Cheap but chic

Boston’s Hotel 140 and ‘super hostel’ Wake Up! London are both being marketed as bright and modern affordable hotels, adapted to the needs of today’s users. Yolanda Zappaterra looks at some current examples of hotel branding

This consistency is key to good hotel branding and it is something that Patrick Budge, freelance graphic designer for the Hotel du Vin chain, has remained constantly aware of in his five years working with the group. It’s a brand that makes much of the individuality of its seven properties, sympathetically converted buildings offering comfortable relaxation along with its food and wine. Budge focused on informality and the need to ‘get away from town house stuffy hotels’, as he puts it, when creating logos for each site.

‘As the chain has expanded, we’ve had to keep it coherent, but bring out the differences,’ he explains. Using a mix of serif and sans serif on a classic dark green base, he has created a logo that is eminently adaptable through the addition of photography and the application of different stocks, but retains the buildings’ classic, elegant feel while reflecting their contemporary sides. It may not be Pentagram’s work for the super-luxury Bulgari Hotel in Milan, but this is branding that does its job perfectly. And, as Budge says, ‘You have to do what’s appropriate for the hotel.’

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