interview
Parkhotel was founded in the 1960s as the first prestigious modern hotel in Prague. Recently it has undergone a complete renovation, with plans to attract not only international tourists but also Prague’s citizens. “What is really unique about Parkhotel, apart from taking you back to the 1960s era, is that you can book the hotel exclusively for yourself. If you organize an event for a company or group of more than 200 people, you can reserve the entire Parkhotel for you and your guests,” says Mrs. Hilm. Dear Mrs. Hilm, you did an amazing job renovating the hotel while simultaneously keeping it open and serving guests. How did it all happen? In December 2012, when I first arrived, the hotel looked horrible. As I admitted on our website, I agreed with everyone who considered Parkhotel “ugly”, especially the interior. Before the renovations began, I contacted the Chamber of Architects, represented by Mr. Petr Hlaváček. He introduced me to two architects who designed the hotel, representing a unique architectural style according to the era of “socialism with a human face”. The two architects I contacted were Mrs. Alena Šrámková and Mr. Zdeněk Edel. Both helped me to understand the original concept of the hotel’s design, and appreciate its uniqueness. Mr. Edel spent one whole day with me, guiding me through the hotel and explaining the concepts of minimalism and symbolism. I learned that from the 1960s the hotel was linked to both the past and present. Also, the orientation of the building’s facade, contrary to the other buildings in the neighbourhood, was intentional. When I mentioned that I would like to reconstruct the hotel to fit with the exterior, Mr. Edel was very touched, as he was also disappointed by the failed attempts of previous renovations which destroyed his original plan. For example, the heavy and ugly furniture of the 1980s interior did not correspond to the minimalistic light concept of the 1960s. Why did the Israeli real estate company Daramis decide to buy the hotel? The original idea was to buy it because of the land and location. Daramis group is a Real Estate Company, interested in developing the land beside the hotel. As they are not experts in hotel management, they hired me. However, I sensed the
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potential for the renovated Parkhotel, and came up with the idea of first renovating Parkhotel, and then concentrating on building new apartments. What about the original idea to build apartment buildings next to Parkhotel? We are still planning to build apartments behind the hotel. The idea is to benefit from the services of Parkhotel. When you buy an apartment there, you will be able to have housekeeping, you can order room service, get your laundry done, and make use of other hotel services, while living in your own flat. It’s a new way of thinking of apartments in Prague. It was up to me to explain this to the Israeli owners, that if they wanted to sell fancy apartments next to the hotel, the hotel as such also needed to look nice. Let ‘s go back to the renovation. Given the Czech history of not finishing projects in time, it is incredible to believe that it started in July 2013, and now it is finished. Due to Daramis being a professional construction company we had extensive support and therefore finished on time. Many Czech people remember Parkhotel from old movies. Now, when you enter, you can really feel the 1960s period. I understand your love for the old Parkhotel, but still, were you not tempted to do some modernization or use current designs? Not at all. I am proud to say that I convinced everybody that the right thing to do is to keep the style of a 1960s hotel. Not to go modern. My biggest challenge was to make sure everybody shared the idea of how great the concept really is. Once everybody was on board, it was easy. What was Mr. Edel´s reaction to the renovation? He said that it looks fantastic. To me this was one of the best rewards. Now, people can come back to see and feel the hotel as it was in the 1960s. This is not only good for tourists, I believe that the Parkhotel also has value for Czech people, for whom the 1960s was a very special period in Czechoslovak history. Therefore, I want the hotel to be part of the Prague 7 community. I don‘t want it to be a hotel only for foreigners. You organise a lot of events for Prague citizens, not only for hotel guests. That is not very common for Prague hotels.
Parkhotel benefits from large spaces that can be used for public gatherings and events. Most hotels don’t have big public spaces. In fact, most people hide from big open spaces. Prague 7 is full of people and yet, people don’t really have a “central point”. Therefore, we want to use the space around the hotel and offer it to them. For example, during the winter there is an ice skating rink available. In summer, I hope to get permission for an open air cinema. The guests will like it. We are not on the Old Town Square; we have to attract the guests. And the guests at the same time are curious and presented with a unique opportunity to experience how local Czech people live. So are you aiming to attract a different clientele than a usual four-star hotel chain would? Yes, that corresponds with what I mentioned above, our aim is to provide a unique experience of the local environment. We want to cater to people who are interested in staying in our hotel as a symbol of the 1960s period, because it has been a part of Prague’s history. We are not an ordinary hotel. I can say this because I have extensive hotel chain experience. I have worked in nine different countries, and no matter which country you are in, all hotels in a chain look the same, and this attracts their clients. However, when I had the opportunity to create what I wanted to create, I wanted all of our guests to feel like they are in Prague. For example, we are having Czech designers make special uniforms based on 1960s attire, and we are starting to cooperate with Botas regarding popular shoes from that era. We want to have the 1960s iconic style brought out. We have Kofola on tap in the bar. Guests are invited to free tasting. This sounds like you are referring to unique boutique hotels. But boutique hotels are mostly small. You have 237 rooms… Yes, but groups are also interested in these boutique hotels. Groups currently make up half the occupancy of the hotel. We have a lot of American tourists. They love and appreciate the history. It‘s obvious that many foreigners, whether they travel in groups or not, are fascinated by the 1960s period. That is why we offer this experience, and at the same time treat our guests with special care.
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