20 minute read
The Hotel That Changed Hotels
from Sleeper 104
Reinventing Cretan Hospitality
Following in their father’s footsteps, the co-founders of Phāea Resorts have embarked on a journey to craft meaningful travel experiences rich in Greek heritage.
Words: Matt Turner • Photography: Courtesy of Phāea Resorts
After a whistle-stop tour through the lush, landscaped grounds of Cretan Malia Park, Agapi Sbokou, co-CEO of Phāea Resorts, sits down for an enthralling chat in the traditional kafenio just beyond its gates.
For arriving guests, the coffee shop is the first sign that this is a property that delivers an authentic Cretan experience. Yes, as one might expect, there is a tennis court and a teenage games room to one side of the entrance, but tucked away on the other side is this tiny café, whose white-washed walls, blue wooden chairs and olivedappled courtyard could place it in the heart of any Greek village, rather than a luxury family resort. And what could be more authentic than Greek coffee – strong, black and sweet – poured from a traditional briki pot and served with a bougatsa pastry.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given her nationality, Sbokou has a natural gift for storytelling, explaining the Ottoman origins of the custard-soaked filo delight that is bougatsa, as well as the Greek tradition of predicting one’s future from coffee grinds left in the cup, much as tea leaves are read by fairground fortune tellers in the UK.
Collaborating with Greek architect Vana Pernari, the Sbokou sisters have designed Cretan Malia Park with an aesthetic that reflects the colours and textures of the island
It may well have been written in the runes for Sbokou and her sister Costantza to one day end up running a hotel company. The story of Phāea Resorts has its origins in 1976, when their father Yiannis Sbokos – an engineer and pioneer of the Cretan hotel industry – founded his eponymous business. Sbokos Hotel Group grew over the following years to become a popular chain of six properties across Crete, including the site that has now been converted to Cretan Malia Park.
“My father built this property in the late 1980s,” explains Sbokou. “We opened here for the first time in 1988, but before that it already existed as a campsite. I began working in our hotels at the age of 12. Then I went off to study law and business and worked in various places, from legal offices to banking, and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to end up in hospitality.”
It was when her father came to her with news that he had acquired a site on the Elounda coast – overlooking Spinalonga, the former leper colony made famous in Victoria Hislop’s novel The Island – that she decided to pursue a career in the family business. In parallel, her sister Costantza was studying and practising architecture in the US, yet ended up on a similarly inevitable path back to her homeland. Both sisters returned to Crete to help their father with the development of what would later become Blue Palace, part of Marriott’s The Luxury Collection: “The opportunity to be part of something from the ground up, and see the process that went into creating it, won us over.”
Now, the pair are ensconced as co-CEOs and owners of Phāea Resorts, the new name unveiled in 2019 to consolidate the group’s strategic positioning and vision for the future. The siblings have clearly defined yet complementary skill sets: “Costantza oversees finance and development, from renovations through to new projects, while I handle operations, sales, marketing and brand,” confirms Sbokou.
For Cretan Malia Park, a member of Design Hotels, the duo worked hand-in-hand to create a new flagship that will steer the future identity for what is now a four-strong group of hotels under the Phāea umbrella: “We decided to mould this into the first example of our vision, showing people how resorts can be transformed,” Sbokou explains. “To be the guardian of this project was both an honour and a challenge, as we both grew up in Crete so wanted to highlight what we love about the island, sharing it with our own friends while making it part of the guest experience.”
The renovation – for which they enlisted Greek architect Vana Pernari to collaborate on the architecture and interior design – has resulted in a unique aesthetic inspired by the colours and textures of the locale. The resort’s striking Modernist structures were originally conceived in the late 1980s by Antonis Stylianides – an alumni of German Bauhaus legend Walter Gropius. Today, the exteriors have been stripped back to a simple canvas that both references the island’s architectural heritage and allows verdant gardens to take centre stage. “It’s very fertile soil here,” explains Sbokou. “The gardens have always been a big part of this property. Over the last few years, we took away all the plants that were not indigenous to Crete. Some required too much irrigation but also many of them just didn’t feel like they belonged here.”
The resort’s rough-hewn walls are framed by local swaying palms, banana trees and Indian figs. Interiors are defined by natural materials such as walnut, chestnut and bamboo. The stylistic legacy of Crete, both past and present, is also explored through a blend of modern art, family heirlooms and custom pieces crafted by local artisans. Flora-inspired works by Greek artists Thanasis and Dimitris Kretsis adorn the guestrooms, while the lobby is home to a painting by Philippos Theodorides, a unique Reywal lighting installation by Joy Stathopoulou and a rug originally designed by the Sbokou sisters’ grandmother. Handmade herringbone cement tiles and locally sourced ceramic pots sit alongside furnishings from premium Scandinavian design brands including Gubi, Fredericia and 101 Copenhagen to create a look that combines Mid-Century Modern with laidback boho luxury.
