W Hotel Insider 2012

WHAT’S NEW / NEXT I N S I D E R WE RECENTLY REINVENTED OUR SARTORIAL OUTLOOK WITH THE APPOINTMENT OF NEW YORK FASHION ICON JENNÉ LOMBARDO AS GLOBAL FASHION DIRECTOR, WHO EFFORTLESSLY PAIRS HIGH FASHION PIECES WITH FLEA MARKET FINDS. FOUNDER OF THE TERMINAL PRESENTS – WHICH OVERSEES NEW YORK FASHION WEEK’S M.A.C & MILK EVENTS HUB – LOMBARDO HAND-PICKED SIX HOT NEW DESIGNERS TO SHOW AT FASHION NEXT, WHICH FOR THE FIRST TIME HOSTED FASHION WEEK EVENTS IN LONDON, MOSCOW AND BANGKOK IN ADDITION TO NEW YORK. W HAS ALSO UNCOVERED EMERGING TALENTS IN MUSIC AND DESIGN, WITH UP-ANDCOMING DJ’S MIXING IT UP FROM BARCELONA TO BALI ON THE W BURN DJ LAB TOUR AND WINNERS OF THE W HOTELS DESIGNERS OF THE FUTURE EXHIBITING AT DESIGN MIAMI/BASEL. NEXT YEAR IS A BIG ONE FOR ASIA, WITH NEW OPENINGS IN SINGAPORE ON CHIC SENTOSA ISLAND, BANGKOK’S UPSCALE EMBASSY ROW AND GUANGZHOU’S ZHUJIANG, A LIVELY SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT. BEYOND THAT, W WILL DELIVER A SHOT OF COOL TO SHANGHAI AND BEIJING, WITH BOTH HOTELS SET TO OPEN IN 2014.

JENNÉ LOMBARDO, NEW GLOBAL FASHION DIRECTOR JENNÉ LOMBARDO’S HAIR – A GLAMOROUS LONG BLOND MANE THAT’S BOLDLY SHAVED UNDERNEATH – IS A NEAT METAPHOR FOR HER IDIOSYNCRATIC STYLE, WHICH SEES THE NEW YORK FASHION ICON PAIRING RIPPED TIGHTS WITH TOWERING CAMILLA SKOVGAARD HEELS, OR VINTAGE GIVENCHY WITH SLOUCHY ESQUIVEL BOOTS. W’s new Global Fashion Director has spent her sartorial career collaborating with artists and designers, and as Executive Director of Global Fashion Talent for beauty brand M.A.C, she launched the sexy, ethereal Viva Glam campaign with Lady Gaga, which revealed the eccentric pop star’s softer side. Founder of The Terminal Presents, a consultancy that pairs brands with unique talent in fashion, design, music and popular culture, Lombardo also oversees New York fashion week’s M.A.C and Milk events hub, a collaboration between the beauty brand and Milk studios that offers designers a full service venue, from hair and make-up to a space to create their look-book for free, or at subsidized rates. Now in its fifth season, Milk Fashion Week championed over 40 designers this year, and previous collaborations include Alexander Wang, Band of Outsiders, Suno and Lulu Frost.

M.A.C and Milk jetted to Paris Fashion Week this October for its first foreign debut, and Lombardo eventually hopes to bring this cool initiative to all corners of the world.

Keeping W’s finger firmly on the fastchanging pulse of fashion and providing a global perspective on style to W guests, Jenné will be heading up the Fashion Next Program, which, for the first time ever this year, furnished five of design’s brightest talents with the opportunity to send their Spring 2012 creations down the catwalk at New York Fashion Week in September, with Lombardo additionally overseeing stylish presentations in London, Bangkok and Moscow.

With Jenné at W’s sartorial helm, who knows what will happen next, for as this unconventional fashionista once said, “I am visually drawn to and inspired by the grit and underbelly of cultures and art.

I like things to be a bit filthy, uncomfortable and controversial.”

