Best Western, Appleby Park Hotel

Lugo has worked closely with various Best Western Hotels over many years to furnish their hotel amenities and the latest project was no different.

The Venue

Best Western’s three-star Appleby Park Hotel is situated close to Tamworth in Staffordshire, attracting corporate business travellers and day-trippers looking for a rest from driving along the M42.

The Brief

The client had a specific scheme in mind when they approached Lugo; within the restaurant there needed to be fixed and freestanding banquette seating along with loose restaurant chairs. The addition of banquette seating to not only help increase dining covers capacity but also provide more privacy for customers having business meetings.

Within the bedrooms, the new contract seating and soft furnishing elements followed the new colour scheme of cooling greens and tonal greys. Guest bedrooms with smaller footprints were specified new chair beds, an ideal furniture piece for increasing capacity in smaller rooms. New, comfortable desk chairs and tub chairs were also specified in fabrics that coordinated with the proposed colour scheme.

Design

In the hotel’s guest bedrooms, Lugo supplied new contract seating that replaced the worn, outdated furniture. Relaxed tub chairs or sofa beds and desk chairs were upholstered in contract standard velvets to give a luxury feel whilst the robust, timber legged desk chairs were upholstered in a hard-wearing linen effect fabric. The linen effect fabric was chosen for the desk chairs as they were likely to be used more and potentially get dirty as guests often use the desk chair for working, applying makeup and eating at the desk.

Lugo also supplied the co-ordinating curtains which were created using Vescom Tavira 8009.12 or Sinclaire Manilla Rye and backed with blackout linings to ensure guests had a good night’s sleep. Bolder, accent patterns were used on smaller elements of the hotel bedrooms such as the pelmet, bolster cushions and bed runners. Although only a soft refurbishment, the appearance of the hotel bedrooms was vastly improved, creating a more modern and refreshed aesthetic.

In the restaurant, a number of new seating options were supplied in new colours, to match the hotel’s branding. Lugo had discussed the types of seating and fabrics extensively with the in-house design team and decided on the Barbara restaurant chair, bespoke fixed banquette seating and bespoke freestanding high back bench seating. The made to measure banquette and bench seating was specifically designed for this restaurant as the hotel’s design team specified a fabric pattern that would be visible from afar. The client felt the seating should stand out and be attractive not only to those sitting on it but to those in passing.

The patterned fabric chosen for the seat backs of the banquette booth seating was a striking geometric print from Panaz collection Palladio in Merletto 238 citrus. The seat cushions, armrests of the seating were upholstered in a contrasting Panaz soft touch faux leather in 935 Gun Metal for easy housekeeping and longevity.

A section of moveable bench seating was requested for one area of the hotel’s restaurant. This area provided some privacy and suited the corporate clients that may convene here for meetings. This section of seating was upholstered in another Panaz soft touch faux leather in 826 Taupe and intricate studding was added to the arms for a luxury feel.

The Barbara restaurant chairs were selected due to its curved back, giving the guests a feeling of being hugged but maintaining a corporate appearance. Two fabrics were specified for this chair, a wipeable green faux leather from Panaz in pistachio and a cool grey linear fabric.

For the dining tables, Lugo specified the Velino dining table and used thick laminate tops and black powder coated pedestal bases in a mix of square and circular shapes. The majority of the square tables were used with the fixed banquette seating and bench seating while the circular tables were placed amongst the loose restaurant chairs.  

Installation

The project was a progressive rollout spread across six phases that took two years. The hotel bedrooms were being refreshed with paint and minor changes by the hotel’s maintenance team before Lugo was able to deliver or install any furniture or furnishings.

Rooms were then handed over to Lugo’s installation team in clusters of five or ten and fitted with their new contract furniture and soft furnishings. This enabled the hotel to stay operational and avoid disruption to guests.

This restaurant project was a very straightforward installation that Lugo was able to complete within one day. All furniture was delivered to site and installed by Lugo’s skilled installation team in time for dinner that evening.