Scattered across a series of low-rise structures, the hotel’s rooms and suites are all located on the ground or first floor. Double rooms are characterised by geometrically styled jade-hued wall tiles, while light and airy bungalows are punctuated with shots of blue or terracotta, applied by way of graphic wall tiling and textiles. In the suites, sideboards, wardrobes and folding doors accented with rattan screens introduce a rustic fringe to otherwise contemporary spaces. The bathrooms see spherical black and white pendant lighting interweaved with grey terrazzo, local white marble and minimal black fixtures in suites, and beige stone in rooms and bungalows.
A wide range of restaurants served by the hotel’s organic kitchen garden are also inspired by Crete, in particular its rich culinary heritage. Situated on the ground floor of the main building and extending out onto a terrace under the shade of a white wooden pergola, Mediterraneo is an airy all-day restaurant focused on regional specialties, while Mouries offers traditional Greek gastronomy with a spotlight on locally caught seafood, freshly pressed olive oil and foraged wild herbs, and Almyra provides an Italian menu centred around a traditional wood-fire oven. A beach shack, juice bar, pool bar and lobby bar round out the F&B venues.
On our tour of the property, Sbokou highights more of the facilities on offer – a yoga pavilion and spa set amid cacti and banana trees, a performance area, kitchen and garden. Even
At Blue Palace Elounda, warm terracotta structures give way to light and airy interiors that make use of natural stone and wood
cats are catered for with a Cat Café offering sanctuary for the island’s feline population.
The guiding principle of the resort’s design and operation is sustainability – a commitment that has been woven into the group’s DNA since the beginning: “My father began addressing issues such as energy use and waste in the early 1990s, when nobody else – at least here in Crete – was even looking at them,” says Sbokou. “Then when my sister and I took over, this became a central pillar of our strategic repositioning. We’re trying to instil in our team that everyone, regardless of their level, must make small decisions every day. And those decisions should all be made through the lens of sustainability.”
Ranging from energy-saving technologies to community driven projects, Phāea Resorts has been working on a comprehensive programme that takes this commitment to an even greater level, to the extent that both properties are now run on almost entirely renewable energy. Investments have included openloop water structures, solar panels, and solar control double-glazing in 90% of the doors and windows. Living roofs are planted with water-saving endemic plants to provide insulation and encourage biodiversity. And the Phāea Farmers programme trains locals to grow produce in a way that replenishes the land: “In low season, staff who also have small holdings work with agronomists specialising in sustainable organic farming methods to learn how to grow in a way that replenishes the environment rather than ravaging it further, before selling their produce to us for a fair price,” Sbokou explains.
Environmental impact was also a consideration in the development of Blue Palace Elounda, which offers a very different experience to Cretan Malia Park, but one where sustainability and authenticity are given equal credence. Architects 3SK were responsible for the original development in 2003, since which the project has evolved with a new wing and collection of villas completed by MKV Design in 2009. A more recent addition is the Isola Beach Club bar by K-Studio.
Carved into a hillside between the fishing village of Plaka, the chic resort mostly comprises a patchwork of low-rise, pink-hued stone and earthy structures that flow into the landscape. Stone excavated from the site itself was widely used in its construction,
AGAPI SBOKOU
with exteriors rendered using a traditional kourassani plaster technique dating back to Roman times, giving warm terracotta colours that improve with age. The main lobby building provides a dramatic sense of arrival, built around an 11m-high vaulted hall designed as a faithful reproduction of the Venetian shipyard at Heraklion. Public areas are arranged in an amphitheatre-like array at the top of the site, with guestrooms cascading down towards the beach. A cable car allows easy access to the spa, multiple restaurants and beach club that sit downhill. The Blue Door Taverna at the water’s edge used to be a fisherman’s shelter, which now has been faithfully restored – its blue doors a Greek tradition to bring good luck so seamen can safely return home back to their loved ones. Many of the suites and bungalows feature private verandas, gardens and pools overlooking Spinalonga and the Aegean waters, with native species of olive trees and palm trees, alongside bougainvilleas, jasmine and levanter planted around the site. Interiors meanwhile are inspired by Crete’s past and the influence of invaders – including the Arabs, the Ottomans and the Venetians – with rugs, divans, tiles and antiques offset by natural stone and timber.
“Our strategy is to offer a luxury product with a strong sense of place,” says Sbokou. “So, it was important to find an affiliation that allowed us to operate the property ourselves and have our own name. The affiliation with Luxury Collection has helped us in terms of standards, service and opening up our own people – who might not have travelled extensively – to the kind of properties we want them exposed to.”