ON THE RUNWAY

WITH W HOTELS WORLDWIDE

Bangkok Elle Fashion Week 2011 (11-16 October) acted as a stylish springboard for three key W happenings: the introduction of Global Fashion Director Jenné Lombardo to Asia-Pacific, the announcement of Ek Thongprasert as Global Fashion Next Designer for W and the unveiling of his gorgeous new collection. The chic event at Asia’s capital of cool also gave fashion insiders a preview of the W Bangkok and an opp to clink glasses to W Retreat Koh Samui’s first-year anniversary milestone at the W VIP Lounge and the W After Party.

Thongprasert is the visionary mastermind behind one of Bangkok’s most creative stores, Curated by Ek Thongprasert, a conceptual fashion brand for men and women located in the heart of the fashion district, Siam Discovery Center. As W Global Fashion Next Designer, he will be working closely with the W Bangkok to create chic staff uniforms a cut above.

Following the success of the W Lounge last year, W bought the party to Bangkok Elle Fashion Week once more by hosting its signature VIP Lounge, while the exclusive W After Party – with tunes from French Duo Miaou Mix a rising talent from W Hotels and Burn Studios DJ Lab on 13 & 14 October – provided a sneak peek of W Bangkok, which is poised to roll out the red carpet to Thai trendsetters next year.

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ELLE FASHION WEEK

W HOTELS PRESENTS: FASHION NEXT

BACK IN BLACK THE MODELS PULL THEIR BEST POSE.

ANGELS IN WHITE SHOWING OFF EK THONGPRASERT’S WHITE COLLECTION

MIXING IT UP MIAOU MIX CREATED A BUZZ AT THE AFTER SHOW PARTY.

PARADISE FOUND: CHILL BY THE INFINITY POOL BY DAY THEN HIT SIP BAR AT NIGHT.

KOH SAMUI TOP THREE

W KOH SAMUI:

SHOP: HIT CHAWENG BEACH AND SCOUR THE LIVELY, LABYRINTHINE STREETS FOR EVERYTHING FROM BEACHWEAR TO BESPOKE JEWELLERY

A NEW WAY TO ESCAPE EXOTICALLY CAST AMID THE GULF OF THAILAND – A BLISSEDOUT SETTING WHERE STUNNING COASTLINE AND BUDDHIST LANDMARKS ARE WAITING TO BE DISCOVERED – THE PALMFRINGED PARADISE OF KOH SAMUI BOASTS SHIMMERING SUNSETS, LUSCIOUS LAGOONS AND CRYSTAL-CLEAR WATERS BORDERED

BY DREAMY GOLDEN-SAND BEACHES. BUT THAT’S NOT IT, FOR AS ONE OF THAILAND’S MOST POPULAR DESTINATIONS, SAMUI ALSO HARBORS HAPPENING NIGHTLIFE OPTIONS FROM OPEN-AIR RESTAURANTS/BARS TO RAUCOUS CABARETS, MOST OF WHICH ARE SITUATED ON CHAWENG BEACH, A SEVEN-KILOMETER-LONG SULTRY STRETCH OF POSTCARD-PERFECT WHITE SAND.

A peaceable haven from the everyday – enforcing the point is a hill that separates the resort from the rest of Koh Samui – W’s first retreat in Southeast Asia possesses an ‘island within an island’ ambience that’s deliciously disconnected from reality from its secluded spot on Maenam beach, the island’s most pristine coastal corner. A tropical Shangri-la that slumbers luxuriantly by day and purrs into action as the sun goes down, this chic retreat serves as a glittering playground for vacation makers and party-loving locals alike.

Stylishly and painstakingly put together by MAPS design studio and award-winning designer Carl Almeida of P49 Deesign, W’s only Thai property comprises 73 sleek villas sublimely scattered along the beachfront, with clean lines, wood elements and stone tones acting as the perfect backdrop to the brilliant turquoise seascapes beckoning outside. Feeling lazy? Then zone out on the private retreat patio with a paperback. Energized?

Make a splash in the generously proportioned pool.

