For the Tribe Hotel Perth, the first property from Tribe Hotel Group, Melbourne designer Travis Walton of his eponymous firm had a big task in front of him. “We were conscious that the aesthetic needed to create a signature guest experience that would be able to translate to future locations,” he says. His team took out superfluous hotel amenities like “pricey minibars and stuffy spas,” opting instead for design-driven comfort that “gives guests everything they need and nothing they don’t,” notes Walton.
The “artfully curated, guest-centric, edited luxury experience is every inch a sophisticated sanctuary for the urban aesthete,” Walton continues. But, as a kit of parts brand with the 126 rooms built offsite, there were some challenges. Usually, he explains, a new hotel brand starts by conceiving the public spaces, with that aesthetic applied to the room design. But because the rooms were designed two years ahead of the public spaces, he had to reverse engineer the process.
Walton infused the public areas with a luxe palette that contrasts natural stone finishes, concrete surfaces, and bold accent colors. Adjacent to the communal dining area, for instance, is an inviting alcove space off the main walkway that leads to Walton’s favorite seat in the house—an oversized cobalt blue sofa modeled on the idea of a giant cloud. It’s “a great spot for people watching,” he notes.
The lobby itself boasts concrete ceilings and long stretches of light gray banquettes, comfy custom sofas, and playful armchairs, says Walton. Just beyond is a curated library of object d’art and literature with the focal point being a nearly 9-foot-tall art piece from Australian photographer Brooke Holm. The tones of which complement the color palette of the joinery that frames the deep green velvet diamond button sofa.
Three distinct colors—blue, green, or pinkBlue, green, or pink—make up the compact guestrooms, each with a bespoke chair, art wall, mirrors, and metallic surfaces for a tailored look. Because they were prefabricated and made offsite, “It allowed us to focus more of the project budget on the spaces you spend most of the time in—the common areas.” Consider the almost 20-foot-long custom communal table made entirely from Italian inlaid stone of black, white, and gray marble, all “made possible by way of our offshore master craftsmen,” he says.