She concludes: “People are travelling all this way to Crete and want to experience something they cannot find anywhere else. Luxury is being redefined and guests want to return home feeling reformed. We continually improvise and improve every year so that our hotels don’t feel staged. That requires a lot of energy and effort to make it feel seamless, and finding the balance is a great challenge, but it’s also the thing that keeps us going.”
The Hotel That Changed Hotels
More than a decade after making its debut in Amsterdam, CitizenM continues to push the boundaries of hospitality, evolving to offer guests more for less.
Words: Ben Thomas
ROBIN CHADHA
When Sleeper reported on the firstever CitizenM hotel in 2008, it was described as a revolutionary concept that represents a step towards a new generation of hospitality. Disrupting the industry norm with an offering geared towards what it called the ‘mobile citizen’, the brand was a precursor to today’s plethora of lifestyle hotels, boasting multifunctional public spaces, cleverly designed accommodations and savvy technology, both back- and front-of-house.
Four years in the making, the Schiphol Airport debut – which took home multiple accolades at the European Hotel Design Awards – was the brainchild of Rattan Chadha, whose lightbulb moment stemmed from a dilemma he faced at his fashion business, Mexx. With a roster of jet-setting designers on his books but only a limited travel budget, Chadha recognised the need for a trendy urban hotel at an affordable price point, and so joined forces with fellow Dutchman Michael Levie to create a model that could offer just that.
“When my father and Michael first looked at entering the hospitality market, they quickly realised that if they wanted to create a brand that was consistent, they needed to own their properties,” says Chadha’s son Robin, Chief Marketing Officer at the group, as we chat in the lobby of the brand-new CitizenM London Victoria. “That’s why they decided to be owner and operator from the start, so they could control the entire journey.”
CitizenM’s strive for consistency led to the selection of several key partners, with architecture and design studio Concrete Amsterdam, creative agency KesselsKramer and furniture manufacturer Vitra brought on board from the get-go and involved in every project since. Working with Concrete to develop a hotel concept that was radically different while commercially viable and operationally efficient, the group tapped into other sectors for inspiration, studying the check-in technology of the airline industry as well as the construction methods of the automobile business. The latter led CitizenM to adopt a modular approach, which involved crafting container-sized rooms at its own factory just outside of Rotterdam. As well as speeding up the build process, reducing its carbon footprint and cutting costs, the prefabrication technique bred a consistency not only in architectural aesthetic – the modules are stacked on top of one another to form identifiably square units – but also quality, with rooms arriving on site completely furnished, even down to bed linens and towels.
“Our intention was to disrupt, and part of that was having one room type, not 15,” Chadha explains, adding that accommodations were purposely designed on the smaller side – 14m2 to be precise – to provide just enough space to sleep and shower while encouraging guests to explore the city. “Each room was identical in scale, so it made sense to construct them at a production facility and then ship to site once we obtained planning permission.”
In similarly subversive fashion, the brand’s interior design strategy looked to do away with convention and focus on solving travel frustrations, from long queues at reception to overly complicated in-room controls. As such, many aspects of the experience are automated, including self-service kiosks where guests can check-in in under 60 seconds, while guestrooms are kitted out with conveniently-placed power sockets and intuitive lighting control.
Public areas too were designed to break the mould, divided into zones for eating, meeting and relaxing. The idea of turning under-utilised lobby space into a revenue generator with retail and F&B facilities was unheard of at the time. “During our holiday trips and work-related stays, we realised that the hotel industry hadn’t changed in decades, despite the evolving tastes and habits of the global traveller,” says Rob Wagemans, founder of Concrete and Creative Director at CitizenM. “Conceptually, we therefore tried to remove the traditional setup of a reception, lobby, restaurant and bar, introducing hybrid, transitional living rooms where everything could happen at any moment of the day.”
Chadha elaborates, noting that the living
ROB WAGEMANS
room concept mirrors that of a residential environment, ebbing and flowing to cater for a variety of scenarios. “In our lounges, people can have a small meeting, sit down for a bite to eat, or have a drink at the bar. We like to keep it flexible.” 25 properties later, following launches across Europe and the US in key cities like London, Paris and New York, the group’s core principles remain, yet its design language has evolved. In 2016 for instance, Chadha told Sleeper that CitizenM had “upped the game” with its Tower of London property, which marked a turning point for the brand thanks to the introduction of grab-and-go CoffeeM and creative meeting spaces known as SocietyM.
The guestrooms have evolved too. Individual cubicles housing showers and WCs have been replaced with a combined unit that frees space for an in-room desk. More custom furniture pieces and local touches have been incorporated to create a sense of place. And bespoke art is now commissioned for rooms, having previously only embellished façades and public spaces. In fact, artist collaborations are now fundamental to the design in every property. At CitizenM Paris Champs-Élysées, its fourth hotel in the French capital, a bevy of works – including Andy Warhol’s Flowers print – enliven a 1970s building between the Arc de Triomphe and Place de la Concorde.