Illuminated by white terrazzo

EAT: SAVOR FUSION DISHES LIKE TENDERLOIN STEAK WITH RED WINE CHOCOLATE SAUCE AND PEPPER AND PHILIPPE STARCK-DESIGNED CHAIRS AT 9GEMS VISIT: SAIL TO NEARBY KO PHANGAN FOR WHITE SAND BEACHES AND ITS LEGENDARY MOON PARTIES

floors and bleached wood walls, AWAY Spa’s locally inspired therapies – think nourishing coconut body treatments and cleansing sea salt baths – will restore your sense of well-being even further, and savvy spagoers take note: this is the only spa in Asia to offer the Thaimazcal herbal sauna/steam experience, a treatment inspired by traditional Mexican Temascal rituals to revamp body and soul.

In the mood to sample cuttingedge Japanese fare such as Maine lobster with Udon and Chili and Tasmanian ocean

trout with wasabi and sea urchin roe butter from a chic beachfront setting? Then pull up a chair at Namu, where green glass rods evoke bamboo and the surrounding water feature delivers a floaty sensation.

Before you chow down on these gastro masterpieces, cross the stepping stones to Sip for a sun-streaked aperitif. Bow out by smooching the night away at WooBar, where nightly live DJs provide the soundtrack to knockout 270-degree ocean views, before a well-deserved flop into W’s Signature Bed.

W RETREATS04 http://www.starwoodasiapacificpromotions.com/whotel/playandunplug/ W BALI / W MALDIVES / W KOH SAMUI

PLAY AND UNPLUG PACKAGE

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W HOTELS AND BURN DJ LAB WHETHER IT’S A KILLER DANCE MIX DESIGNED TO MAKE YOU HIT THE DANCE FLOOR IN A HEARTBEAT OR A SUBLIME CHILL-OUT NUMBER INTENDED TO PROVOKE A POOLSIDE SLUMBER, W HAS THE SOUNDTRACK FOR EVERY MOOD AND MOMENT, MIXED TO PERFECTION BY OUR VISIONARY CREW OF DJS. Constantly on the look-out for what’s new and next to hit the decks, W recently launched the burn DJ Lab with Coca-Cola to bring together the most talented new spinners from around the globe and help them realize their full potential. Wannabe spinners were sent off to DJ ‘boot camp’ in Barcelona and Ibiza, where they spun alongside mentors including W’s Michaelangelo L’Acqua, Arthur Baker, Jason Bentley and to fight for a slot on W’s burn DJ Lab Tour. With the help of burn studios music ambassadors Richie Hawtin, Sasha and David Guetta, Global Music Director Michaelangelo L’Acqua hand-picked six promising – but very different – talents to join the 20-date tour and rock 12 happening cities all over the globe, from Bali to St Petersburg.

The tour opened in New York this September with hip Parisian duo Miaou Mix (aka Noemi Sunshine Ferst and Judith Grynszpan) delivering a shimmering soundtrack at W New York. Resident DJs at Paris’ Le Baron, the girls serve up R&B and electronica with a heavy dose of glamour on the side. Also rocking it for the girls on the DJ Lab tour is Tokyo’s Eiko, whose unique musical voice and sense of style ensured her a place in the top six.

Resident DJ for W’s Symmetry Live Series, New York’s DJ Bouji (aka Lincoln Madley) delivers high energy sessions and is a favourite with A-listers: past gigs include Jennifer Aniston’s birthday party and after parties for Vanity Fair.

W Hong Kong resident DJ Angus Wong, with a style drawing from the ‘80s and ‘90s, also made the cut, as did Stopmakingme (aka Dan Avery), resident at London’s Fabric and a frequent face at Bugged Out. Dan rocks the dancefloor with everything from electro and post punk to techno and nu wave: a perfect proponent of the eclectic London style, and his set at W Retreat & Spa Bali Seminyak – along with Miaou Mix in London and Bouji in Barcelona – will wrap up the DJ Lab Tour on New Year’s Eve. W Hotels will feature exclusive mixes created by this group in the DJ Lab at the burn Hacienda in Ibiza on the music tab of the W iPhone application, which features an integrated music platform. The DJ Lab mixes will also be available through online DJ community MIX.dj and via mobile devices.

