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• Focus 11: Access Great Design
• Sleep Event, London: 24-25 November 2010
• REBEC: 21-22 June 2010
• Hospitality Architecture + Design Conference: Macau, June 2010
• Visit to Belgrade: 2-3 June 2010

Real Estate Balkan Exhibition & Conference, Belgrade

21—22 June 2010

In recognition of the significant achievement of Porto Montenegro as part of the first phase neared completion, ReardonSmith was invited to participate in the Real Estate Balkan Exhibition & Conference (REBEC) in Belgrade, the Balkan's leading event of its kind. On the first day, developers, funders, owners, consultants and members of the press gathered to hear Ross Blunt, Associate Director of ReardonSmith, make a memorably visual presentation that posed the question: "What is the dream hotel stay?" On the second day, Ross joined a panel of industry experts to discuss hotel and tourism in the Serbian region.

Understanding the Dream Hotel Stay — A clip from what Ross had to say:

"What is a hotel and why does understanding how we use hotels help ReardonSmith Architects design them? What makes a hotel pleasant and enjoyable; and what makes travelling and staying in hotels a less appealing experience?

Obviously, there are many different types of hotels — from urban hotels to resort hotels and many in between — and we all use hotels at different times and for different lengths of time. Our requirements change and so do the hotels we stay in.

What do we use hotels for? By definition, a hotel is 'an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short term basis'. Our needs when we choose what kind of hotel to stay in can considerably alter our perspective of what we enjoy from our stay in a place away from home…But when we think of our dream hotel stays, how do we judge them? What one person may love, another person may hate. All the architects and designers at ReardonSmith love to travel and are passionate about the quality of the guest experience… We hope to know what is good and bad, because we have all experienced the good, the bad and the downright ugly. We have all experienced the highs and lows of business and economy travel. We often take pleasure in complaining about exhausting travel to unknown places on business trips, but we all, without exception, see it as the ultimate privilege to be in a profession where we can often find ourselves in far-away places and emerging tourism markets, often well before any other tourists have found them.

The point to my presentation is that having a great and memorable hotel stay doesn't necessarily have to be high-end luxury. It can be budget and it can still be fun, clean and welcoming. Our team at ReardonSmith understands this, enabling us to design the best out of a space, from the most glamorous Four Seasons hotels to the most efficient and comfortable Travelodges."