The Peninsula Hotels set the bar for hotel room perfection

Where so many others fail, The Peninsula hotels always nails the brief.

Given humans have been staying in hotels for several centuries now you’d think we’d have room design down pat. Hoteliers have had ample time to get the basics right, and yet so often they don’t.

Part of the blame lies, I think, with the rise of boutique hotels, and operators so keen to be seen as bold and novel and clever that they forget essential elements such as comfort and functionality.

This year alone I’ve stayed in rooms with shower recesses that flood like a Bangkok basement, and battled with lighting systems that defy logic. I’ve been stuck in spaces where the temperature’s pre-set to Arctic and others where the air-con unit sounds like an idling jet. I’ve navigated corridors that are either so dimly lit or offensively carpeted that even just reaching my digs is an ordeal. About one in every three establishments fails that elusive combination of a mirror and good light. And, while I’ll excuse a hotel for not having USB charging outlets, it’s unforgivable (though still depressingly common) to find no spare power point beside the bed.

Whenever I stay in a subpar place I’m reminded of the hotels that get it absolutely right. I can think of several off the top of the head, but my general benchmark is the Peninsula Hotels, a small chain of just 12 properties. It’s also the only one I’m aware of with a dedicated research and development team for its rooms – 26 electronic, software and hardware engineers tasked with making the guest experience as good as it can be.

The group’s flagship property is the circa 1928 Peninsula Hong Kong in Kowloon, recently crowned fourth best hotel in the world by the London Telegraph’s respected team of critics (the impeccable Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok took out top spot).

I first stayed at the Peninsula Hong Kong a decade ago and remember being wowed by the place. Picture: Supplied.

I first stayed there a decade ago and remember being wowed by the place. Everything in my suite was exactly where it should be and easy to use, but there were also ingenious ideas such as nail dryers, and valet boxes that served as magic portals for everything from shoe shines to laundry and surprise treats. Pair those with movie-star views over Victoria Harbour and a vibrant energy that made the hotel feel like the beating heart of the high-rise city, and you’ll understand why I was so awestruck with the place.

I found that same slick DNA at the Peninsula Paris, where I was impressed at how much effort execs had put into getting the 200 rooms and suites just so. Peninsula built the first room mock-ups for their debut European property four years before opening and included every detail right down to the (photographed) view from the windows over Avenue Kléber.

Everything in the mock-ups was operational – electricity, plumbing etc – and rigorously tested, including by the board of directors and their spouses, who gave detailed feedback about what needed tweaking. The board’s chairman Sir Michael Kadoorie spoke to then GM Nicolas Béliard about “getting up in the middle of the night and wanting to know whether it was easy to find a light, and whether he was going to stub his toe on anything en route to the bathroom”. This is precisely the level of petty I want in a hotel operator.

Peninsula built the first room mock-ups for their debut European property four years before opening and included every detail right down to the view from the windows. Picture: Supplied.

I paid a pre-opening visit to the Peninsula London in June last year and it, too, aced the brief. All the Pen signatures were there – the valet boxes, beautiful bathrooms (here clad in honey onyx with “spa baths” bathed in light and music) and artworks (vivid landscapes commissioned from artists at the Royal Drawing School), and lofty views from floor-to-ceiling windows. The bedside tables, I was pleased to note, were also wireless device chargers.

Pre-opening, Peninsula kept four mock-up rooms in Hong Kong and London that were tested for months and went through “thousands” of iterations, I was told. The bedside room-control panel, available in seven languages and responsible for everything from lighting to room service, was personally overseen by the chairman.

This extreme attention to detail explains why at a Peninsula property I can, for example, always find the bedside light switch and it’s always within easy reach. No outstretched arms, no fumbling in the dark.

I paid a pre-opening visit to the Peninsula London in June last year and it, too, aced the brief. Picture: Supplied.

Perhaps my favourite detail – or at the least the most peculiar – about the Peninsula London was discovering its opening date and time were set by a feng shui master. After a blessing ceremony to ward off bad spirits, the first guests arrived a year ago on September 12 at precisely 10:58am. I’m not suggesting every hotel operator should be this meticulous, but some could definitely lift their game. peninsula.com

PRESENT IMPERFECT

Talking about perfect hotel rooms reminds me of the industry exec who once assured me there’s no such thing. “There’s no perfect design because we all like different things,” he said. And of course he’s correct.

Originally published as The Peninsula Hotels set the bar for hotel room perfection