philadelphia hotels

Le Meridien Grows into 2011 with the Creative Class

It was a mere five years ago that Starwood took over Le Meridien, taking on a new direction for the global hotel leader, which today boasts 105 properties in 50 countries. After exiting 45 properties that weren't up to par with the brand, Le Meridien now boasts double digit growth each year, and added 20 new properties in locations like Panama City, Bangkok and Taipei. But it was in Philadelphia, in a former YMCA building that Le Meridien recently celebrated their big anniversary, at the flagship hotel that encompasses the brand's new mantra of old and new.

"It's a design led lifestyle," Eva Ziegler, Global brand leader of Le Meridien tells Luxist of the new direction. From the lobby's historical oak walls to the contemporary art hovering over the mantels, it was a scene taken straight from Paris, a city that has perfected the idea of aligning old with new. "We were going for the same elements that you find in the Louvre, for example, this very heritage foundation surrounded by a very modern element. It's a foundation of our design, having a wonderful historical building juxtaposed with a wonderful new design style." The landmark Philadelphia hotel marks just the beginning for where Ziegler and her team are taking the Le Meridien brand in the future.

2011 marks the triumph of a very successful social experiment in building a travel hub for the creative class. With Paris as her guide, Ziegler is continuing to focus Le Meridien properties everywhere on targeting creative minds and their cohorts and opening them up to a new experience through the lens of arts and cuisine.

This strategy began in 2006 when Le Meridien hired mastermind Jerome Sans as Global Cultural Curator, aligning an authentic cultural inventor to the brand. Out of that relationship grew LM100, a carefully chosen family of cultural innovators who work together to create interactive experiences unique to the hotel. The LM100 are filling Le Meridien's worldwide with a singular creative portfolio from food to drink to art to fragrance to set the new look and atmosphere of the brand against the more traditional landmark buildings they're housed in. The brand is currently working with 24 artists, including sommelier Linda Grabe, video artist Marcus Kreiss, master barista Fritz Storm, chef Jean Georges Vongerichten, artist An Xiaotong, and perfume designers Le Labo.