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Adieu tristesse. Hello everybody!

Time to call a halt to those dreary hotel lobbies with their standardized interchangeable design – soulless, devoid of fun.  More and more hotels now welcome their guests with a mixture between the casual chic of a living room and the cosy atmosphere of a coffee house.  Both house guests and external visitors appreciate the warm welcome.

The waiting areas that were once so sterile and uninspiring for overnight guests as they checked in or out are increasingly being transformed into lively oases where anybody and everybody can spend time and meet others in a cool environment. Transit zone has morphed into meeting place: travellers encounter locals, business people encounter caffè macchiato nuts, engrossing coworking encounters relaxed savoir-vivre. In other words, this is life. And lounge music.

The best example of this new casual openness is the 25hours hotel group, which is now continually setting new standards in its nine design hotels in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Vienna and Zürich. Guests are offered not just bed and breakfast but a whole world of great entertainment. There’s always something different. Always exceptional. Always unique. For the Berlin designer Werner Aisslinger this is the concept of the future.

Werner Aisslinger

„Hotels are once again becoming what they were a hundred years ago: a meeting place used by residents and locals, an exciting place for a party, somewhere to enjoy the café culture or any other social gathering“

The most beautiful kind of lobbying

The latest hotel in the group, in line with today’s trend, again makes a stunning impression. The 25hours hotel langstrasse is the second 25hours hotel in Zürich. It forms the interface between the bustling red-light district with its young and arty nightlife and the commercial quarter of the Europaallee. A melting pot par excellence. The interior is just as unconventional and colourful as the exterior.  

The sofas look both inviting and elegant – the foundation on which the fully relaxed feel-good atmosphere is based.  Together with Rolf Benz, the designer Werner Aisslinger has created “Bench”, a range of furniture specially for transitional spaces like the lobby, café and bar. This is somewhere you can sit and work, but it’s also a wonderful place to relax completely.

Aisslinger took his inspiration from the leather gym mats of the 1970s. Just like the attractively worn gym mats from all those years ago, the seat and back sections of the bench are covered with robust brown leather. They stand on a light metal frame, and are equally at home in the lobby and in the dining area – in two sizes.

“Hotels are once again becoming what they were a hundred years ago: a meeting place used by both residents and locals, an exciting place for a party, somewhere to enjoy the café culture or any other social gathering,” says Werner Aisslinger. He’s right. No doubt about that.