Brighton rocks

Brighton is one of those destinations where hoteliers are queuing up to open. It's popular with all age groups, close enough to London to attract the weekend break market, and versatile enough for conference and meetings bookers. It's also a haven for the young and trendy, keen to take advantage of a thriving nightlife. As a result, and with the exception of airport hotels, occupancy levels and achieved average room rates in Brighton are among the highest found outside London.

So it's surprising, given the profile of the people who come to Brighton, that there is very little accommodation for them that breaks the corporate mould. Until recently, that is. Last year, Hotel du Vin became the first of a new generation of hotel operators in Brighton, opening a 35-bedroom property in the Lanes area. Malmaison and Myhotels are also rumoured to be searching for sites. But the latest into the locality is Alias Hotels, which this week opened Hotel Seattle, a 71-bedroom property at the town's marina.

For Alias, it has been a long haul to get to this point. "Brighton has been on the hit list for ages and, for a hotelier, it's a no-brainer," says founder Nigel Chapman. "It's just very difficult to find suitable sites."

Alias eventually hit on a property in the marina development, about a mile-and-a-half out of the city centre. It has a 35-year lease, making this property the first where it has not owned the freehold. The development was originally going to be an Express by Holiday Inn so the layout that Alias inherited, when that deal fell through, was not what it would have chosen for itself.

That's because Alias shies away from rooms of uniform shape and size. Its properties are design-led, full-service properties, described collectively by the company as "lifestyle" hotels. Brighton is the fourth hotel in the group's portfolio, the others being in Manchester, Cheltenham and Exeter. But the hotels are only as similar as relations from different families, being more like cousins than siblings. "People will realise that it's Alias under the surface, but it has to be subtle. We have to be careful not to be too prescriptive," says marketing director Rupert Kenyon.

There are commonalities, of course, which are probably best described as heavy on style, with a humorous twist. Chapman himself oversees the styling of the hotels and has a network of people over Europe who bulk-buy items such as unusual bits of furniture, sculptures that make you stop in your tracks, and pictures of grotesque people that make you laugh.

In the reception area at the Hotel Seattle, for example, there are two 1950s mannequins dressed in sailor uniforms, with beaming, rather camp smiles. Further down the corridor, there is an enormous sculpture of a seated man. Venture into the saloon and there are four original Victorian pond yachts, 1950s furniture, and pictures of fat Mediterranean ladies. Bedrooms are large, painted in mute beiges and pale blues. Furniture is Italian, made by Molteni. There are no wardrobes, just an open hanging space in the room, perfect for the forgetful guest who might inadvertently leave a jacket in a wardrobe. Lights are hidden inside wicker structures that resemble giant maracas, and bedspreads are made to order by Wallace & Sewell.

Another common thread across Alias hotels is to have a central area that acts as a hub for guests during the evening. This varies according to location - in Manchester, it's a huge space with live music along the lines of a nightclub; in Brighton, it's a cocktail bar, called Black & White, with black-and-white seating around the room and pictures of The Beatles on the walls.

Informal restaurant
Food is a major piece in the Alias jigsaw. The hotels all have a Café Paradiso, an informal restaurant created by Alias and featuring wood-fired pizza ovens, rôtisseries, and colourful displays of antipasti. "We are adamant that food and beverage will be at the heart of our bid to become the leading lifestyle hotel group," Kenyon says. Unlike many hoteliers, who see their profit in selling rooms and often shy away from food, Kenyon says that the split of rooms and food revenue will be 50:50. "If done well," he says, "food helps create the atmosphere of the hotel. Guests like to smell the aromas of pizza and freshly baked bread, and that in turn will help sell the rooms."

With this level of attention to detail, you would be forgiven for thinking that these hotels command high rates. Not so. Part of the Alias strategy is that the hotels should be affordable, offering "style for the people". Weekend rates for two people, for two nights' accommodation, two breakfasts and one dinner in Café Paradiso, start at £209, rising to £245 from the start of May.

Midweek rates run from £90 for a small double (room only) to £135 for a large king with terrace. Breakfast is extra, and can be served in the room in a bento box, at a cost of £9.95 a person for a light option and £11.95 for more substantial fare.

A departure for Hotel Seattle is that, unlike its cousins in Manchester, Exeter and Cheltenham, it will cater for both meetings and weddings - in its own inimitable way, of course. "There's no reason why weddings have to be on a mass-produced level," says Kenyon. "If someone wants to hold a wedding or a meeting here, we can do it, but we would prefer to tailor-make it. There won't be a wedding brochure."

