Themed atmospheres, tourist images, five star services, signature food and the equipment to attract new customers. What the habit prefers and the one who seeks new experiences.
Miguel Jury
02/26/2020 - 7:01
- Clarín.com
- ARQ
You leave the car in the garage and start up a curved staircase. The first thing you see is a pool of crystalline water and then you hear the noise of running water. Five steps above appears, monumental , the wooden hull of the ship painted blue. Before approaching it, you notice that a paradisiacal landscape surrounds you, the sea extends to the horizon and the sky becomes infinite. In the distance, seagulls, a port, a lighthouse and a beach. You are not on the high seas , you did not go sailing, you are in a hotel themed accommodation of Quilmes, you entered the VIP kingdom of erotic fantasies. The rest, run on your own.
Castles architecture and movie atmosphere, Owen's environment. The current telos are divided between thematic and minimalist. Photo: Fernando de la Orden
Our grandparents would never have imagined that those discreet and humble hotels, which they called "furnished" and where everything "sinful, secret and forbidden " happened, would become a sort of Disneyland of sex .
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And every time they will be more that way, because style, services and theme are the only thing that can save them from oblivion. Those famous "accommodation hotels" or " transitional shelters " that made time and that today everyone knows as "telos", not everyone uses them anymore. In fact, if we get carried away by the data handled by the cameras in the sector, less and less are used. "The crisis of hotel accommodation is not different from the general economic crisis, it is a consumption that is on the decline in Argentina," said José Capelo, President of the Association of Hotel Accommodation per hour.
Here, detail of the jacuzzi and the landscape of Puerto Owen in Quilmes. Photo: Fernando de la Orden.
The entrepreneur admits that the change in the likes and behavior of society also influence the decline of the public: “Before it was unthinkable for a boy to share the bed with the girlfriend at the parents' house, today it is normal. Those boys over 18 do not need a hotel anymore, but if they had the money and were offered quality, entertainment and independence, they would come. ”
Carlos Lalín, businessman of the sector, points out that, although young people stopped needing the hotel to go out with their girlfriends , more and more older people use them because sexual life has been prolonged, and so are marriages. "The hotel stopped being the place of the 'trap', now many couples take it as an exit, a way to escape the routine, a program to recover the intimacy that they don't have in their homes," he explains. In addition, since 2018, the Code of Qualifications of the City of Buenos Aires allows the entry of more than two people, without distinction of sex, with which, the telo ceased to be an exclusive place to be a super inclusive one.
Three-story boat at the Hotel Owen de Quilmes, direct connection from the garage, one floor with table, another with the bed and, above the helm and the captain's cabin with jacuzzi. Photo: Fernando de la Orden
There are many data that show that telo is becoming the ideal place to celebrate a special date, an anniversary, or spend a weekend day. In fact, in addition to the inevitable sauna , hydromassage , Scottish shower and porn channels, many hostels advertise “live football”. Few things should be less erotic than football , but customers look for it because the telo begins to be a place to spend the day and make everything a sports center of love .
Capelo ensures that there are two types of hotel accommodation clients, and for each there is a different proposal: the usual one and the one that seeks a novel experience. "The client that comes every week, gets tired of the flashy or thematic, looks for a minimalist , sober and category atmosphere with a quality service," explains the businessman and details that for the other type of customer are the thematic rooms , those that go from the oriental style , to the Roman or the commented maritime environment of the towers of the Owen de Quilmes, one of the most sought after rooms according to Lalín.
Environments with oriental style, lacquered, dragons and mirrors with gold and black. An octagonal bed in Owen. Photo: Fernando de la Orden
The architect Luis Cativa Tolosa, a hotel specialist, has projected dozens of temporary shelters and has a vision on how this item has evolved. "Today, the architecture of the hotels is in the same sense of the dominant taste, customers want design as in a 5-star hotel , environments in which the detail is noticed," he explains.
