Hotel Hyping 101

Jeff Klein, owner of West Hollywood's Sunset Tower, divulges how not to open a hotel lounge: "Once you have decided on a suitably pretentious (preferably Orientalist) name, you hire the designer du jour (whoever it happens to be this microsecond). Then you engage an aggressive young publicist who preferably chews gum, even when pitching your product to highbrow publications, and who is “best friends” with the Olsen twins. Next, you hire promoters for the bar scene who, along with the publicist, will corral the most enviable collection of B-listers on earth. Et voilà: you have a very trendy space with black lacquered tables, red walls, fire pits, the odd Buddha, and mid-century furniture mixed with 70’s kitsch." [The Moment]