concierge service level. People working within our structure pay fine attention to the needs and habits of our clients and they do so not by following given patterns, but rather by combining spontaneity and professionalism.
Half staff is international and this conveys freshness to ideas, it makes everything softer, allows us to put together the culture that most suits the client, who has a privileged reference point from the very start to the very end of the experience.
Today, travelers look for strong empathy with the places they visit; the hotels that make a difference are those that manage to re-create this special dimension. The concept of exclusiveness is changing and is not anymore linked to luxurious decorations and extremely high prices, but rather to the ability of conveying emotions, and offering a personalized service and an authentic hospitality.
Arts And Culture, Luxury Residences, Travel And Holidays,
Tags: Park Hyatt Hotel
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