Business travelers discover NH Hotels' nhube offers a "silver lining"
Truly A "Cloud Nine" Concept
for Business Travelers
(Originally published in the Summer/Fall 2003 issue of SoloDining.com)
Spring of 2003, the Madrid-based NH
Hotels opened its first "nhube" (Nube — pronounced "new-bay" — is the Spanish
word for Cloud; ) at its Nunez de Balboa unit in Madrid, introducing a revolutionary concept
in hotelry.
The concept is embodied in a room of casual comfort: a flexible communal environment, a
blending of informal areas. (Spatial and lighting configurations change, keeping pace with the different times
of day.)
Imagine the luxury of feeling free to pick your pastime — to dine, have a drink, read,
listen to music, socialize, surf the Internet — or indulge in several simultaneously.
Nhube is the brainchild of the renown Spanish chef Ferran
Adriá, advisor to NH Hotels. The food served in nhube
is also his creation. Grounded in simple, high quality ingredients, his menu offers substantial choices of home-like
fare, ranging from vegetable soup, chicken soup with noodles, macaroni in tomato sauce, free-range chicken wings
sauteed in garlic to monkfish in breadcrumbs.
Happily for business travelers, more European hotels are slated for nhube treatment. In June 2003, NH Hotels, the third largest business hotel group in Europe, announced plans to launch "nhube" in 26 of its hotels in Europe within two years.
NH Hotels will be launching "nhube"
in the Netherlands (NH Amsterdam City Center), Switzerland (NH Zurich Messe) and Austria (NH Wien Airport Convention
Center). The "nhube" concept will also be
launched in 10 hotels in Spain and in a number of new hotels in Europe under construction.
NH Hotels received the following heartfelt testimonial:
"Like a regular client of this charming hotel, I praise the alterations made in, to
convert a normal cafeteria in a warm space as a place for meetings, reading and peace, matching with the splendid
gastronomy you can enjoy in this special space". Felix de la Calle
With such accolades, it's no surprise that in its first three months of operations,
the "nhube" pilot project
in Madrid increased the hotel's restaurant sales 20.8% over 2002.
More "nhube"
pilot project specifics:
Over all it currently, draws a patron mix of 70% women; 30% men.
At lunch, the patron mix is 60% men; 40% women — 90% are walk-ins and from nearby businesses;
10% hotel guests.
At dinner, 50% are walk-ins and from nearby businesses; 50% hotel guests.
Note: Non-guest walk-ins = word-of-mouth
Hopefully, hoteliers worldwide will take notice of NH Hotels' success and surprise business
travelers with their own nhube variations.
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