Getting the wow factor

With a record number of new hotels on the horizon, luxury pools are in demand like never before. James Boley finds out how to meet the expectations of the world’s most demanding client – the five-star guest.

In recent years, hotels in the Middle East have become the last word in luxury. Figures from Dubai's Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing suggest that 2.2 million guests stayed in five-star hotels in Dubai alone in 2007 - over 37% of all tourists visiting the Emirate. Yet with luxury hotels come luxury demands, and five-star travellers, be they there for business or pleasure, have some of the most discerning tastes on the market.

Visitors to luxury hotels expect more from a stay than your average tourist: they want to be wowed, to be seduced, to have an experience out of the ordinary.

In the Middle East, this experience tends to focus on the outdoor area where, thanks to the favourable climate for much of the year, the visitor will spend a large part of their time.

And there is no area that will have a bigger impact on their impression than the hotel swimming pool. "A guest's memory of their stay at a resort should be comprised mainly of the pool," notes Richard Hallick, associate principal at landscape and urban design firm EDSA, which did the design for the pool at the One & Only Royal Mirage hotel in Dubai.

The challenge is for the designer of the pool - what can he or she do to ensure that what is essentially just a hole in the ground filled with water becomes a feature that creates both a strong first impression and that draws guests back to the hotel time and time again?

Key considerations

A pool design that is complementary to the design of the hotel is one of the first elements hotel managers look for in a luxury pool.

The design of the hotel impacts the design of the pool in three main ways: the size of the pool, its layout, and its overall aesthetic appearance.

The best pools are those that blend in with the hotel's design aesthetic, says Christopher Delgado, chief architect, pool contractor Belhasa Projects. "[Pools] are now an architectural feature," he says.

"The architects who design buildings are now designing  pools that enhance the architectural character of the building." The pool at The Palace, The Old Town, for example, uses a mosaic tile theme in the wall of the pool which reflects that of the hotel building.

Designers agree that mirroring the design of the pool to the design of the building can be effective, but also suggest that taking the opposite approach and exploring contrast can work as well.

"If the building has a lot of free lines and curves, you can use free lines and curves for the pool, but it's not formal whether it's better or not. Maybe for contrast you can mix curves with sharp lines," suggests Bahman Vaziri, owner of St Tropez Design, which offers a pool design service.

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