Special K

14 January 2002 by
Special K

Why open a trendy hotel in a tired part of London? Tessa Fox found out.

Almost exactly a year ago, on 4 January 2001, the Lancaster Landmark Hotel Company took ownership of an office block-turned-hotel in a shabby corner of west London.

Far from being an odd move for a group that boasts such luxury properties as the five-star Landmark London and Landmark Bangkok, it was an acquisition intended to strengthen the company's portfolio. "The company had been looking for the right property for a couple of years," says general manager Stephen Kyjak-Lane. "They wanted to do something different from the Landmark, which is a grand hotel in the traditional style, and the Royal Lancaster, a large convention hotel. Our chairman and managing director, Mr Jatuporn, has an ability to sense the right hotel in the right area."

The hotel, formerly the Kensington hotel but now called K West, is in the heart of Shepherd's Bush and will no doubt benefit from the influx of business predicted as a result of a major regeneration programme in the area (see panel, page 26), while just minutes away are the corporate headquarters of such companies as Disney Europe, Coca-Cola Europe, L'Oréal and Citibank. "There are about 80,000 corporate roomnights a year around here," says Kyjak-Lane.

Although he will attract a share of that market, his key targets during the week are the trendy young professionals in the music and media worlds, typically aged between 20 and 50, while at weekends families occupy the rooms. Rack rate starts at £182 for a double, and occupancy in the year to date (the hotel has stayed open during refurbishment) stands at 83%. "Most of our guests are Swiss, German, Scandinavian and British," says Kyjak-Lane. "The hotel appeals more to Europeans than Americans, so any American guests are here because of a media or music link."

The Landmark agreed with the previous owner, a private investor, not to disclose the purchase price, but the company has pumped in £7m to create London's latest hip place to stay. The first phase, which includes 40 rooms (the final tally will be 222), the reception area, the K Lounge, the Quiet Zone and the K Spa, opened in early December - 11 months to the day after the acquisition was finalised. The whole project should be completed by late summer.

The job of designing K West went to Noel Pierce at Portfolio Design International. It was a natural choice, as Pierce had built up a relationship with the Landmark in the year before the K West project came up, and there was clearly a meeting of minds.

Light and space play a key role throughout the hotel. Pierce's "less is more" approach means that the public areas are uncluttered and the lines are clean and unfussy. Light streams into the lobby and open-plan K Lounge from the hotel's glass exterior; a glass wall with coloured stripes separates the K Lounge from the lift area; orange, purple and blue lighting - coloured sleeves over fluorescent tubes - provides patches of light and interest along the long corridors; and mini television screens showing MTV or video art are a move away from static hotel art. Behind the K Lounge a light-filled space called the Quiet Zone provides a meeting place and fast Internet connections for guests wishing to work.

Light is important in the bedrooms, too, which are large. "The fantastic thing about this property is the bedroom size, and the fact there's a whole wall of natural light," says Pierce, who instantly agreed to Kyjak-Lane's desire to have the 2m x 2m beds face the windows. "There's nothing nicer than waking up with the light coming in towards you," he says.

Other bedroom features include a wide-screen television and DVD player, a mini sound system and Playstation 2; natural materials such as leather, suede and cotton in muted tones; and what Pierce calls a "hard under-foot experience" created by an all-wool Brussels weave carpet rather than a traditional deep-pile hotel carpet.

Furniture is limited to the essentials, an approach that saves money as well as creating a trendy yet calming place to stay, says Pierce. "The ultimate luxury is light and space," he notes. "I reckon this bedroom cost 25% less than an average three-and-a-half-star room in the UK to refurbish, because there's less furniture." He has also sourced carefully. A UK manufacturer matched the quote from Thailand for the desk and coffee table, and Pierce bought fabric directly from the mill rather than from a branded supplier.

Rooms are designed to be as multifunctional as possible. In some rooms, the sofa is a sofa-bed, and there are four "sleep-and-meet" rooms. "A lot of businesspeople are irritated at having to double-spend for a small meeting in London because of the lack of lounges or quiet space," explains Kyjak-Lane. "Sleep-and-meet rooms have a specially made foldaway bed and are let from 6pm to 5pm. While guests have breakfast, the room is turned into a meeting room for 10. We sell the rooms for £220, which includes the bedroom, breakfast for one, and tea and coffee throughout the day."

Kyjak-Lane and Pierce are thrilled with the outcome so far. Pierce says of the bedrooms: "I believe this is how a lot of people in the UK want their homes to look. It shows that you don't have to paint a wall bright orange or apple green to make a design statement. Most importantly, the room works - the bed is comfortable and the room is big enough."

For Kyjak-Lane, the sense of calm is all-important and, while launching a hotel at the end of 2001 could hardly have been more challenging, both Kyjak-Lane and Pierce have found the whole project hugely enjoyable. Pierce concludes: "The design process here has been the most rewarding I've ever been involved in, because the client-designer relationship has been so positive. I think it's the best piece of work I've ever done."

K West

Richmond Way, London W14 0AX
Tel: 020 7674 1000
Web site:
www.k-west.co.uk

Owner: Lancaster Landmark Hotel Company, which also owns the Landmark London, the Royal Lancaster and the Landmark Bangkok
General manager: Stephen Kyjak-Lane
Designer: Noel Pierce, Portfolio Design International
First phase opening: early December 2001
Bedrooms: 222, including 13 suites and four "sleep-and-meet" rooms
Other facilities: K Lounge, the hotel bar which will open to the public from spring 2002; K Spa, which offers a range of holistic treatments and is expected to double revenue next year; East @ West restaurant, due to open summer 2002
Investment: £7m to refurbish; the company will not disclose the purchase price
Rack rate: executive doubles from £182; suites from £272, excluding VAT
Projected average achieved room rate (year one): £130
Occupancy (year to date): 83%

Eating at K West

The hotel restaurant is to be refurbished in the second phase and relaunched in late summer as East @ West, a 96-seat restaurant serving Oriental food. Noor Affifi will remain as head chef, working with a brigade of Thai chefs.

Starters include Thai crab cakes with sweet chilli and cucumber sauce (£4) and Chinese black bean steamed scallops (£4.50). The rest of the menu is available in taster or main-course portions at £2.20 or £6, with such dishes as Japanese seared beef with honey and ginger; Thai green curried pork; and Malaysian rice noodles with prawn and shellfish broth. Desserts, all £4, include ginger, lemon and lime sorbet; and warm Thai-style pumpkin brûlée.

Shepherd's Bush regeneration

Located just minutes from the Shepherd's Bush Tube station, K West is at the heart of a multi-million-pound redevelopment programme for this part of west London.

Made possible by funding from the European Union and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, as well as the private sector, the scheme includes a new shopping and leisure complex, West 12; the Shepherds Building, a refurbished 1950s structure offering workspace; and the White City Chelsfield project, a 40-acre development which will bring a mix of retail, hospitality and leisure space - and 4,000 new jobs - to the area north of Shepherd's Bush Green. This is scheduled for completion by 2006.

Meanwhile, the reputation of Shepherd's Bush as the media centre of London will be strengthened by the BBC's plans to create a new media village on its White City site.

Near by, Sam and Sam Clark, who own Moro in Exmouth Market, recently opened their second restaurant venture, Maquis, and are looking forward to the increased business such regeneration promises. According to manager Sasha Filskow, the restaurant is already thriving, diners being attracted by regional French dishes such as snails braised with mixed herbs, walnuts and crème fraîche (£5), and rabbit with bacon, mustard, braised endive and lentils (£12.50).

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