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Boutique Hotels and Ambient Music

Posted on | January 24, 2008 |

“Ambient Music” being played in boutique hotels is a bit of a cliche, but the problem is that boutique hotels don’t really play ambient music. Over the last few years I’ve stayed in a number of these hotels, from New Orleans to Chicago to London to Stockholm and etc. The lobbies are all generally Scandinavian, except I think of the places I’ve stayed recently the hotel that looked least like it lept out of an IKEA catalog was the one in Sweden.

Furnishing aside, the soundtrack is ubiquitous. And it’s always the kind of cut-rate, chill-out room at the rave kind of nonsense in all of them. Back in the days when I used to go to parties, we would call it lounge music. It ranges from the slightly more upbeat stuff with a rhythm track down to the spacey, new age fluff those of you who read this blog are probably familiar with.

And every time I’ve come across this stuff, I think it’s just such a missed opportunity. Getting into the elevator, it would just be so great to hear some Eno, or Stars of the Lid, or Loscil, or Taylor Deupree. The experience design of these places would be that much better had someone who knew what they were doing programmed the soundtrack. Unfortunately, despite the high room rates, fancy furniture, and aloof staff, you end up feeling more like you’re in a knock-off tshirt shop on 34th street than a world class hotel.

Category: Ambient Music, Opinion

Comments

4 Responses to “Boutique Hotels and Ambient Music”

  1. De Wissel » blog archive » Fullness of wind
    January 24th, 2008 @ 7:07 pm

    [...] te missen: het Ambient Music Blog. Uit de blog-entry van vandaag van Tim Boyd citeer ik met instemming: “Ambient Music” being played in boutique hotels is a [...]

  2. Dave P
    January 24th, 2008 @ 8:53 pm

    Truer words have never been said (or typed). I’d happily stay at a hotel where Stars of the Lid was part of the um, ambience, so to speak. And that crappy “chill-out” lounge music you made fun of reminds me of holding my wife’s purse while she tries on clothes at H&M. Ugh.

  3. Wes
    August 13th, 2008 @ 6:08 pm

    Aesthetically this makes sense considering the effort that is put into designing a hotel lobby/room, though I’m not sure it would fit the environment (one of constant change, movement, and temporariness). What I often find myself wishing for is that more cafe’s played music such as you listed above…it seems like it would fit the environment well since many people spend hours there daydreaming, conversing, studying, etc. There is nothing better than a rainy morning, a cup of coffee, and music which encourages you to embrace the mood and environment that is surrounding you.

  4. Tim Boyd
    August 14th, 2008 @ 10:31 am

    Hey Wes, thanks for writing.

    I think you’re right, different contexts call for different treatments. The busy lobby where people are drinking their $17 drinks at the bar is different from the hallways and elevators and etc. I’ve been in a few though in busy cities where once you enter the front door, you’ve escaped all the noise outside. I think there are opportunities there.

    I’d be really interested to see this stuff applied to libraries.

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