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W HOTELS IPHONE APP UPDATE THERE’S A NEW PLAYLIST ON THE W HOTELS IPHONE APP AND 32 DJ MIXES, INCLUDING W HOTELS AND BURN STUDIO DJS EXCLUSIVE REMIXES, HAVE ALSO BEEN ADDED. CHECK IT OUT AT SYMMETRYSOUNDS.COM

BURN DJ LAB ASIAN TOUR DATES

01 ANGUS WONG HONG KONG COOL 02 DJ BOUJI NEW YORK NOISE 03 STOPMAKINGME BRIT SWAGGER 04 MIAOU MIX PARISIAN BEATS 05 EIKO TOKYO TUNES

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13 & 14 OCTOBER: MIAOU MIX: W VIP LOUNGE, BANGKOK FASHION WEEK 28 OCTOBER: EIKO: W TAIPEI 25 NOVEMBER: ANGUS WONG: W SEOUL-WALKERHILL 3 DECEMBER: EIKO: W HONG KONG

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14 DECEMBER: MIAOU MIX: W PARTY SHANGHAI 30 DECEMBER: ANGUS WONG: W RETREAT & SPA BALI SEMINYAK 31 DECEMBER: STOPMAKINGME: W RETREAT & SPA BALI SEMINYAK

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DESIGN FOCUS A PINNACLE OF MODERN DESIGN AND STARTLING INNOVATION, W SEOUL-WALKERHILL FLIRTS WITH YOUR SENSES FROM THE MINUTE YOU STEP INTO THE HOTEL’S 470 SQUARE METER DOUBLE HEIGHT LOBBY, A SERIES OF COZY SPACES WHERE YOU CAN FLOP INTO EGG-SHAPED CHAIRS OR SUMPTUOUS SOFAS AND SOAK UP THE HOTEL AMBIENCE. ELSEWHERE, GUESTS WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH W SEOUL-WALKERHILL’S HIP DINING SPACES LIKE NAMU AND DAZZLING ROOMS WITH RED ACCENTS FROM SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN DESIGN, INCLUDING NEW YORK’S GAIA AND TONY CHI, AND HONG KONG’S RAD.

W SEOUL A DESIGN ICON

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Pushing the design element further, the hotel has introduced a creative art in collaboration program with local and international artists including Canada’s Farmboy Fine Art and Korean artist Jae Hyo Lee to present the first new media and reactive hotel displays in a hotel in Asia to add further creative wow to Seoul’s most eye-catching accommodation.

02 W Seoul-Walkerhill also made waves in the Korean capital with Design Lab Seoul, an collective Kimchi and Chips additionally stepped imaginative event held this July that unveiled up. China was represented by Super Nature media art inspired by W from the hotel’s Design, a Shanghai based multi-disciplinary Living Room and WooBar. outfit that specializes in interactive design, Curated by media art specialists Art Centre visual communication & media technology.

Nabi, with KoIAN (Korea Interdisciplinary DJ Soulscape, the only Korean DJ featured in Arts Network)’s performance with telerobotic W Hotels App, spun the night away as 300 art installation opening the night, the event guests enjoyed the interactive happening. featured work from some of the hottest local W Design Lab Seoul was a second happening and international artists around working in in series following last year’s W Design Lab this medium, including Haeyul Noh, whose Tokyo, organized by W Seoul-Walkerhill. arresting pieces showcase a new perspective W Hotels first introduced this happening in on movement through the active involvement Tokyo, and the W design revolution continues 01 BRIGHT SPA-RK: of the visitors.Media art group everyware, as W Design Lab is travelling to Shanghai THE WATER ZONE the brainchild of Hyunwoo Bang and Yunsil this December to introduce the W Designers AT W SEOUL-WALKERHILL Heo who head the New Media Lab at Seoul of the Future along with W Hotel’s music and National University, also got involved in the fashion trendsetters to represent the world of 02 CREATIVE FORCE: SUPER NATURE DESIGN event. Keeping the local flavor, Korean/Brit what’s new and next.

