How to turn an unfinished wooden monolith in the Carpathians into a modern ultra-comfortable hotel and not deviate from the plan for a single day, completing the object exactly on time?
In the Ukrainian reality it is not easy but it is possible, "Artur Lupashko, the founder of the Ribas Hotels Group hotel chain, is convinced. In a new video on the Ribas YouTube channel with his partners, he told everything about the hotel business in detail: about all the stages of construction of the new Ribas Karpaty hotel and did a tour of the complex.
Hotel construction
Two years ago, a monolithic unfinished building stood on the site of a new modern hotel in Yaremche. After the purchase of the object, the Ribas Hotels Group team attracted specialists — an architect and a general contractor - to assess the budget and predict the timing of the implementation of the new hotel.
Artur Lupashko
“The preparation works took six months. And in May 2019, we started construction work. We have built a new 5-storey building, which we connected with the unfinished building, resulting in a full-fledged hotel with 47 rooms, SPA, restaurant, terrace and chic territory ”.
Territory
Guests of Ribas Karpaty are residents of large cities, who need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and feel completely safe.
Therefore, the team paid special attention to the planning of the hotel territory.
Vitaly Schwarzwalder, owner of IMLA (hotel design):
“We decided to leave the most greenery possible on the territory: Bukovel, although a forest region, is a luxury to have its own green zone here. In order not to turn it into a parking lot for guests' cars, we have restricted the entry of cars into the hotel territory, and there are always spots in the paid parking opposite.
Another important point is that water treatment facilities are located directly below us, so we were not able to plant greenery everywhere. But we tried to do our best.”.
Autonomy
The contractor “CreonaBilding” received a task to preserve the maximum autonomy of the hotel and not to depend on external factors during the construction of the complex.
Andrey Shibinsky, “CreonaBilding”
“We have developed and implemented the concept of water treatment communications, which allow not only to close the issues of autonomous sewerage, but also to maintain an optimal microclimate on the same territory. There are no puddles here, even in rainy weather, and the yard always looks well-groomed”.
In order for the hotel not to depend on monopolists and electricity suppliers, the contractors installed a powerful generator that is instantly connected in case of problems at the electric power station. By the way, Ribas Karpaty has been working completely independently all winter since its opening.
Lobby: space optimization and reception operation
The front desk area in the complex is not typical. Usually lobby bars in four - and five-star hotels look more ambitious. But in the case of Ribas Karpaty, we had to look for the optimal solution in conditions of limited space. It was important to avoid crowds and queues and show each guest that they are welcome here.
Proper zoning, carefully planned lighting, glass facades-all this helped to visually expand the space and attract attention to the reception. And for the guests waiting to move in, there are cozy places that allow you to evenly disperse people around the hall.
There are two screens behind the reception desk: the first one displays all the engineering systems of the hotel, the second one shows the Servio management program.
Maximum automation and the ability to remotely control the hotel's systems allow you to quickly respond to guests' requests. For example, from the reception, you can adjust the air temperature in the room, adjust the floor heating and track the status of the room: quickly start cleaning if the guest wants it, or do not disturb if the guest has set the appropriate status.
Rooms: ergonomics and comfort
Space and comfort on 18 square meters with a bathroom — most of the guests of Ribas Karpaty are very satisfied with their small rooms.
At the construction stage of the hotel, the contractors were faced with the task of designing truly comfortable rooms and thinking through every detail, avoiding non-functional zones and saving maximum useful space.
Everything that could ”steal" precious centimeters — columns, shafts, pylons - was hidden in the walls, leaving a clean space.
To make the rooms really comfortable, IMLA studied the requests of the target audience in detail and only then moved on to the design of the room fund.
For the maximum convenience of guests, they focused on small but important details: they equipped cabinets with lighting so that guests would not forget anything, installed additional benches at the windows and put cozy chairs on the terraces. This helps guests to feel freedom in the rooms and get even more positive impressions from the vacation.
Dispatching
The automated system that was implemented in Ribas Karpaty under the internal name "dispatching" allows you to provide a maximum of pleasant features for the guests and important for their comfort.
Andrey Shibinsky, “CreonaBilding”:
“One of the features for a guest is turning on the welcome light when entering the room. This is especially convenient in the dark: you can safely put a card, take off your shoes, put things out… The light works in this mode without a card and goes out automatically after 2 minutes.
But the most pleasant thing, in my opinion, is the “smart home” system in the rooms. The guest can independently set the temperature in the room, the air temperature in the bathroom, and, if necessary, send a message "room cleaning” or" do not disturb” to the reception”.
A special “feature” of the hotel is fan coils. These are the elements of the air conditioning system that heat the room in winter and cool it in summer.
Artur Lupashko:
“Before approving this decision, we conducted a study on ski resorts. In Bukovel, only five hotels are equipped with fan coils — many do not see the need to cool the rooms in the summer, because there are very few really hot days. But the question is that it is during these 5-10 days that the guest may be hot and uncomfortable, and we cannot allow this”.
Dispatching is not only a way to create comfort for guests, but also the best solution for economical use of electricity. For example, if a window is open in the room, the heating is automatically turned off.
SPA area
The " Task with an asterisk” is the organization of a SPA zone in a hotel in conditions of strict space economy. According to the idea, 150 square meters of the provided zone were supposed to comfortably accommodate everyone in the evening.
The research conducted by the team showed that in most hotels in Bukovel, the most unsuitable rooms or ground floors are allocated for SPA-this makes the area unattractive, dark and uncomfortable.
Artur Lupashko:
“We did everything possible to preserve the view characteristics in this room and did not cover the large windows with anything. That is why the SPA-zone turned out to be quite bright. And in the evening, we turn off the lights, it turns out an intimate evening relaxing illumination, the guests are very comfortable”.
Vitaly Schwarzwalder:
“To create and design the SPA area, we used color-neutral materials: gray, with coffee shades, so that a person can relax. The floor is laid out with mosaics, for which the general contractor scolded us very much — this is a small tile. But this is what creates a sense of spaciousness, because the floor is " cut” and it seems that it is all a little bigger. In addition, it is impossible to slip on this tile either in slippers or barefoot, and the safety of guests is the most important thing for us”.
Creation of a hotel design project with Ribas Hotels Group. More details follow the link.
About what equipment is installed in the hotel, why the guest immediately falls in love with the room, what you need to know when designing a pool on the 3rd-4th floor, why Ribas Karpaty deserves an award for the best first impression and what unpopular decisions helped make this project successful, see the big issue of the Review of the Ribas Karpaty Hotel complex: the concept of creating and developing a hotel.
