Heathrow used the strong red from the brand logo on one wall - click to see a Leigh bedroom bedhead
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It is the scale of the public spaces and their relationship with the exterior of the hotel that make it difficult for the operator. Both hotels are similar in size, but the enlarged public areas at Leigh, that might be an advantage if it was full all the time, work against it in recessionary times.
Sight lines are poor,with some areas from the bar to the bar lounge unsighted completely. The reception lobby would almost be comfortable as an airport terminal,is is so large. It could be filled with businessmen simply using the space if there was free Wifi – but there isn’t. One has to wonder at brands standards in a brand that has free Wifi in one hotel (Liége) but not in another (Leigh). It was noticeable in competitor Campanile how the free wifi resulted in the lobby always having little groups of business people meeting or just working with mobile phone and laptop, buying coffees, sandwiches and generally making the hotel feel busy. Such a group at Leigh would help to lift the feel of the hotel as well as perhaps helping it to build a customer base. Not only does it seem counterintuitive to charge for Wifi access but it removes a competitive edge the hotel so desperately needs.
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The hotel had been open about four months when I visited and there were many outstanding snagging items in need of attention but I was not aware of them being dealt with at all during my brief two night stay. Given the low level of trading I would have through it quite possible for management to close a floor at a time and deal with all outstanding issues without inconveniencing guests.
In all three of the hotels the branding is well expressed in the bedrooms where standards are easier to dictate in a coherent manner - for example through the same bed/bedding/toiletries combinations. Signage on the room doors included the logo colours, and they were expressed on the bed throws. However in Liége one of these colours was expressed on each floor, in the bedrooms as a wall painted in a solid colour and in the corridor artwork and door frame colours. In Heathrow a similar device was used with a wall a solid colour. Leigh expressed the branding through furniture colours.
The variation between the three hotels bedroom floors shows how a brand standard could be achieved whilst allowing freedom for differentiation so that properties were not totally uniform.
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Standard bathroom, Leigh. The DDA bathroom had a style missing elswhere (click to see). The architecture and poor planning made Leigh struggle to have any style but here the striking black and white contrast worked well
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