W WIRED

DOUBLE STARPOINTS

http://www.starwoodasiapacificpromotions.com/whotel/wired/ W HONG KONG / W TAIPEI / W SEOUL

WIRED PACKAGE

RETREAT AND SURRENDER:

W MALDIVES

TOUCH DOWN: YOUR MALDIVIAN OCEAN OASIS AWAITS.

W INSIDER AT W RETREAT & SPA – MALDIVES NAADU MOHAMED WON’T REST UNTIL EVERY GUEST HAS A SMILE ON THEIR FACE Dive master and sharp snapper W Insider Naadu Mohamed is so dedicated to his charges that he even takes guests diving on his day off. But with so much to discover under the pristine turquoise waters of Fesdu Island on the North Ari atoll, where W Retreat & Spa Maldives is located, who can blame him?

“You can go snorkeling two, three times a day in the same spot and find something different every time, and you can snorkel all around the Retreat and see dozens of species without ever having to get into a boat,” begins Naadu, who loves nothing more than watching guests have a close encounter with a turtle.

“The clarity and amount of species that we have access to here is the same all year long, and the water temperature, which averages 29 degrees, is always inviting too,” adds the W Insider. Not confident with a snorkel mask and flippers? Then book a personal guide to show you the reef’s sweetest, and shallowest, spots, like around the AWAY Spa just before the atoll drops off. “We have lots of guests from Korea and China, people who haven’t grown up by the sea, and we want them to enjoy the ocean as much as we do,” he says. With just 78 villas, the W Retreat & Spa – Maldives

is able to deliver a level of above and beyond service that’s simply not possible in a bustling city hotel with hundreds of keys. Naadu loves regaling guests with his personal Maldivian experiences and frequently inspires them into signing up for a night fishing trip, or an underwater video course.

When not introducing guests to turtles and mantas, Naadu is busy escorting them to Fesdu, an uninhabited island that’s a ten-minute boat ride away from the Retreat. “Guests often tell me they feel like Robinson Crusoe, as they have the island all to themselves and can play at being king and queen for a day.

They never want to come back.”

Serious divers, he says, can book an overnight sailing/scuba trip to Hammerhead Shark Point aboard the Retreat’s glorious two-mast sailing yacht, Escape, where in addition to these unusually-shaped creatures, sand tiger, sixgill and spottail sharks cut gracefully through the turquoise underworld.

The retreat is utilizing technology to tweak its level of service even further, and while guests are waiting for the seaplane to whisk them away from Male airport they can kick back at the W Lounge and plan their trip by checking out excursions and activities on the iPad. As for Naadu, you’re most likely to find him getting friendly with a turtle beneath the water, and recommending the best spot for a never-to-be-forgotten champagne dinner once he’s come up for air.

PULL UP A CHAIR AT 15 BELOW ONCE THE SUN GOES DOWN.

MARINE VISTAS: VILLAS ARE ENCIRCLED

BY THE SEA.

NEED FOR SPEED: TRY JAMES BOND’S UNDERWATER ROCKET, THE SEABOB.

BLUE NIRVANA: A STINGRAY GLIDES THROUGH THE WATER. COOL CRUISIN’: BOOK A SEAT ON THE W’S SAILING YACHT, ESCAPE.

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WHAT’S NEW

W HOTELS DESIGNERS OF THE FUTURE COLLABORATING WITH THE MOST INNOVATIVE ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERS GLOBALLY HAS GIVEN W HOTELS ITS INIMITABLE IDENTITY, AND FROM ITS FIRST HOTEL IN NEW YORK ON LEXINGTON AVENUE TO UPCOMING PROPERTIES IN BANGKOK, SINGAPORE AND GUANGZHOU NEXT YEAR, CUTTING-EDGE DESIGN IS ALWAYS AT THE FOREFRONT.

ASIF KHAN SHOWS OFF HIS SUBMISSION, ‘CLOUD’ AT DESIGN MIAMI/BASEL.

