With the Auberge Resorts Collection rapidly expanding its reach, Hospitality Interiors sat down with Kemper Hyers to find out how his career led him to the point of holding all the creative strings for one of the most exciting boutique hotel brands in the world.
Overseeing the creative direction and all aspects of design for Auberge Resorts Collection, Kemper Hyers’s goal is to further strengthen the brand’s portfolio of exquisite luxury hotels.
In a previous life, Kemper worked in the theatres of New York but after a few years decided to go back to school to study architecture.
“My career has been more a journey than a career,” he tells me. “I always believed that being happy in your work life can only be achieved if you follow your heart and say yes to everything. That’s been my mantra.”
After graduating, Kemper founded his own interior design business. He realised a few years in that he needed to diversify, so started taking on a number of different projects. “I said yes to everything that came along: styling catalogues, designing TV sets, and working with amazing people in retail and catalogue creation, from Martha Stewart to Crate’s Gordon Segal, who let me redesign catalogues with scotch tape, scissors and a copy machine! This was all truly amazing training in being extremely adaptive and thinking on my feet.”
By chance, Kemper met Barry Sternlicht from Starwood Capital Group, and was introduced to the hotel business. “His lens and his insatiable need to disrupt (long before anyone used that word pridefully) the industry helped crystalize who I am,” says Kemper. “This was my entry into the world of hospitality and hotel design, and now our incredible CEO Craig Reid and the family I have at Auberge have made that lens much richer – creating truly one-of-a-kind hotels with Auberge is like no other brand in the world – and a brand maker’s dream.”
Having joined Auberge Resorts Collection six years ago, Kemper says one of his favourite things about his work is that no day is ever the same. “My role is as the ‘creative compass’ for the brand and all aspects of design across its portfolio of 27 (and growing) properties. I oversee the design of all the new hotels, and the re-design of any existing properties. In partnership with some of the world’s best designers, I am responsible for everything from the cuff on the uniform to the pattern of the dinner plate, menu designs, signage, the building itself, its architecture and interiors, to all of the final furniture and finishes.”
He tells me the vision at Auberge Resorts Collection is for each of their 26 individual properties to be completely unique, with one-of-a-kind design and experiences. “We don’t have traditional standards like most other hotel groups, and really create each design from the ground up, working closely with local teams – instead of implementing standards from the brand down. We want each Auberge property to reflect and amplify the community around each destination, creating a strong sense of place where guests feel inspired, stimulated, and joyful.
“We know how important staying in a beautifully designed hotel is for the modern-day luxury consumer, as well as the feeling of utmost comfort and relaxation, and so it’s a very careful balance to consider. We strongly aim for an approachable style of luxury, where all guests feel at home. A good example of this is where we stripped 85% of signs out of a hotel sign package to give the hotel a feeling of being at home. It may sound like nothing, but that decision will completely change the tone of being in that space.”
Kemper is passionate about delivering memorable experiences for their guests and explains that in order to do that, you must completely understand what your guest wants: “Guests want what they have always wanted; to feel special and recognised, to expand their horizons, to focus on themselves for a moment, to rest, to recover, to grow, to share, to connect and to be inspired. You must provide all those things, not some. We deliver that. We are at the forefront of experience making as a brand. We design for flavour not for show. We are richly connected to our communities from inception to everyday operation.”
He tells me how closely Auberge Resorts Collection works with the local teams and hotel owners. “The selection of the team that creates our properties is driven by this desire to create a beautiful tension. Like casting a movie, you cast for type, against type or out of left field and we try to do that. There has to be a great amount of trust between us. Sometimes that choice comes out of the owner’s corner and sometimes out of the brand’s corner, but we feel such a sense of partnership and common vision that it is an easy process. People are naturally contradictory and complex, and we want all our hotels to feel that beautiful complexity. The minute a property feels expected, we believe we have failed. We want our guests to be comfortable and coddled, but impulsively smiling from the richness and layers we add.”
With a number of projects in the pipeline, Auberge Resorts Collection has big expansion plans. “Collegio alla Querce is opening next year, which we are all very excited about. We are delighted to be arriving in Italy, especially in Florence where we feel we can tell the Auberge story in its full richness. Collegio alla Querce is so special due to its prestigious history dating back to the 16th century. It’s located just a few miles from the Duomo at the gateway to Tuscany, so it will allow our guests to easily explore all the world-famous galleries, museums and restaurants in Florence, while also giving them great proximity to wineries and restaurants in the Tuscan countryside.”
Also on the horizon is Bowie House in Fort Worth, which is set to open in December this year. “The hotel will be located in the heart of the city’s buzzing Cultural District, which is home to one of the finest collections of museums in America. First of its kind for the area, anchoring a 30-block promenade of acclaimed museums, restaurants and unique retail. Renowned architectural and interiors firm BOKA Powell has achieved a masterful union of time-honoured and contemporary design, combining brick and cast stone harking back to the days of cowboys with gravity-defying glass features, a verdant pool terrace and convivial gathering spaces.”
Also due to open this year is The Dunlin on Kiawah River in South Carolina. The 2,000 acre resort is home to a 100 acre working farm on the Charleston Sea Islands in South Carolina, Kemper tells me, and will evoke the spirit of old-time summer retreats with an abundance of nature-driven experiences.
“Then in 2025, we will be welcoming The Hearst Hotel in San Francisco, which will be reimagined by revered design team Roman + Williams, and we will also be welcoming Shell Bay in southern Florida – working with Kobi Karp Architecture and Interior Design, AvroKO, and landscape architect Nievera Williams.”
Kemper’s upbeat outlook and excitement for the future of the industry is infectious, so I ask him what pearls of wisdom he could impart on aspiring young designers hoping to make a career in the hospitality sector, and he says: “Learn everything about everything. The wonderful and maddening thing about designing hotels is you are designing a guest’s full experience. When I was in retail we had the guests attention for 10 minutes but in hotels you have their attention for 24 hours over days. You need to layer the design to keep it interesting over time. You need to design every single piece of the stay to capture the feeling you are after. The wrong ice bucket, the wrong tone of voice on a menu and it’s over. You break the dream state of being on vacation.”
