Guest
Issue #3
August 2019
For the F&B offerings at 25hours Hotel in Copenhagen, the company has partnered with the Molcho family behind the eclectic restaurant concept NENI, which serves Mediterranean-Persian-Austrian cuisine. NENI is currently part of 25hours Hotels in Berlin, Hamburg and Zurich. Artwork: MBDS London.
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opment of a hotel. In our 25hours Hotel HafenCity Hamburg, the maritime theme came easy as we had the location near the harbour. Here we play with the port and the sea, industry and romance, cabins, logbooks and sailors’ yarns. In our upcoming Dubai hotel, for instance, we were motivated by traditional and modern nomads that gave us inspiration for the different areas of the hotel such as the Grand Library, which will become the centrepiece of the lobby in reference to the hakawati, the Arabic storyteller. All preferably curated by the renowned Institut du Monde Arabe of Paris. In general, we pay a lot of attention to details and we strongly believe that storytelling can truly create the oft-acclaimed soul of a hotel.
One of the playful guest experiences at 25hours Hotel The Circle in Cologne is ‘Robi the robot’, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to learn how to guide and provide visitors with information. In your view, what are the wider prospects for using AI in the hotel industry? To be honest, ‘Robi the Robot’ was more of a playful intervention than an intelligent digital experience. However, there is undoubtedly a substantial development going on in the area of AI but the hospitality industry is rather slowly adapting. The first signs we are seeing are incorporated in chatbots within the reservation funnel. Copenhagen and the other Scandinavian capitals are internationally known for their exciting culinary scenes and
very strong Nordic design tradition. How will your future Copenhagen hotel complement these expectations among travellers? Indeed, Copenhagen has a vibrant food and design scene valued as great craftsmanship. At the same time, people in Copenhagen are innovative and have a profound sense of quality and taste. For us, entering such a highly creative and competitive market is both challenging and fun at the same time. We reflect a lot on how to become the new creative, slightly different neighbour and contribute to the city’s overall creativity. Food-wise, we decided to team up with two highly professional partners with a non-Nordic background – our loyal friends, the Molcho family, with their eclectic Mediterranean-Persian-Austrian NENI