Profile - The Personal Touch

By Beatrice Ang, HOTELIER - July/August, 2002

The Opus Hotel, Vancouver's newest boutique property, offers guests uniquely personalized service

This month the 97-room Opus Hotel will open its doors for the first time in Vancouver's trendy Yaletown district, a lively area close to the city's inner harbour. But what its owners hope will make the Opus stand out among the many other properties trying to fill rooms in a market where supply exceeds demand, is the fact that the hotel is designed as a boutique property, where innovative interior design and personalized service are key.

Coming under the umbrella of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World, the seven-storey Opus Hotel was the brainchild of developer John DeC Evans, the president, CEO and principal of Vancouver-based Trilogy Properties Corporation and a trustee of CHIP Hospitality. “I wanted to build where the locals want to live and recreate,” says Evans of the hotel's trendy location. “I wanted to build a true boutique hotel reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of Vancouver.”

The $30-million property was developed by Trilogy Yaletown Development Corporation (a subsidiary of Trilogy Properties Corporation) and designed by Vancouver's Paul Merrick Architects and Hancock, Bruckner, Eng & Wright. With an exterior of red brick, painted blackwood sash windows and granite, the designers were able to maintain the décor and colour of the area's heritage buildings. The hotel's interior was designed by Vancouver-based Architectura Planning Architecture Interiors Inc., and features dramatic lighting with a combination of classical and modern furnishings. For instance, a huge, flying saucer-like lamp illuminates the front desk, while the desk is designed to look as if it is floating. Hanging curtains separate the bar from the lobby.

The guest rooms are also uniquely designed, with 17 different room layouts and five distinctive décor themes. “We wanted each of the rooms to have a personality,” says Susan Smallenberg, a principal and director of Architectura. To avoid creating generic guest rooms, management considered who might frequent the hotel, and came up with individual fictional characters to help inspire the designs. The result was five themed décors, catering to a widely diverse clientele.

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