8/11/2017 Rooms Hotels: The Georgian Secret Meant To Be Shared

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Rooms Hotels: The Georgian Secret Meant To
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Your Top California Wine-Tasting Itinerary: Hospitality is a tenet many hotels boast, but
Napa and Sonoma
few get right. At its core is a nuanced balance
of generosity and respect that forms lasting
memories, an intuitive response that has
evolved into a competitive industry.
Georgia, the country nestled between
Turkey and Russia, is widely extolled for its
hospitality. There is no better way to find out
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achievement for any major global tourism
destination, let alone a place many would
struggle to locate on a map. Being here is like
Active on Facebook reliving a happy end fairytale complete with
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K2 natural beauty. Welcome to Georgia!

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8/11/2017 Rooms Hotels: The Georgian Secret Meant To Be Shared

The scenic Old Tbilisi quarter.

Here, hospitality is more than a virtue, but a

deeply rooted tradition. Guests are literally
god-sent, as Georgian proverb states, and
welcomed with a degree of generosity that
exceeds common etiquette of most western
cultures. Hosts dont just offer a meal, a bed,
a courteous smile. As you manifest good
fortunes, they make you feel like youre
meant to be there, treat you to local
delicacies, make genuine toasts in your
honor. You leave with an unshakable feeling
that they cant wait to see you again. Its this
rare fondness otherwise experienced among
close kin that makes Georgian hospitality
stand out.

And then there is the scenery!

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, Photo courtesy of Design Hotels

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8/11/2017 Rooms Hotels: The Georgian Secret Meant To Be Shared

Awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, all an

understatement. Rooms Hotel Kazbegi
rests 1800 meters high on the majestic
Caucasus Mountain of Stepantsminda in the
pastoral capital of the secluded Kazbegi
region. Time stands still encompassed by
massifs and gorges. The visual impact of the
towering mountain range is so striking that
even hotelier Valeri Chekheria, CEO of Adjara
Group Hospitality, is stunned every time he
visits the property. For the first few hours, I
dont take any meetings, says Chekheria. I
dont answer my phone. I dont even move. I
just sit on the terrace watching the
mountains. Here, one starts to realize the
true luxury of quiet solitude. Even the most
obstinate workaholics surrender to the
summits mysterious powers. Tranquility
reigns and a moment of such unadulterated
lucidity is priceless. The location is just a part
of Chekherias strategic plan to position
Georgia as a premium travelers haven. Once
a Soviet elite sanatorium, the property was
abandoned for decades. We couldnt even
find any pictures of it. It was just a ruin.

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi and surrounding mountains, Photo

courtesy of Design Hotels

Re-envisioned by Tbilisi-based duo Nata

Janberidze and Keti Toloraia, the inimitable
property with 156 rooms combines the

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grandeur of its environment with

contemporary touches and traditional
elements into a rustic-luxe aesthetic. All
interiors and exteriors are timber-clad. Every
refashioned plank tells a story of the nations
past. The design team scouted remote villages
for repurposed wood that holds the spirit of
at least 200 years of domestic hospitality.
Though the hotel is sleek with folkish
minimalism, well-curated Soviet posters give
it a sense of nostalgia, making it feel like
some eccentric family members home full of
favorite childhood memories.

A pool with a view at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, Photo courtesy of

Design Hotels

The communal spaces are designed so that

every spot ends up being a million-dollar
vantage point. In no time, it becomes clear
that this formidable terrain is the perfect
launch pad to embark on any number of
extraordinary adventures. A light trek to the
Arsha waterfall, a mild hike to the iconic
Gergeti Trinity Church, or a challenging
three-day journey to upper Khde Valley, all
give a chance to immerse in the local
heritage.

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Immensely popular Gergeti Trinity Church near the small town of

Stepantsminda

Among the extreme sports diehards, Kazbegi

is a cult heli-skiing destination given its
extreme slopes. However, you could also just
set up camp in the hotel backyard to
experience the great outdoors without
straying too far from luxury amenities: the
expansive sun terrace, casino, library, indoor
swimming pool, and a cozy restaurant with a
bar, fireplace, and cigar menu. Leisure can be
achieved in a variety of ways.

