> THE FACT

Until February 14, the Novotel de Vaugirard Montparnasse hotel is offering a temporary bedroom conceived in partnership with Microsoft. Called Room 3120, it is the first to offer a tablet PC, Windows mobile and an Xbox console with Kinect, allowing the gamer to view films with VOD. A foldaway bed frees up space and a glass “capsule” placed on the windowsill allows the Xbox gamer playing inside it to have the sensation of piloting a spacecraft with a view over all ofParis. A second area, designed for children, offers tatamis and low easy chairs around another Xbox 360 console with Kinect and an interactive and tactile table. The two areas, elegantly designed, are linked by a tactile mirror integrating music radios and information flows.   All nights are already fully booked…

> THE ANALYSIS

Directly inspired by the experience provided by the Palais in Tokyo at the end of 2007, consisting of having a “bedroom capsule” fitted on its roof (cf. Oeil no. 146), the experience that the Novotel Vaugirard is now offering confirms that artistic expressions can constitute sources of innovative offerings for brands. The success that Novotel’s temporary bedroom has encountered also demonstrates the present desire of consumers for anything that can help them escape the daily routine of their lives and allow them to experience something truly unique, alone or, even better, with their family. Lastly, through its partnership with Microsoft, Novotel is manifestly displaying new technologies which allow all of its customers to measure the effects of them on their habits and on their manner of sharing space.  Somewhere: between an artistic installation and a technology demonstration, is this the future of widely available leisure?