Out with Standard and Deluxe hotel rooms, in with Shoebox, Broom Cupboard, and Extreme Wow
- W Hotels started the trend with room names such as Wonderful, Marvelous and Fantastic. Now names such as Zing, Zest, and Habitat reflect hotels’ casual feel
- Others make a virtue of honesty, with names such as Tiny, Cosy, and Snug and – at the other end of the spectrum – Spacious, Roomy, and Big Comfy Luxe
Guests booking a room at recently opened and much anticipated hotel, The Pig at Harlyn Bay, Cornwall, southwest England, can opt for a Comfy, a Comfy Luxe, a Big Comfy Luxe or an Even Bigger Comfy Luxe. And those checking into the Naumi Studio Wellington, New Zealand, which opens in October, have the option of Zing or Zest.
Hotel accommodation has long been classified along the lines of Classic, Superior and Deluxe. But then came W, with its hotels that felt more like nightclubs and rooms exuberantly labelled Wonderful, Fabulous, Marvelous and Spectacular. And that was even before you got to the suites, which are Fantastic, Wow and Extreme Wow.
In W’s wake came a different breed of hotels, with room category names that are refreshingly straightforward, and in some cases, amusing.
The owners of The Pig, Robin Hutson and David Elton, previously opened Lime Wood, in the New Forest on England’s south coast, as a contemporary take on country house hotels. Out went the chintz and the fine dining, in came comfortably chic interiors and a relaxed restaurant focused on superb produce. They also changed the approach to room categories, naming them Cosy, Spacious and Generous.