MISCHER’TRAXLER WON FAVOR WITH LIGHT SCULPTURE ‘RELUMINE’.

W IS SPONSORING

BUSINESS OF DESIGN WEEK HONG KONG 28 NOVEMBER TO 3 DECEMBER

STUDIO JUJU WITH THEIR WINNING DESIGN, ‘A TENT’.

Promising young creatives delivered new directions in design culture for W Hotels Designers of the Future Award, with winning submissions uncovered in front of an influential crowd of collectors, dealers and journalists at Design Miami/ Basel in June. This year, the designers were asked to draw inspiration from ‘Conversation Pieces,’ with winners Studio Juju, Asif Khan and Mischer’Traxler delivering three engaging interpretations on the theme. Studio Juju’s submission, ‘A Tent’ looked to the unifying role of Mongolian yurts in villages for inspiration, and the Singaporean design duo Timo Wong and Priscilla Lui are the first Asian recipients of the Award. UK designer Asif Khan’s ‘Cloud’ – a floating roof made of helium gas, water and soap – turned foaming bubbles into an architectural yet whimsical element of design.

Austrian design duo Katharina Mischer and Thomas Traxler, aka Mischer’Traxler, submitted three pieces: ‘It Takes More Than One’, ‘Collective Works’ and ‘Relumine’, with the former using mirrors that work when only two or more people stand in front of them to demonstrate that, through others, one is able to discover oneself. W Hotels created a global platform for last year’s winners Beta Tank, Graham Hudson, rAndom International and Zigelbaum + Coelho, and the winners traveled to W locations across the globe during key design weeks, setting up on-site installations at W Barcelona and W Doha and showcasing their work during Istanbul Design week. Zigelbaum + Coelho and rAndom International were also integrated at the W Taipei premiere event in March 2011, where rAndom International created a permanent installation for the hotel.

NEW W DESTINATIONS

AFTER A TRAILBLAZING YEAR IN ASIA WHICH SAW W OPEN ITS FIRST HOTEL IN INDONESIA IN BALI TO RAVE REVIEWS, 2012 IS GEARED UP TO BE EVEN MORE MOMENTOUS, WITH THREE FABULOUS NEW HOTELS IN KEY ASIAN LOCATIONS POISED TO WOW THE REGION’S COOLEST CUSTOMERS FROM THE MOST HIP LOCALES.

First up is W Singapore Sentosa Cove, which will bring the party to the stylish city-state from 30 April.

Situated on the island resort of Sentosa, home to a 2km-long golden sand beach lined with chic restaurants bars and clubs, this hip new spot boasts an outdoor heated pool with sensational wraparound sea views.

Indulge the kids, or the kid in you, with a trip to nearby Universal studios, which is home to the world’s first Transformers ride, or take your chances at the Blackjack and roulette tables at Resorts World Sentosa’s glittering casino.

The epitome of Asian chic, W Bangkok will open its doors shortly after 1 August from a prestigious spot on Embassy Row, the epicenter of the city where hip sois are waiting to be discovered.

This 403-room property is in prime position to shop for cool couture in the city’s top malls like Siam Paragon and Central World, and tease your taste buds, Thai style, with red-hot eating experiences from street stall satays to regal Siamese cuisine.

Heading north, W makes its mainland China debut in the happening metropolis of Guangzhou – the middle kingdom’s third-largest city after Beijing and Shanghai and the birthplace of Cantonese food – on 15 May. W Guangzhou will open in the heart of Zhujiang, the city’s central business district set amid a backdrop of gleaming skyscrapers, that’s also home to luxury shopping and topnotch entertainment.

Get acquainted with this pumping cosmopolitan city by zooming up the 600m-tall hourglassshaped Canton Tower for a bird’s eye view of things then take it down at the Temple of Six Banyan Trees, which houses golden buddhas and incensecloaked halls.

Beyond that, W is turning its attentions to mainland China once more with W Beijing in Chang’an and W Shanghai on the Bund transporting W’s inimitable chic to China’s most important cities in 2014.

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