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28th January 2021
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Radisson Blu Hamburg: business as usual during bath renovations
4-star superior hotel replaces 252 tiled showers with Kaldewei quality. In autumn 2009 the Radisson Blu Hotel in Hamburg reopened in style after a period of extensive renovations lasting for more than a year and costing millions. Only a short while later General Manager Oliver Staas and his team discovered defects in the bathrooms.
The new, fully tiled shower areas in some of the rooms had begun to show black spots, whereas in others water was trickling into the floor underneath due to porous tile grout - the jointing was leaky - a rather vexing situation for the 4-star superior hotel, which prides itself on its high standards of design and quality!
Generally booked to capacity, the affected rooms in the hotel were consequently closed and a second phase of bathroom renovations was instigated. With business continuing as usual, the tiled shower areas are now steadily being replaced with enamelled shower surfaces to guarantee a reliable solution with lasting peace of mind.
A 4-star superior hotel, the Radisson Blu Hamburg is visible even from afar - at over 100 metres high, the listed building towers over Hamburg's Exhibition Centre and the city's Botanical Gardens. The 556 hotel rooms and suites offer accommodation to tourists and business travellers who especially appreciate the hotel's proximity to the railway station and the Exhibition Centre, but also to the city centre and the river Alster.
After radical renovations the superior hotel now offers a stunning view of Hamburg along with an equally attractive interior design. Swedish interior designer Christian Lundwall arranged the rooms in three styles - 'Natural' with light wood and soft cream colours, 'Urban' in a metropolitan style, and 'New York Mansion' in a comfortable lounge ambiance. Lobby, restaurants and wellness centre have been designed in an equally modern style.
The bathrooms in the hotel were designed as fully tiled units - including the shower area. It soon became evident, however, that some of these tiled shower areas failed to cope with the daily demands of hotel business and started to look unhygienic despite increased cleaning efforts - an untenable situation for a hotel of this quality.
Oliver Staas, General Manager, explains:
"The bathroom plays a vital role for the guest to decide whether they like their room. Lack of hygiene and cleanliness leave a very bad impression."
Only a few months after completion of the renovation phase in 2009 it was clear that a replacement of the shower areas was inevitable if the hotel was to live up to its standards. But further renovations proved difficult, as the various trades involved in the tiled shower areas were keen to blame each other. To install a solution that remained hygienic and reliable in the long term, the hotel management eventually decided to replace all tiled shower areas in the hotel with a new system. The new showers had to be of high quality, durable and easy to clean, and they needed to fit in with the hotel's modern design. In the end, the ideal partner for these renovations was found in Kaldewei.
Kaldewei steel enamel 3.5mm is considered worldwide a hallmark of quality in the bathroom not only for private housing and hospitals, but also in comfort, luxury and first-class hotels. Cleaning and heavy use do not leave even the slightest scratch in the hard, pore-free surface of Kaldewei enamel. The surface without tile grout ensures lasting good looks and also improves hygiene properties. Using the right Kaldewei installation system, products in the enamelled shower surface range, such as the Conoflat, are easy to install and, if necessary, even to replace. Kaldewei therefore offers the customer a comprehensive one-stop solution - complete with a reassuring material guarantee of 30 years.
"The flexible installation frame system from Kaldewei made it easy for us to fit the enamelled shower surfaces in our bathrooms," says Oliver Staas.
"It is a major advantage for a hotel such as ours that the whole system, consisting of shower surface, outlet and installation frame, is provided by one and the same supplier, as it means just one competent point of contact for us in case of queries and problems."
The product liability of the premium manufacturer, however, is not the only advantage of the new enamelled shower surfaces in the bathrooms of the Radisson Blu Hamburg. The hotel's housekeeping is equally delighted with the new solution -Kaldewei's shower surfaces in steel enamel clean much faster than their predecessors. As no tile grout is involved, the surface soon sparkles even without chemical agents for longer lasting clean and neat showers.
"I would never again resort to using tiles in the shower area and would also advise any hotel owner against it," Oliver Staas declares in hindsight.
"When you have had such a bad experience with this material, you won't make the same mistake twice. For us, Kaldewei is the right partner for the bathroom"
Top picture shows: The surface of Kaldewei steel enamel 3.5mm without tile grout ensures lasting good looks and also improved hygiene properties. Using the right Kaldewei installation system, the enamelled shower surface products, such as the Conoflat model, are easy to install and, if necessary, even to replace.
22nd February 2013