NEW YORK, NY, November 25, 2014 – The International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show® (IHMRS) has announced the winners for the 34th annual Gold Key Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Design. A record number of entries of over 280 international projects were considered by a team of nine prominent judges for these coveted awards, which recognize outstanding hospitality design worldwide for properties completed or renovated from March 1, 2013 to March 1, 2014.
Winners of the Gold Key Awards were revealed at the annual gala on Monday, November 10th, 2014 at New York’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The Gold Key Awards were sponsored by Boutique Design and HOTELS magazines. The awards coincided with the 99th annual IHMRS, which was held Saturday, November 8th through Tuesday, November 11th, and the 5th annual Boutique Design New York (BDNY) trade fair which was held Sunday, November 9th through Monday, November 10th. Both events were held at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
The 34th annual Gold Key Awards winning designers and projects are:
Best Lobby Luxury
concrete (Amsterdam): Hotel W Verbier, Switzerland
Best Lobby Upscale
(tie) dash design (New York): The Lexington Hotel, New York
(tie) nemaworkshop (New York): W Mexico City
Best Lobby Midscale/Budget/Focused Service
Universal Design Studio (London): Ace Hotel London Shoreditch
Best Spa
HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates (Singapore): Grand Hyatt Hotel Shenyang, Liaoning, China
Best Guest Room Luxury
HDC Interior Architecture + Design (Los Angeles): St. Regis New York, New York
Best Guest Room Upscale
CBT (Boston): Hotel George, Washington, D.C.
Best Guest Room Midscale/Budget/Focused Service
Bill Rooney Studio, Inc. (New York): Residence Inn by Marriott Manhattan/Central Park, New York
Best Suite
HOK (New York): The Jewel Suite by Martin Katz, The New York Palace, New York
Best Restaurant Fine Dining
Meyer Davis Studio (New York): St. Cecilia, Atlanta
Best Restaurant Casual Dining
Schoos Design (West Hollywood, Calif.): Puesto, San Diego, Calif.
Best Nightclub/Lounge
Jeffrey Beers International (New York): Moon Club, Paradise Island, Bahamas
Judges’ “So Cool” Award
JOI-Design Interior Architects (Hamburg): Hotel-Kompetenz-Zentrum, Oberschleißheim, Germany; Stonehill & Taylor Architects (New York): The Nomad Hotel Rooftop Event Spaces, New York; Marriott Global Design Strategies (Bethesda, Md.): Marriott Hotels Design Strategy, Marriott International, Bethesda, Md.
Best Timeshare/Fractional Ownership
Indidesign (Los Angeles): Hokulani Waikiki by Hilton Grand Vacations Club, Honolulu
Best Resort
YANG/Yangbangsheng & Associates Group (Shenzhen, China): Haitang Bay No. 9 Resort, Sanya, Hainan, China
Best Eco or Socially Conscious Hotel
COMMUNE (Los Angeles): American Trade Hotel & Hall, Casco Viejo, Panama
Best Hotel Budget/Focused Service
Ester Bruzkus Architekten (Berlin) with DesignAgency (Toronto) and WAF Architects (Berlin): Generator Berlin Mitte
Best Hotel Midscale
Stonehill & Taylor Architects (New York): NYLO New York City
Best Hotel Upscale
G A Design International (London): Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel & Conference Center, Istanbul
Best Hotel Luxury
HOK (New York): Rosewood Abu Dhabi
In addition to the Gold Key Awards, concrete was honored as Designer of the Year at the awards banquet.
Judges for the 2014 Gold Key Awards were Alan Philips, chief marketing officer, Morgans Hotel Group; Dana Kalczak, vice president of design, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts; Danette Opaczewski, chief operating officer, Ian Schrager Co.; John D. McMullen, senior vice president of construction, Highgate Hotels; Lora Spran, interior designer, senior, Walt Disney Imagineering; R. Tyler Morse, ceo and managing partner, MCR Development; Ron Kollar, chief design officer, Tishman Hotel & Realty LP; Serena Rakhlin, vice president, Hotel Development and Acquisitions, Americas, Trump Hotel Collection; and Trisha Wilson, chairman, Trisha Wilson Global.
In addition, NEWH, Inc., the Hospitality Industry Network, presented its 10th annual Icon of Industry Award to Bob Thomas, Signature Carpets. A $5,000 scholarship was presented to the winning ICON student recipient, Tara Headley from Savannah College of Art and Design. IHMRS and BDNY also presented a $7,500 contribution to the Clifford R. Tuttle Scholarship Fund.
