IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) is celebrating more than 100 Hotel Indigo properties around the world with the launch of their “shoppable hotel room.” The room, in Hotel Indigo Lower East Side, displays local art from Hotel Indigo locations around the globe, part of their initiative to create “cultural sustainability” in the communities they share. The art, which ranges from blankets to plates to vintage-style Bluetooth radios, is available on the Hotel Indigo website.
This move is very much in character for the Hotel Indigo brand. Each of their hotels seeks to draw inspiration from surrounding communities, in design, theme, and even scent. Hotel Indigo Lower East Side is inspired by the neighborhood’s history of street art, while the Bangkok location revels in a time when radio first blossomed in the city.
The “shoppable” penthouse in the Lower East Side towers above the landscape, providing a breathtaking view of the neighborhood from which Hotel Indigo Lower East Side draws its inspiration, but inside is a taste of global neighborhoods. Hats reminiscent of Los Angeles’ Fiesta de la Flores sit by Ottoman Empire wall plates from the Hotel Indigo Venice. For the reception, local artist Brooke Pelczynski created live art which guests could take home.
IHG’s shop comes in the midst of an expansion, which includes their new Williamsburg, Brooklyn location which is inspired by the coffee and sugar manufacture which first built the neighborhood. While nothing is certain, I have heard that designers are considering infusing the lobby with a light scent of coffee. I can’t imagine any better way to start my day.