Hotel Seattle does have a few special features for events organisers, of course - especially "The Cloud", an inflatable meeting room that is available for hire.

So where is the next stop for Alias? The company has a site in Liverpool and is waiting to hear whether it can get a grant to develop it. Cities such as Sheffield, Cardiff, Leeds and Norwich are also on the wish list. As for London, there seems to be no great rush to have a footing there. Until recently, Alias had the management contract on the Westbourne hotel in Notting Hill, with an option to buy after a year, but it has now withdrawn, deeming the conditions in London to be not favourable enough to warrant buying.

When it comes to staffing…
Did general manager Melissa Love have any problems recruiting the 60 staff needed for Hotel Seattle? "No," she says. "People warned me it would be difficult but, in fact, it was quite easy. We hired a comedy venue in Brighton for an initial open day that we advertised in Caterer. About 150 people turned up, and we did some quick one-on-one interviews before asking them to take part in some games.

"We played Hungry Hippos and Twister, among others. The idea was to see whether people were prepared to break outside the mould and take part in something a bit different, because that is what Alias is all about. Some didn't like it at all and so we knew they were not for us. But the ones who did, and said they would like to work in that kind of atmosphere, were invited back for a more formal interview at the hotel.

"We want people to use their own personalities, and guests to think of staff as their friends. General managers will often wear jeans, but this is not attention-seeking, it's just that we like people to feel comfortable.

"Of our staff, nine were already working for Alias in other properties and so just transferred down here. That was great, because they were already on board in terms of how we operated."

Style and substance
A strong sense of style is exactly what you would expect at a design-led hotel group, but Alias adds a twist of humour. Hotel Seattle's unique features include two mannequins in sailor uniforms, an enormous sculpture of a seated man and four original Victorian pond yachts. And, of course, you can't forget that it's right by the sea. Food and drink are seen as a big selling point: as well as the Café Paradiso restaurant, Hotel Seattle has a Black & White cocktail bar.

The rise and rise of the design-led hotel
Until relatively recently, design-led hotels - interchangeably dubbed boutique hotels, lifestyle hotels or even contemporary hotels - were mostly one-offs, such as Gordon Campbell Gray's One Aldwych in London. That changed at the start of the 1990s, with Malmaison pioneering a new generation of hotels.

The idea caught on and Malmaison soon found Hotel du Vin, the Eton Group and Alias Hotels following in its tracks. Players such as Ian Schrager entering the highly competitive London market towards the end of the 1990s and added the tag "exclusivity" in price terms to the boutique concept. But Schrager was soon forced to drop prices amid difficult trading conditions.

Design-led hotels, along with budget brands, have been highlighted by consultant Christie & Co as one of the key growth areas in hotels in this country. "There's undoubtedly a big demand for these types of hotels, but they will succeed only if they have a sensible financial model behind them," says director Graham Dodd. "If they are too small, then they won't work. One of the big success stories has been Hotel du Vin. They've chosen cities that aren't altogether obvious, and the fact that they are not in London has been hugely advantageous to them."

Can the big corporates copy the success of the smaller groups? Well, they are certainly trying. Of the big players, Starwood, with its W brand, has perhaps created the most interest. The majority of Ws are in the USA, but Starwood is soon to open in Seoul, South Korea, and in Mexico City, and is also known to be keen on Continental Europe in general and London in particular.

Bento in bed
Breakfast served in a Japanese bento box

Light bento Home-made muesli
Greek yogurt, honey and chopped pistachio
Baton of goats' cheese wrapped in Parma ham
Toasted English muffin and fruit conserve
£9.95 per person

Luxury bento Minted melon with ginger and lime syrup
Blueberry pancakes with mascarpone
Parma ham and smoked salmon bagels
Freshly baked pastries
£11.95 per person

Higgin's breakfast tea
Cafetière Brazil Bourbon coffee
Decaffeinated cafetière coffee
Freshly squeezed orange juice
Grapefruit juice
Tomato juice

Alias Hotels
Properties: Hotel Kandinsky, Cheltenham; Hotel Barcelona, Exeter; Hotel Rossetti, Manchester; Hotel Seattle, Brighton
Founders: Nigel Chapman and Nicholas Dickinson
Holding company: LHM (Luxury Hotel Management, which also owns LFH, Luxury Family Hotels)

Hotel Seattle
Brighton Marina, Tel: 01273 679799
Projected occupancy by end of second year of trading: 80%
Rooms: 71
General manager: Melissa Love
Staff: 60; will eventually rise to 70