Stone, wood and textured plaster, both outdoors and indoors are the trends. Marble in the bathrooms and porcelain on the floors instead of carpets is what is used . “Current hotels range from the thematic to the aspirational. There are many accommodations that seek to associate their image with the most precious destinations of the middle class, this is how palm trees appear when the reference is Miami, ”he explains.
Fantasy and luxury at Hotel Magnus de Panamericana and Boulogne Sur Mer. Photo Lucia Merle.
For Lalín, the hotel business changed in the mid-70s when the direct connection of the car to the room began to be used, that is, the individual garages with private access. "Until that time, the hotels were a simple construction in a normal terrain, the fashion of the motel-type hostels that began to take place in the Pan-American pushed the hotels of Buenos Aires to incorporate the car and that demanded much larger land" he points out. Today, some capital establishments even have a double garage, to ensure the independence and privacy of customers.
Also in the time of the films of Porcel and Olmedo the famous, impractical and forgotten " water beds " arrived. Not so round and vibratory . There appeared the TV with porn programming that hoteliers handled with great caution, hiding the " VHS cassette " of police inspections.
Statues, glows and dim lights. Hotel Magnus in Panamericana and Boulogne Sur Mer. Photo Lucia Merle.
Now, with the smartphone, no cameras or cameras are needed for customer use, you just have to have a good bluetooth device to connect the phones to the screens. Of course, as activities in telos are not exclusively sexual, but rather recreational, establishments offer Netflix.
The architect Tolosa argues that the great stylistic change after the 90's was to try to make the telos not look like telos. "If they went unnoticed in the 60s, the hotels sought to be memorable in the 90s but, over time, the challenge was to change that image to convey a higher category and exclusivity ."
The "modern" style is the most chosen by the regular customer, simple geomatic shapes, sober colors and highlights. Voitú Hotel.
From that time is Owen, a complex of themed rooms that looks like a French castle in a more country than telo environment. There, the rooms range from 5 to 3 stars and have special suites in three-story towers with elevators. Obvious, all with individual garages .
Hotel Torres de Lago also has that style, in front of the University of Lomas de Zamora, in Monte Grande . This telo is promoted as the largest in South America and among other services, it offers “signature cuisine as the best international hotels”. With duplex and triplex rooms, the most luxurious have a pool table.
Hotel Alcazar in Lomas de Zamora, a classic scheme that still works.
Tolosa says that the trick of the hotels is to offer an architecture with everything you don't “have in your home”, so not only the spa services and electronic equipment make a difference, but also the style . "Mirrors, lighting and treatment in the ceiling is key", explains and adds now the white dimerized light is used, that is to say that the intensity can be regulated, in addition to the touch screen panels allow you to choose different " scenes " with greater intensity in some points of the room and less in others.
In his projects, the architect avoids the specific lights on the pillow so as not to dazzle and places them on the light tables and other places of support, so as not to forget anything in the middle of the general gloom.
Jacuzzi on the boat deck of the Puerto Owen Hotel. Photo: Fernando de la Orden.
On the other hand, Tolosa says that the use of mirrors should be nurtured but points out that there is a place where they should not be missing: next to the coat rack or the exit door, to "check how we are", before leaving the room.
"The ceilings are the ones that give the wave to the hotel, it is what gives it movement and a touch of distinction that, generally, you do not have in your house", points out and ensures that the telos demand a constant renovation of their rooms to be Trendy "The idea is to constantly offer an updated image, to be within what is used."
Highlighting the dimensions of the space in height is the trick of the architects.
New free lunch, breakfast and beverage services, promotional prices and extended hours are the marketing strategies that establishments try to retain or increase customers.
In recent years, traditional Telos of Buenos Aires have been closed, a little because of the crisis in the sector and another because well-located land has become a desirable prey for real estate . "Real estate development is unstoppable, there is no profitability that resists," says Capelo. Meanwhile, to cope with the crisis , Capelo and Lalín agree: "If I had to make a hotel now, I would try to have the same number of thematic and minimalist rooms, you have to attend to all types of customers."