As you all know, a few months back I went to Paris to visit my parents who were there on the tail-end of their summer holidays. They flew back to the states on the day we left Paris, but I headed to Nomad Hotels for two nights to check out their brand new concept. Nomad Hotels, which is part of the the Oceania Hotels brand is a new concept hotel. Not quite a hostel, not quite a budget hotel, Nomad Hotels is a new way of lodging away from home that is both tech-friendly and environmentally responsible. Everything in your room is controlled with a touch pad, you can re-arrange your room to your liking down to the lighting, there is a giant projector for watching movies in each room, and the more you work on cutting down your carbon footprint, the more you can cut down on your bill.
I got to sit down with Nicole, the hotel manager and talk with her about how she got started with Nomad Hotels and learn more about this incredible new concept. But before I dive right into the interview I want to let you guys know that Nomad Hotels has graciously offered to give all LFB readers who choose to stay at their Paris location an additional 10% discount on the best available rate! All details can be found at the end of this post!
LFB: Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with Nomad Hotels?
Nicole: Well I am Austrian so I was originally living in Austria and came to Paris 19 years ago. I was always working in the hotel industry in Paris. I was looking for a new challenge because I did a little bit of general management in hotels as well as sales and marketing. I wanted to do both and it is very difficult to find a job where you can combine both communications and marketing and still being a general manager of a hotel.
The owner of Oceania Hotels [the parent company of Nomad Hotels] called me and asked me if I was up for a new challenge involving an entirely new concept. He explained to me that they wanted to create a new chain, as they already had 26 hotels with the Oceania [line of] hotels. They already had three and four star hotels the creator of Oceania Hotels who is 79 years old today wanted to create a new chain before retiring. He’s not retired yet! So he decided to create a new concept in order to make travellers feel at home – a place where the hotel was adapted to the traveller – not the other way around.
This was really the big idea behind his concept – to create a very adaptable space for the customer. This has been carried through with the design as well – the lobby features high and low tables and even in the room with the single room you can rearrange the bed and change the room around to how you like it. You can change the colors of the shower, you can really do everything your way. The owner of Oceania’s idea behind this all was so the traveller could create their own lifestyle. So this is one of the big challenges of the hotel.
In addition to this, we wanted to be connected, so that you can plug a computer anywhere in the hotel – that you can charge a mobile phone anywhere in the hotel, having a good internet everywhere in the hotel.
LFB: It is crazy that it is still so hard to find hotels with good internet connections these days!
Nicole: Yes! We didn’t just want to advertise that we had free wireless but not have it actually work. We wanted to create a tech-friendly hotel of good quality. The quality of the hotel in general is something very important to us.
Everything is wooden – the furniture is very well made furniture – both in the staterooms as well as the lobby. We also try very hard to respect the environment which is also a very big part of the concept [behind Nomad Hotels].
We actually partially heat the water for the shower with solar panels on the roof. We also use the rain water (after treating it) for the toilets. Everything is recycled, recyclable, or wooden. The towels and the linens are not treated with chemical products either. We really try to focus on environmental responsibility. We even have a bin for recyclable items.
LFB: Yeah I saw that in the room! And all the furniture that is found in the common spaces and lobby, are they from eco-friendly companies? Is that how the furniture was chosen?
Nicole: Well we wanted to have something natural and wooden so some of the furniture was created for the hotel – the furniture that you find in the staterooms have been completely designed for the hotel. In the lobby many things are designed especially for the hotel as well, some were already found, but again, all the products are high quality and have not been chemically treated were very important to us.
LFB: As you were saying, Nomad Hotels is part of a larger chain of hotels? And because you have the Oceana right next door, which is a sister luxury hotel of the same chain, how does the clientele differ?
Nicole: Actually, the idea was to create a real complex here in Roissy. This Nomad Hotel is actually the first [of it’s kind]. It was created as a test so we could see if costumers liked this concept or not to help us decide if we are to continue to create more Nomad Hotels, first here in France. Nomad is part of Oceana Hotels.
Next door to Nomad we have an Ocean 4-star hotel. Escale, a 3-star chain, is also part of the brand. So in total, with the 2 Nomad Hotels – located in Roissy and Le Havre – the brand has 28 hotels. The Oceana hotel next door is a very nice four-star hotel, but we thought that if people were looking for something very branded at the four-star level they can go there but if they are looking for something different but still part of the brand they can come here. This way the customer can choose what they want within the same complex.
If a costumer chooses Nomad, they are really getting something totally different. We actually do not even do booking numbers because if you see, there is no reception. The desk is actually the bar. So we do not have any classic form of reception. (note: guests can check in and out of Nomad Hotels by using the handy dandy kiosks located in the lobby)
LFB: That’s actually what I find quite interesting about Nomad Hotels. In certain ways Nomad Hotels reminds me a bit of a hostel – well all the good parts of a hostel. It seems like a very social place downstairs, it is very accessable, you can grab something to eat 24-7, it’s a very comfortable place. At the same time it is a beautiful hotel and it is not missing anything that you would need. I feel like these old classic terms of “four-star hotel,” it doesn’t even quite fit into that category. As you were saying – it’s a new concept. It’s not a budget hotel, but it’s not a four-star hotel. It’s something completely new and different.
Nicole: That’s right. We tried to create something very social. We have created a small oasis, especially being a hotel close to the airport so that people can feel good while they are here. They can share things with other customers or with the staff as well. And the staff even have very casual uniforms – they wear sneakers for example [to give off this kind of friendly vibe]. They a usually working at the bar or the reception, or doing the food as well. Things are more casual and welcoming here.
A lot of people – especially corporate people who are spending a lot of time traveling and in hotels say to us – “Wow, this is really something different! I am a bit sick of traveling and having the same kind of welcome and hotel experience and not knowing where I am anymore. But this is something new, something refreshing, and I feel at home.” And that was the idea actually. To make something different and adaptable that is tech -friendly and environmentally responsible. And it’s great value for your money!*
*Nomad Hotels has this incredible feature that allows you to see just how much water you have consumed during your stay. There is a base price for the rooms but you can also save money by being economical with your carbon footprint while staying at Nomad Hotels.
To receive your 10% discount, please either call Tel. : +33 (0)1 78 90 15 50, or contact Nomad Paris Roissy (nomadparisroissy@nomad-hotels.com) and mention that you have learnt about them via Love from Berlin! I promise you will not be disappointed!
LFB always discloses all partnerships. Thank you so much to Nomad Hotels for letting me experience this incredible new concept! It’s partnerships like this that allow LFB to bring incredible adventures and experiences to the LFB community. (I was not paid for this post)
Thank you to my September sponsor, Sophie!