Experience is everything to customers of world-class hospitality brands such as Hilton, but peerless luxury and service are just the beginning of their expectations. For the new Hilton Garden Inn Shangri-La, providing such an experience would require striking an exceedingly delicate balance: between the distinctive values strongly associated with the Hilton name, and equally distinctive cultural cues of the hotel’s exotic location.
Signage created by the A.E. Smith Group comprised a major part of the hotel’s acclaimed design solution. Drawing on one of the most characteristic elements of traditional local craft, the A.E. Smith project team evolved a signage scheme based on rustic, hand-made cow skin and embroidery artworks.
Carefully integrated with international Hilton branding, these cultural elements appear consistently and creatively on signage throughout the property, complementing the hotel’s equally locally-inspired architecture and interior décor.
A.E. Smith’s solution was so well-received that the Hilton Garden Inn Shangri-La has served as a benchmark for the ‘cultural customisation’ of other Hilton properties at exotic locations worldwide.
