NYLO Hotels, the developer of a new hotel slated to open next summer at Pontiac Mills in Warwick, hopes to add local art and music to a laundry list of hip amenities.
The original artwork will be selected via an art competition running now through March 1. Three winners will be selected from three categories including acrylic, oil and/or mixed media on canvas, photography and artists’ choice. Winners will be awarded $750 to $2,250.
The winners’ work will be reproduced using the giclee process and displayed throughout the hotel, including in the guest rooms, corridors and public spaces, said John Russell, CEO of NYLO Hotels.
“One of our brand approaches is we really want to endear ourselves to the community … engage the community,” he said. “One way to do that is to engage artists … We’re young and entrepreneurial. These artists are young and entrepreneurial, so it embodies the way we think.”
Having local artwork showcased in the hotel and on the company’s Web site, www.nylohotels.com, along with the artists’ names and contact information also compliments what the city of Providence is doing to market itself as an art and culture destination, Russell said, though it is a company standard to incorporate local art into each hotel NYLO opens.
It is also a company standard to produce compilation CDs featuring local musicians, which will be sold and played in the hotels.
“We go and find yet-to-be-discovered artists,” Russell said. “We try to get two or three from the local area.”
NYLO Warwick is one of two hotels the two-year-old company is developing. The other is in Plano, Texas, and is slated to open by the end of the year. The company plans to open 50 hotels in markets across North America by 2010.
The Warwick hotel will consist of 164 guest rooms and 1,166 square feet of meeting space. The new construction involves a five-story addition to the existing Pontiac Mills structure. The hotel is on schedule to be completed by June 2008, Russell said.
So far, the first-floor concrete frame has been completed. The second-through-fifth-floor frame construction is ongoing. The roof is scheduled to be put on in mid-January. After that the build-out of the inside will begin.
Rooms will cost between $120 and $160, making it less expensive than full-service Hiltons, Hyatts and Marriotts and slightly more expensive than Hilton Garden Inns and Marriott Courtyards, Russell said.
NYLO also is creating a new niche in the hotel market. It calls its hotels “loft-lifestyle hotels” because of the airy loft-feel of the rooms. The NYLO Warwick rooms have ceilings that are more than 10 feet high and 30-square-foot windows, along with concrete and brick construction.
“We’re making high-style highly affordable,” Russell said. “That’s what consumers are looking for today. What IKEA, Starbucks and Mini Cooper have accomplished in their industries, NYLO will do for business and leisure travel.”
The company conducted copious market research including focus groups to find out what amenities appeal to 25-year-old to 55-year-old business and leisure travelers, he added.
As a result of that research the company came up with a hotel concept that includes 24/7 healthy meal choices at its restaurant and hypoallergenic room choices with medical-grade air purifiers and hypoallergenic bedding.
It also engages in green practices. Constructing the hotel out of concrete and brick reduces heating and cooling costs, Russell said. Bath products are biodegradable. Folio binders and desk pads are made out of recycled material.
Each room has iPod capabilities and wireless and wired Internet access. There is a 24-hour business center, library and gym on the premises.
“It’s a lifestyle product,” Russell said, adding: “We’re very bullish about the Northeast. We’re trying to develop a brand and there’s a lot of traffic in the Northeast. [NYLO Warwick] is a good billboard for us.”
Inquiries about the art contest should be directed to Amanda Emmo at aemmo@nylohotels.com. Inquiries about the music CDs produced by NYLO should be directed to Michael Mueller at mmueller@nylohotels.com. •
