Hotel where you can get a life
by Heather Greenwood Davis

Toronto Star - April 29, 2006

Vancouver - Dr. Mike knows how to live. He takes care of himself, hiking and spa-ing by day and eating at the best restaurants at night.

He knows the right nightclubs to visit and can lead you to the perfect spot for the after-party. It's a beautiful life. And it's yours for the taking.

That's because the good doctor is a figment of the highly active imagination of the management at the Opus Hotel in Vancouver.

He, along with non-existent personalities - Billy, Dede, Susan and couple Bob & Carol - were dreamed up by owner John deC. Evans, general manager Daniel Craig and former general manager David Curell as part of the hotel's unique lifestyle concierge program.

Instead of simply approaching the design of the hotel from an aesthetics perspective, the group decided to design and decorate each of the hotel's 96 rooms as if one of the five personalities lives there. Everything from the colour of the walls (blue for fashionista Susan) to the in-room entertainment (Billy has Bob Marley on the CD player and a book of 500 tattoo designs on the shelf) is designed to reflect one of the five personalities.

"We put a lot of time and energy in to making sure the rooms fit the characters," Katrina Carroll-Foster, director of sales and marketing for the hotel, says as we tour the three year old building. In fact, she and Craig spent two days at Christmas time updating music selections and reading materials in each of the rooms to ensure they continue to be an accurate reflection of the personalities.

"A guest said it's like your cool friend threw you the keys and you get to stay in his space and live his cool life for a weekend," she says.

And it's not just the room. Entire lifestyles have been developed for each of the characters, so that you can decide if you want to eat, drink, shop, or day trip like your alias.

An online lifestyle concierge website and in-room listings can give you some options for each personality, but you can take it one step further and email them. You'll receive an email back outlining what they would do if they were in town.

And if you still need more, the hotel staff know each of the personalities' preferences, which they share with guests calling to book a room. The hope is, says Carroll-Foster, that guests will identify with at least one of the personalities and feel right at home in their adopted space.

It is this different approach that has allowed Opus, the only hotel in hip and happening Yaletown, to distinguish itself as a boutique option for the masses.

All of the personality-themed rooms are available at all price points. Regardless of which room you stay in you can use the black "7 Series" BMW, complete with driver, available on a first-come, first-serve basis for transportation into downtown Vancouver at no additional charge.

Conde Nast Traveler took notice in 2005 and voted it into its top "100 Best of the Best" and stay at the hotel has been included in the Oscar presenters' goodie bags for the last three years.

The temptation to live a night in someone else's shoes may tempt you, but choosing whose to fill can pose a problem for some.

"Some people call and will say I fit with one or the other," says Carroll-Foster. "Others are torn."

The rooms are drastically different in feel and appearance. Pick the wrong room and you may feel your personality morph.

Take Mike's room for example. The room has a tailored men's suit feel. Red walls and dark woods are offset by local black and white photography. Billy's bright green room, on the other hand, is like stepping into direct sunlight - blinding at first but eventually warm and airy. The Japanese Shoji screen separating the bed from the bathroom is just one of its sexy features.

But everyone wants to be a Penthouse Dede.

"Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Alba have visited," says Carroll-Foster as we enter the penthouse suite. Taupe walls wrap the room and animal print footstools and cushions set the pace.

Add the wrap around balcony, powder room for guests, 42 inch flat screen TV and four-poster bed and it's immediately clear that Dede is into luxury.

The room is big but not the over whelming space one usually imagines celebrities flocking to.

"A lot of people are willing to trade a large square footage for a more intimate comfortable space," says Carroll-Foster.

The other stunner is the amount of natural light in the building. Floor-to-ceiling windows are in every room.

The result is a bathroom flooded with natural light. Good thing too: It's hard to admire your stainless steel floating sink, L'Occitane bath products and rain shower in the dark.

It also provides an impressive view from the street and neighboring restaurants. A timely glimpse up to one of the seven floors of windows has been known to provide a view usually limited to certain parentally locked television channels, particularly in the many rooms where bathrooms face the street.

Many guests have been so comfortable in the spa like surroundings that they have offered passers-by an unintentional glimpse of their private space.

Gives a whole new meaning to "a room with a view."

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