Designing the perfect hotel bar
Hotel bars are a space where the personality of the hotel gets to shine. Guests leave the privacy of their room to socialise, relax and be seen. Designing the perfect luxury hotel bar requires a blend of aesthetic appeal, comfort, exclusivity and functionality. It should create a memorable experience for guests while being operationally efficient.
Looking for clues: Who Will Be Using the Hotel Bar and WHy
Before putting pen to paper, I want to carefully consider who will be using the bar and why. Luxury hotels can be situated in the centre of a city, or they can nestle in acres of beautiful countryside. Are guests coming for a reason – is it because they are in ‘town’ and need a base for meetings, or a city break or are they there because they want to retreat from busy life; somewhere to relax and unwind. Of course, guests will have different motivations, but the location and brand of the hotel give clues when it comes to designing the perfect bar for that hotel.
I’ve been lucky enough to stay in some beautiful hotels, and the way in which I use the bar area changes depending on the purpose of my visit. For example, when I have a client meeting, it might be that the bar is the most comfortable area to meet, and I need to find a table that I can comfortably sit at with a client, and a place to plug in my laptop. Hotel bars are often the meeting place before dinner or heading out on the town and certainly the place for a quick night cap at the end of a sociable evening. The times I’ve worked away, having a high seat at the bar is always welcoming – it feels like I am part of the atmosphere, I can have a conversation with the bar person or another solo traveller. Sitting at a hotel bar somehow encourages conversation. So, the perfect hotel bar really does need to account for the way in which guests are most likely to use it.
Plan intimate and human-scale spaces
As we paint a picture of who’s going to use the bar and how, consideration is given to the most fundamental aspect of creating the perfect bar – space planning. Luxury hotel bars benefit hugely in creating more intimate, comforting and human scale spaces. They need to work well for guests, but also the people who are working there. Service that doesn’t impinge on the guest experience is key to a smooth experience, so even designing the areas where dirty glasses and plates can easily be dropped out of sight is important. Are the spaces easy for service staff to navigate without knocking into guests. Are the spirit shelves behind the bar accessible and easy to restock when the whisky runs low. Are drinking glasses, cocktail shakers and ice buckets beautiful and part of the display. It’s these details that need to be considered and optimised so both guests and service staff enjoy using the space.
Appropriate seating that reflects how a guest is using the bar
How the bar is furnished considers they ways in which guests use the space. The furniture is key – you want a combination of intimate comfy seating like well upholstered tub chairs, club or armchairs and then more social banquet seating too. A few comfy bar stools placed at strategic points which don’t counter other guest needs to access the bar. Because the type of seating often reflects the way in which a guest is using the bar, it’s important that one zone doesn’t affect the other – so different types of socialising can occur without disrupting another guest’s experience. Guest comfort is paramount; you don’t want a large table for multiple guests next to an imitate cubby hole or booth designed for two.
Consider how noise travel in the space and layered lighting can create ambience
Naturally, when designing a luxury space, the bar needs to feel like it has a subtle air of exclusivity. Not too much space, not too many people and not too much noise – the personality of the space feels intimate, welcoming and unobtrusive. Acoustics of a bar are highly influenced by the soft furnishings – curtains, carpeting, wood and fabric coverings all help to soften the noise in a bar. Layered lighting is also important in creating ambience – it needs to be soft and warm with highlights and low lights creating spaces and accents. Often there is a real focal point in luxury hotel bar, and most often is the actual bar itself, so careful consideration needs to be given to the materials and aesthetic of the bar itself. And what luxury bar would be complete without space for a baby grand piano.
The best hotel bar design in the world won’t sing without exceptional service to match
Of course, all the thoughtful design decisions in the world won’t bring a bar to life, without exceptional service, which is so important in creating a comfortable guest experience. Friendly yet respectful, attentive without being overbearing and knowledgeable about both the hotel and the drinks they serve are key to offering guests a memorable experience. World famous Dukes Bar in London, Bar Manager, Alessandro Palazzi will serve a martini made at your table and he’s become famous for it. It’s these touches and idiosyncrasies that create points of difference.
A luxury hotel bar should feel effortless yet meticulously designed, blending opulence with warmth and exclusivity with accessibility. The goal is to create a space where guests linger, return and talk about it long after their visit.