Q. What did you want to achieve with your design concept?

During the initial briefing Hyatt requested that the renovated rooms include advanced communications and computer technology, that they be as comfortable as possible and that they have a fresh, modern, warm and personal feeling.

The increased importance of the television screen for both business and entertainment purposes led to a complete reversal of furniture layout for typical guestrooms. The screen was placed on a rotating pedestal near the window, facing into the room to minimise the glare of daylight on the screen and to put it into a comfortable relationship with desk, lounge area and bed.

Desks were to have permanent computer keyboards and ledges were provided adjacent to desks to maximise work surfaces. Cabinets were added next to desks to contain fax machines, directories, safe, electrical outlet for recharging cellular phones and for storing guest�s material conveniently. 

The complexity of the room�s provisions, including bar area with coffee and tea making services, led to a highly tailored approach to the design of built-in furniture. New emphasis was placed on the wardrobe and places for guest to store luggage out of sight. The entrance foyers became proper dressing areas with small vanities with hair dryers.

Q. Did factors such as the return to Chinese sovereignty and the approaching new millennium affect your concept?

A sense of changing times was a part of the process and the challenge. Perhaps it contributed to the openmindedness and enthusiasm which prevailed amongst all concerned throughout the project.

Q. In what ways did you wish to incorporate the art deco approach to the interior public areas into the new guest room design?

The hotel was originally designed in an �art deco� manner. This is particularly apparent in the lobby areas. The rooms, of course, are an extension of the public areas and could not go against the grain. Perhaps it is correct to say that the new rooms are influenced by �art deco� references only in that their detailing is rooted in the modernist movement from the 1930s. In the lobby areas a sense of opulence is created by enormous space and decorative effects. In the rooms the opulence, if that is what it would be called, comes from the quantity of the conveniences and the attention to small details and comfort.

Q. What was your decision making process in regard to the artwork you have chosen?

To counterbalance the strict, linear, architectural detailing of the new guestrooms we proposed to incorporate a large series of naturalistic images. This was done with photographs from Chinese gardens which were themselves devised and enjoyed as extensions to architecture. I have for many years admired a book of photos by Architect Chung Wah Nan. He very graciously agreed to select images from his extensive library of photos and provide prints to fit the numerous, specific applications throughout guestrooms, corridors and lift lobbies. Eventually this program will be extended into three floors of renovated suites.

Q. Describe the materials you have selected in the rooms and why they have been used.

The rooms are unusual in the amount of wood panelling used for wall finishes.  This relates them to the public areas where similar panelling is used extensively and it adds warmth.

Q. The business traveller is an enormously important market for Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. What did you want to provide him/her with?

The rooms are thought of as small business centres.....as described already.

Q. How did you begin your career as a designer and what are some of your career highlights?

As a child I wanted to be an architect. More specifically, I thought the man made surroundings where I grew up were short of what they could and should have been. And I started drawing/fumbling around because of this, perhaps.

I have drawn/fumbled around with a certain amount of satisfaction during the years since then for Hyatt hotels in Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Macau, for two restaurants for a family with a 300 year old business in Japan, for the Joyce Cafe at Exchange Square in Hong Kong, for two unbuilt resorts in China, for forgotten things and for a restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska.

On Command�s new, digital interactive technology platform was designed to provide hotel guests with a compelling graphical user interface and menu system.

In addition to the widest choice of first run movies on-demand, OCX also hosts the latest interactive entertainment and information services for hotel guests including TV-based Internet access, email, and improved guest services such as video checkout, on-screen message display, and hotel information.

Q. When developing this latest system, what feedback and research from hotel guests (and particularly in Asia) did you take into account?

Over the past 10 years here in Asia, we have always listened closely to our customers, the major 4 and 5 star hotels, and their guests. Focus groups and interviews with hundreds of guests were combined with actual use and viewing habits in the development of the new user interface. During trials of our Internet service beginning in Asia last August, we found guests want easy access to information on local attractions and events. Guests want the system to speak in their own language be it Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean or European
languages, and our system does literally speak to them. Our service has been tailored to local Internet sites that have proven to be popular, and we monitor ongoing usage to add new popular sites each month.

Q. How does this system compare with other hotel information and entertainment systems available in Asia?

The multimedia architecture showcases a more compelling menu presentation and broader array of on-demand video offerings than that previously found in the hotel room environment. No other system provides such a wide range of entertainment options, and makes it so easy and fun to use. Our TV Internet gives people the experience now of the high-speed that their Internet service at home will offer only in the future. We provide the latest release movies from all the major Hollywood studios, as well as Chinese, Japanese, and European producers and distributors, and they are available on-demand, starting when the guest wants them.

Q. In what ways will the system appeal to the needs of the international business traveller?

The business traveller will be able to browse the Internet and check their email while relaxing on the bed or in the easy chair, rather than hunched over their laptops on the desk, and at much faster speeds than on their laptop modem. Even if guests must use a laptop for attachments and spreadsheets, they can still save plenty of time by doing high-speed TV browsing and, say, look up the background on an important client they will meet the next day. They can be busy around the room getting ready for the day and still flip through pages on the Internet with the TV remote control in one hand. Video services allow the guest to review telephone messages, their room bill, and even complete an express checkout all on the TV. Finally, at the end of a long day even the road warrior feels the need to relax with a great recent release movie selected from our on-screen library.

Q. What benefits does the On Command video programming give to Grand Hyatt Hong Kong guests that are unique within Hong Kong.

On Command and Hyatt have had a long history of bringing innovative new services to hotels around the world. The Grand Hyatt Hong Kong will be the first hotel in Asia to launch our full array of new services on our digital OCX platform that has proven so popular in North America. In time, other 4 and 5 star hotels here in Hong Kong will certainly upgrade to such new services, but we will continue to work with Hyatt to keep them at the forefront with the latest technology.