Although consistency is key to the group, Wagemans highlights how a collection of local artwork, books and souvenirs – displayed on towering bookcases that have become something of a signature – has allowed each new site to achieve its own values, convey a certain philosophy and stir up ideas. “By adjusting to the neighbourhood and evolving fashions, our hotels have remained unique and fitting to their surroundings,” he explains. “Whether it’s our façades, living rooms or lifts, we like to be recognisable but also mix things up. That’s our DNA.”
Another evolving strand of its DNA is technology, which has progressed with the times and continues to define the guest journey, hand-in-hand with a human touch. MoodPad room controls build on the personal Radio Frequency Identification Data cards first introduced at its Schiphol Airport hotel, while the CitizenM app goes one further, enabling guests to check-in, open doors, control rooms and manage bookings. At the group’s new hotels, the app also offers city guidestyle suggestions from Culture Scouts – or natives, who provide insider knowledge of a destination’s art, culture and F&B scene. And as the metaverse becomes a reality, CitizenM was one of the first to enter the virtual realm with plans to build a hotel in gaming world The Sandbox. Billed as a destination for avatars to work, sleep and play, the property will see the brand collaborate with digital artists to create and sell NFTs that can be purchased in the computer-generated space. Eventually, it hopes to use these profits, as well as the incorporation of a decentralised autonomous organisation, to fully finance a real-life development whose
MEINDERT JAN TJOENG
location will be voted for by token holders. “We are in constant evolution and my role is to keep it that way,” says Wagemans, adding that everything is designed with scalability in mind to accommodate the group’s future ambitions. “Our goal is to improve and try new things, without losing focus to create more for less.”
Improving with every new project requires a forensic examination into the macro data and dynamics of a city – from whether it is business or leisure driven to how many airports and company headquarters it has – as well as identifying which construction method fits best; today, around half of CitizenM’s portfolio is assembled using its modular approach, while the other 50% are traditional build or conversions. According to Meindert Jan Tjoeng, Managing Director of Development & Investment for Europe and Asia, the group regularly reassesses its longlist – based on an extensive analysis of more than 6,500 data points from target markets – to establish a focus for the coming 12-18 months, before ranking the top 15 cities based on real estate opportunities. “Since we are an owner, developer and operator all in one, we must closely monitor the real estate markets to see where it makes most sense to focus our resources,” he explains, with Chadha noting that city centre developments can be complex, especially in Europe, where the historic constraints are far greater than that those in the US. “For every 100 proposals, we take one,” he confirms. “Sometimes a project is too complicated, or the location isn’t quite right. It’s a challenge and can slow down our expansion, but we’re not in a hurry. We want a presence in the right places.”
Despite the obstacles, CitizenM isn’t stopping anytime soon, with ambitions for 40 hotels (equating to 8,545 rooms) by 2023 and plenty more to follow, having raised US$1 billion in new capital from its existing investors. The main focus remains on the US and Europe, where the company is looking to balance its portfolio by expanding further in existing markets – such as San Francisco, Miami and Paris – as well as taking up unique opportunities like a hotel on the Facebook campus in Menlo Park, California, slated for 2024. “We still have a whole world to grow into, so must focus on the cities where we matter most to our guests and stakeholders,” Jan Tjoeng confirms. That’s not to say that the development team is not exploring opportunities in new destinations, with Barcelona, Denver, Hamburg, Milan, San Diego and Nashville all earmarked as potential candidates over the coming years. And then there is Asia Pacific, where the brand hopes to increase its efforts after launching sites in Taipei and Kuala Lumpur.
“Our growth strategy is all about timing,” says Chadha. “During the pandemic we made sure that projects under construction did not grind to a halt, and actually opened six hotels – Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Zurich, Geneva and Paris – which is the most we’ve done in one year. We now have 15 more in development, so the growth never stops.”
Given CitizenM’s knack for staying ahead of the curve in a crowded market, it comes as no surprise that its loyal following are happy to pay a little more – rates reach £300 per night at some properties – simply to be part of its community. And while Chadha is tight-lipped on financials, the bustle of the living room during our meet-up is a clear indicator of the brand’s bounce back from a slew of lockdowns. And new initiatives such as its subscription model, which offers work-sleep-meet-entertain packages for corporates and digital nomads, will surely set the group up for further success.
With more than a decade of growth under its belt, what motivates CitizenM to keep pushing the boundaries of hospitality? For Wagemans, the stimulus comes from a constant strive for character with consistency, which he describes as a challenge that keeps the DNA of the brand alive and kicking. “We’ve always worked towards the idea that CitizenM is not just a hotel. This gives us the freedom to reconsider every element of what a hotel should be and how to develop it over time. There are no problems, only solutions. As long we think like this, then the future of the company looks bright.”
