Have you stepped into a room without furniture? Perhaps it’s an empty ballroom with its banquet chairs and tables stored until the next event. Maybe it’s the vacant lobby on the Monday after floor refinishing.
Each room or area within your club likely has a style or brand with or without chairs, tables and decorations. Void of all art, accents, lighting, fixtures, flooring and millwork, what image does your club portray? Look around. Fresh or stale? Bright or dreary? Welcoming or not?
The focus of this article on club enhancement and branding through art, accents and interior architecture begins with these questions: “Is my club accessorized as an extension of our mission and as a branding statement?” and “Do these accoutrements resonate with our members—young and old, male and female?”
If not, perhaps it’s time to rethink your club’s brand by taking a more artistic approach. The good news? It won’t require major renovations to achieve positive brand realignment through art and design.
Hospitality Brand Insights and Accessorizing Costs
In your club, think of art, sculpture, decorative lighting, wall hangings, throw pillows, ceramics, vases and books as the jewelry of your club—accessories that can make your club shine. Included in your FF&E capital improvement budget should be “Accessories and Art.” This is the essence of your club brand—the often forgotten, and usually neglected, items that make a difference to your members.
Brand executives and designers of four- and five-star resorts are experts at the art of accessorizing. These creative wizards often strive to achieve outstanding brand results by merely focusing on the accents of a room. Granted, unlike the majority of private clubs, four- and five-star properties are not only given the creative license to decorate, they’re also allotted large budgets. Despite this inherent difference, there are still some key takeaways from the hotel industry that can serve as inspiration for clubs today.
In the 2013 Hotel Cost Estimating Guide, the top three hotel brand segments’ (Upscale, Upper Upscale and Luxury) expenditures per square foot for art, accessories and decorative lighting more than doubles from Upscale to Upper Upscale and doubles again for Luxury properties. A typical luxury hotel invests between four and five times as much per square foot as an Upscale property on art, accents and decorative lighting. Where? In their lobbies, ballrooms, boardrooms and main restaurants. One can find small touches everywhere.
To reach and satisfy a discerning guest (or member), a hotel (or club) must invest in the details of its brand. Updating your club’s look through artistry, craftsmanship and quality found in art, accents and interior architecture is every bit as important as expanding the kitchen, adding a fitness center or upgrading the chairs and fabric in the dining room.
Two Steps to Facility Brand Enhancement
Club design committees, the board, the F&B director or general manager, rarely have the time or expertise to select art, sculpture, lighting or accessories. An experienced professional with knowledge, resources and taste can help; but understanding members’ wants and needs and overall club culture is also important.
Therefore, two preliminary steps are recommended before your next renovation or club enhancement project:
First, launch a “Facility Brand Assessment,” a guided assessment of each room and item in your club to rate its conformity to the club brand you want to project. Evaluate the art, the lighting and the accents using four qualifiers: function, quality, condition and style.
Second, like hotels, each club should create a “Facility Brand & Design Specification Manual.” This document specifies standards for style and quality in carpeting, art, furniture, lighting, wall coverings, fabric, tableware and more. This manual can also contain further details such as cost guidelines at current year prices, suggested vendors and reference images.
Looking in All the Right Places
Clubs are encouraged to take their time in selecting a designer. It’s critical that this individual understand club life and culture. Some best practices include:
- Creating your art and accessorizing strategy before you start shopping.
- Allowing each room or area to have a personality, like different areas in family home.
- Avoiding club accessorizing through the design committee. Too many cooks . . . they say.
- Seeking a professional designer with proven domestic and international sources for art, sculpture, lighting and accents with an emphasis on residential or hospitality experience.
- Staying within your budget, while at the same time trying not to skimp or cut corners.
Jim Sweet is principal & creative director of Astanza Design, an indoor and outdoor clubhouse designer specializing in simplified design processes, global product sourcing and below wholesale procurement of fine furnishings, carpet, and fabric. For more information, visit http://astanzadesign.savory.io.