Old world charm with sophistication at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi,

Photo courtesy of Design Hotels

Hotelier Valeri Chekheria shares his

passion for Rooms Hotels: I didnt want
just another hotel, but an international
Georgian brand. I sent my team to New York
with a list of places to stay: Beverly Inn,
Crosby, Ludlow, Gramercy Park I said, now
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that you understand the level I am talking

about, lets work 24/7 to make it happen
here. Lets give people all the comforts, but
not standard hospitality. Those welcome
home notes you get in big hotels, its
nonsense. When I am in New York, I want to
be in New York. When you are in Berlin,
Hong Kong, wherever, you want to be there
and not in the same limbo. How do we make
it Georgian without clichs? Exciting without
compromising quality? What if we go to the
art school and the film school to recruit staff:
young innovators with the right amount of
curiosity, creativity and craziness. People told
us it was risky hiring people with no
hospitality experience, but it worked magic!
The Rooms Hotels became a proud member
of the iconic Design Hotels Group in 2014.

A modern entrance at Rooms Hotel Tbilisi, Photo courtesy of

Design Hotels

For most international guests, their love

affair with Georgia begins in the capital city,
Tbilisi. Opened in 2012, Rooms Hotel
Tbilisi got the cosmopolitan getaway vibe.
Set in the heart of the Vera neighborhood, a
historic cultural and intellectual hotspot
favored by bohemians and free thinkers alike,
it is rooted in the arts and crafts heritage of
the Caucuses. Feel free to partake in a literary
caf discussion on Stendhal over a glass of

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Georgian wines or glean one-of-a-kind

souvenirs made by local artisans sipping
chacha (a stiff distilled grape spirit). Before
the Soviet times, France was where Georgians
traditionally went for higher education.
Intercultural fusion is what weve always
done best, notes Chekheria. Rooms Hotel
Tbilisi beckons another Georgia out of the
richly layered past. It once stood as a
neglected 8-floor industrial publishing house.
After the transformation, conceptualized by
the owner Teimuraz Ugulava, the 132 rooms
property rises as a beacon of modern
hospitality due in part to the emerging local
designers and artists contributing to its
resplendent interiors scrupulously accented
with distressed leather, sumptuous velvety
textures, vintage rugs, and bold prints.
History is ingrained in its antique furnishings
like the pristine claw-foot tubs, while the
unmistakable changing face of the area is
encapsulated in the hotels in-house
restaurant, The Kitchen. It serves as a local
touchstone of nouveau dining mixing an old-
world charm with distinctly modern
sensibility.

Georgia is well known for its farm-to-table style cuisine

Speaking of Tbilisis robust culinary scene, it

now welcomes a unique collaboration with
the legendary Basque chef Eneko Atxa, whose
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three Michelin Star rated Azurmendi

restaurant in Bilbao, Spain currently ranks
#16 in the world. Located at the Rooms Hotel
Tbilisi the new venue promises to deliver an
unprecedented Georgian-Basque experience.
It seemed a little forced at first, but we
discovered such great synergy between our
lands in the process: same altitude, same
weather patterns, we have similar features
and even few common last names. There is a
great great feeling about this! Such
unorthodox bit of clairvoyance appears
essential to Rooms Hotels hospitality ethos.
Chekheria pushes his team to anticipate the
demands of tomorrow and is resolutely
optimistic: I believe we have a hotel concept
that welcomes every type of traveler, so that
they can enjoy the golden mix of the past and
the present, reality and magic I mean, just
among the recent guests we had Sting and
[former US Secretary of Defense] Donald
Rumsfeld. You want to talk about the range
[laughs] then add Sophia Loren to the mix!
When pressed for an answer about the next
set of challenges, he added: We are starting
to have really good competitors. I appreciate
that. It means we can welcome more people
to Georgia!

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi and Rooms Hotel

Tbilisi are built on the belief that when you
visit Georgia, you should experience its
temperament, traditions and spirit in a
holistic way. Aside from extreme sports and
eclectic culinary enthusiasts, Georgia is
gaining reputation in the world of fashion
thanks to its burgeoning taste for
contemporary sophistication. Leading the
charge are Georgia-born fashion designers
Demna Gvasalia and David Koma who have
taken over creative stewardship of famed

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European couture houses Balenciaga and

Mugler, respectively.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi is on the rise

Locally, thanks to the passion of visionary

Sofia Tchkonia and her team, Georgia has not
only secured a coveted partnership with
Mercedes-Benz platform to form
the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Tbilisi, but
positioned itself as an edgier alternative to
Istanbul, Baku, and other geopolitical
neighbors on the industry circuit. Made in
Georgia is rapidly becoming a marker of what
this mountainous country is today: generous,
charming, and on the threshold of a Big
Break.

Sorry, Georgia, the Secret is out. Youre

welcome!

Additional reporting by Angela Han and

Alexey Timbul.

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