THe Collectionist

ART FOR ART’S SAKE: SYDNEY’S FIRST CUSTOM DESIGN HOTEL, THE COLLECTIONIST,

OPEN MAY 2018

Sydney is set to welcome its first authentic custom design hotel – The Collectionist - harnessing the talents of seven designers, from four leading design firms, and 13 artists to create 39 individually designed rooms. The Collectionist will open its doors in May 2018, encouraging guests to ‘choose different’ – not only by creating a hotel where no room is the same, but also by putting the choice of room firmly in the hands of the guest.

Guests at The Collectionist will be welcomed by a seamless digital check-in and welcome drink and invited to peruse available rooms and depending on the style, colour, texture and appeal, choose their preference in which to stay. A revolutionary change to the traditional hotel check-in process, but one which seems natural to the Collectionist’s creator, Daniel Symonds, CEO & Co-Founder of Collectic Hotels.

Inspired by a car-hire experience in the US - which allowed an up-close inspection on a variety of cars at pick-up and the choice of the style of car he hired, right down to the colour - Symonds was impressed by the flexibility, choice and control it gave him, which led him to question why hotels couldn’t operate the same way.

Symonds says: “I realised that people are very particular about the car they drive, the colour they choose, the style they want. It’s a very personal choice, so why didn’t we make hotel rooms that catered to these different tastes rather than offering standardised rooms and no choice in the room type a guest prefers? By providing guests with a more tactile way of choosing their room, they are directly involved in their stay experience.”

And so the process began to recruit a design team that would bring Symonds’ vision to fruition. Innovative Sydney designer, Andrew Cliffe, of The World Is Round, won the bid for project and quickly assembled three other design teams – Amber Road, Willis Sheargold and Pattern Studio

Symonds and Raphael then turned their attention to unused prime space in Sydney’s burgeoning Newtown precinct where the local RSL building was due for either demolition or redevelopment. They convinced developers to breathe new life into the property and created The Urban Newtown hotel – complete with a unique street art adorned atrium in a nod to eclectic urban surroundings.

www.collectionisthotel.com.au