I'll admit, when I came across this first image, I thought the designer was being ironic. A Quality Inn? There's no way this could be a Quality Inn. Yet, I was intrigued, and determined to get to the bottom of the sign in question — ironic or not?
Turns out...not! This is actually the re-design of a Quality Inn in Southern California by designer Julie Khuu, a Season 5 HGTV Design Star alum. It seems that the budget-minded chain is in the process of rebranding their properties as "boutique" accommodations, and they asked Julie to put her stamp on this downtown Pasadena location.
Her concept was global glam, and with the gilded curves, bold color palette and luxe details of this design, I'd say she accomplished it. In the process, she's also pushed the budget chain in a dramatic new direction...
What do you think? Do you like the new design? Does it make you want to stay at a Quality Inn in the future?
Read More About the Project:
• Pasadena Hotel Project- The Reveal
• Pasadena Hotel Project- Before and After
Via: Desire to Inspire
(Images: 1-3. Julie Khuu, 4-5. Desire to Inspire)
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Quality Inn? Seriously- next Motel 6 will be rebranded as a luxury pool party destination.
and yes, if the price wasn't crazy different, I'd LOVE to stay at a designed hotel instead of the old run-of-the-mill Quality Inn.
i think its a step up from the boring predictable hotel decor for sure - what do the rooms look like? or is it a lobby facelift only? How has it affected the price of the rooms?
I like the idea but I don't like the actual design. Not well executed.
it looks trashy. i think i stayed at this place in Vegas.
I feel like DUANE HILL..only I think it looks like something from an old time movie Mob's home.
Yikes. This looks like a "luxury" hotel in a minor city in a third-world country. That wan little sheepskin rug under the multilevel, fake-brass coffee table (propped with lit candles!) kind of sums it up. Major miss.
Nice. It really is hard to find a reasonably price garishly tacky place to bed down for the evening...
Reminds me of an early 70's or even late 60's tourist hotel in the UK....
Not feeling it.
Wasn't she the first one eliminated that season?
They should have re-designed the logo as well!
It looks like what design challenged people might think of as "Hip" and "Trendy". There are good things here, just too much of everything.
She should have went for a casual high end look. This is...nah.
They got the furniture from Saddam Hussein's old place.....SUCH a bargain.
If I walked in here I would immediately return to my car and use my cell phone to cancel the reservation.
Some great ideas here but I agree with the other comments...a little over the top. It seems to me that the best design in large public spaces is to go big with everything. In hotels where they have little things (ie. the candles, etc) sitting around, you have to assume that this hotel is so ritzy that they can afford to have their little stuff stolen...it just doesn't read 'homey'.... but I think the worst thing here is the Quality Inn logo on the mirror! However, I like the world traveled look, and the bright colors and even some of the glitz.
It looks cheap.
Bahah! You all made me laugh--thanks for that. Great comments on this post!
Really tacky.
Tacky tacky tacky. That's all that came to mind. That's not good design that will last (which is what a hotel chain needs!). That's throwing a bunch of trendy themes into one small space and hoping it all works... which is doesn't.
Quality Inn wants to hang out with the cool kids, but it's trying too hard. That lobby isn't an appealingly-designed space, it's a cheap hodgepodge of years-old trendhound gloms the likes of which one might find in the exurban McMansion of a "quirky" HGTV-addicted, DIY-crazed SAHM who just took up blogging. Look for the 2015 redo to feature chevron prints, antlers, and terrariums.