While you were sleeping, the “Do Not Disturb” sign turned into a clever, artful symbol of slumber.
A decade ago, most hotels viewed the dutiful door hanger like the shower cap – an unsophisticated tool. Now, they’re using the signs to brand themselves, express their personalities and appeal to image-conscious guests.
“Fuhgettaboudit,” exclaims the slender black sign at Le Parker Meridien, a New York hotel with a New York attitude. “Composing a classic: Quiet please,” intones the brightly colored hanger at Hotel Allegro, a music-themed hotel in Chicago’s theater district. The tomato-red sign at Chicago’s Hotel 71 takes brevity to an extreme: “No.”
“Within the last five to 10 years, hotels have started stepping out to create something different that’s going to attract people and keep them coming back,” says Leon Banowetz of Banowetz & Co. in Dallas. The advertising and graphic design firm created the chic, minimalist black “ZZZZZZZ (Catching some Zs)” sign that dangles from doors at Dallas’ stylish Hotel Za Za.
In some hotels, three-dimensional objects petition for privacy in lieu of signs. Guests at Kinnaird Estate in Perthshire, Scotland, for example, place a teddy bear outside their door; the pecan-colored bear wears a blue knit sweater with a “Do Not Disturb” button.
At the Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif., a pine cone does the bidding. A black velvet sack embroidered with a sun and moon hangs from silver door hooks at the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and at the Watermark Hotel & Spa in San Antonio, a black leather “Shhhh” pillow prevents unwanted intrusions.
Mind you, none of these is a roadside motel. They’re all luxury and boutique hotels – the types of places whose guests take great delight in unexpected wit, style and irony. So although the signs help distinguish hotels from bland, humorless chains, they also appease the guests’ demands for a 24-7 sensual experience.
“People are very savvy to design and what’s going on around them, and to that end, they really do notice (the little) things,” says Steven Pipes, general manager at Le Parker Meridien.
Guests are taking notice – and they’re taking the signs.
W Hotels’ surreal “Dreaming” door hangers are so favored by sticky-fingered guests that the upscale-trendy chain orders more than twice the number of required signs, says Keith Schwartz, senior design manager. Schwartz and his team redesigned the signs last year to complement the W’s new “Wonderland” branding campaign; he’s flattered when guests snatch them.
Most hotels have the same attitude; in fact, they’ve come to expect – and encourage – it. The fine print on the modish black-and-white “Leave Me Alone (Please)” sign from the Zetter, a hip London hotel, reads: “This card has been stolen from The Zetter, www.thezetter.com.” For hotels, the signs are inexpensive marketing and advertising tools.
The Hotel Allegro’s door hangers also are among the frequently fleeced; in addition to the “composer” sign, the hotel has signs specific to four-legged pets. The cat sign, for example, reads “Cat Nap” and, on the reverse side, “The Cat’s Out of the Bag,” starring a glamorous feline ready for a night on the town.
Uptown as it has become, the “Do Not Disturb” sign never will elude its rudimentary roots. But when the dust settles, it’s really just a way to communicate with the housekeeper.
