How to get the look of a luxury hotel at home

You know that feeling you get when you walk into a hotel room and you just want to fall on that big white bedspread with the fluffy pillows?

Here are some tips from three hotel brands — Renaissance, Baccarat and Loews — on how to create that same serene and inviting atmosphere at home.

SURPRISE AND DELIGHT

Marriott opens the Renaissance NY Midtown hotel this spring in Manhattan. Its design concept involves creating moments of “surprise and delight” in public spaces, as well as in guest rooms. For example, open a closet door and inside you’ll find bold graphics livening up a space that’s usually unadorned.

Toni Stoeckl, vice president of Marriott’s Lifestyle Brands, offers these tips for a similar approach in home design:

• Target all the senses, including “what you see, the music, the fragrance,” Stoeckl says.

• Pepper the environment with “moments to love,” he says. But remember: “Less is more: If you have too much art, you can’t pay attention to any one piece.”

• Keep design elements “real and authentic. No fake flowers, no fake candles.”

• Change artwork periodically. “Have a few pieces of art that you rotate,” Stoeckl says. Consider using the seasons as a scheduling guide for when to change displays.

PAINTING WITH LIGHT

The Baccarat Hotel & Residences New York is awash in fine lighting. Yet lighting is sometimes overlooked in home design.

Lighting your home isn’t just about finding the perfect lamp, says Kemper Hyers, head of design for Starwood Capital Group, which created the hotel. It’s also about “painting with light. How do I bring this room to light?”

Some tips:

• Experiment with tape embedded with LED lights. It’s inexpensive, easy to apply and remove, and widely available. The tape can illuminate a shelf or dark corner, light a wall behind a piece of furniture or spotlight a work of art.

• When you buy LED bulbs, “don’t go any cooler than 2700 warm white,” says Hyers. The higher the number, the whiter and cooler the light.

• Bulb design improves every few months, so look for the latest options and “play with a mix of bulbs,” he says.

CLEAN AND COZY

Loews Hotels launched a “Loews Knows” campaign in December offering short videos at loewshotels.com/
loews-knows with “hints and hacks” from housekeeping managers and other staff. Topics range from cleaning to entertaining to creating ambience.

Some tips:

• For “insanely fluffy bed pillows,” toss pillows in a dryer with a tennis ball.

• To dust “like a pro,” use a microfiber cloth and spritz cleaning solution on the cloth (not on the surface you’re dusting).

• To create a cozy ambience for a relaxing bath, light a candle, add essential oils and Epsom salts to the water, and provide accessories like sponges, stones, body wash and handmade soap. Place a drink and book tubside, with a fluffy robe and slippers.

• To make a guest room welcoming, fold down covers, stand pillows up, put a bottle of water next to the bed, close the shades and leave one light on by the bed.