Bold by design

With chic new competitors on the scene, the city's hotels are renovating and leaving tradition behind

MILLENNIUM BOSTONIAN HOTEL: Jinnie Kim, the designer who oversaw the renovation of the hotel lobby, says the vivid color scheme would have been dismissed here five years ago. (photos by Bill greene/globe staff (above and below))

Jinnie Kim looks over the graphic gray and black sofas and the Chinese red bookcases in the lobby of the Millennium Bostonian Hotel and grins approvingly.

Kim, a Boston-based interior designer who's overseeing the hotel's $25 million renovation, has turned the lobby into a modern lounge with subtle gold and white accessories placed on the shelves. The space feels chic - more like a posh living room than a hotel foyer. She admits there was a time in the not-so-distant past when such a bold design scheme would have been unwelcome here.

"It took guts to do the vivid colors," Kim said. "But people in Boston are more sophisticated now when it comes to design. I wouldn't have been able to sell this lobby concept five years ago, but hotels here have to compete at a higher level now."

That competition heated up last week with the opening of the Mandarin Oriental, the luxurious 148-room hotel on Boylston Street that vies for the same upscale travelers as the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton. The Mandarin - with its artwork by David Hockney, custom rugs, and a wall of intricately carved Italian stone in its restaurant, has had other hoteliers closely examining its luxe interiors, and, in some cases, spending millions to avoid looking tired or dated in comparison.

A glance at the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau list of hotel renovations confirms that hotels are taking the increased competition quite seriously.

The Colonnade just completed an $18 million update by Alexandra Champalimaud & Associates, during which its lobby and exterior were stripped of '80s-era brass details, and a marble reception desk, dramatic lighting, and espresso-stained woodwork installed. The Copley Square Hotel is undergoing a $14 million face lift. The Ritz-Carlton, which just opened in 2001, has had $11 million in renovations this year, expanding its lobby bar and updating all of its public spaces and guest rooms. The Omni Parker House recently finished a $30 million restoration and added a new fitness center. Its bar and restaurant, Parker's Bar and the Last Hurrah, were updated with new carpet, furniture, and cherry walls.

"There is an excitement that Boston is finally catching up with more sophisticated cities," said Kim. "For those of us who are more interested in design than the Red Sox, it gives you a reason to be proud of Boston."

This onslaught of pricey makeovers may seem excessive given recent Wall Street tribulations, but David Colella, vice president and managing director of the Colonnade, said that hotels that don't reinvest in their properties face the prospect of losing business to new hotels. "If they don't maintain a competitive edge, they will lose market share," adds Joseph McInerney, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association. "This is one reason why recent economic downturns haven't deterred Boston's multi-million-dollar hotel renovations."

For decades, Boston's luxury hotels stuck with traditional decor. Heavy textiles and dark wood furnishings harkened back to the city's roots and stayed in lockstep with the classic architectural details found in many buildings. But styles - and interior design standards - have changed dramatically in recent years. Savvy travelers and locals are demanding more: contemporary interiors that dazzle, while still nodding to the city's history. It's a look that's showing up everywhere from the Colonnade to the Liberty to the InterContinental.

Of course, the Mandarin is just the first of a crop of swank new hotels opening in Boston in the next year. The stylish W Hotel opens next summer in the Theatre District. The $300 million Fairmont Battery Wharf opens in December, and the historic Ames Building will open as a 120-room boutique hotel next fall. These new players have existing hotels sniffing around the competition.

"Most of the other hotel operators in Boston have called me," said Frank Nicholson, the Boston-based interior designer responsible for the Mandarin Oriental's contemporary, Asian-influenced look. "First they were trying to get in to see the space before it opened. Now they're getting in as quickly as they can to see what it looks like. Undoubtedly, it's beyond their worst fears. It's spectacular in its design."

The benefit of all these renovations and openings extends beyond the monied travelers who will slumber on the Mandarin's 1,200-thread-count Frette sheets. For locals, there will be new restaurants and chic lobby bars intent on luring club-hopping patrons.

Minibar, the new lobby bar and lounge that debuts in the Copley Square Hotel at the end of the month, is an example of this push toward the new chic. Designer/architect Stephen Sousa references lounges at the W Hotels and Miami's Delano as inspiration for his modern decor, which includes abstract light fixtures, fiberglass "reeds" that help to define intimate seating areas, and glowing walls that will be created by backlit drapes.

"The bar keeps getting raised," said Sousa, who also designed Match and Saint in the Back Bay. "Patrons are expecting more of every place that opens."

Places slated to open this fall - from a restaurant and lounge with city views at the Fairmont Battery Wharf to the new restaurant called North 26 opening this fall at the Millennium Bostonian - are focused on meeting those expectations.

"Chic used to be a dirty word in Boston," said Celeste Cooper, a New York interior designer who just completed work on the Inn @ St. Botolph in the Back Bay, a 16-suite inn that opens on Nov. 1. "Chic implied trendy. Chic implied ostentatious. But it's become less taboo in Boston to be chic."

Nicholson said his design for the Mandarin would not have been possible in Boston five years ago, but the influence of style-savvy boutique hotels around the globe has created a new demand for adventurous interiors in Boston.

"The hotel industry in general has turned more competitive," said Nicholson, who also designs for the Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons hotels, nationally and internationally. "It's led hotels to do more things with design to help differentiate their product from their competitors. You get a whole new level of hotel now that are known primarily for design."

Nicholson designed the restaurant and bar in the Mandarin to accommodate business travelers and tourists, but he also incorporated unusual materials to entice local patrons who regularly mingle at cocktail bars. Ancient trees from California have been sliced and hung as abstract art in the bar, dining room tables are topped with mother of pearl from Thailand, and the paneling is wenge, an exotic wood with an earthy tone.

"Everything was meant to have a hand-crafted texture, but in a very modern way," he said.

One potential downside of hotels constantly trying to out-design one another, said Cooper, is that they start looking "edgy for the sake of looking edgy." In Boston, that means they've mercifully lost the chintz of yore, but look a bit more like they could be hotels in any major city.

Still, it's clear that Boston has entered a new phase of bold interior design.

"There was a time when designing in Boston meant adhering to a traditional scheme," said Kim, who regularly works on foreign properties. "Now people here want what they're seeing in New York and London boutique hotels, and it's finally coming to Boston."

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.