“We want a spectacular decorated Christmas tree!”
The InterContinental Hotel is a luxury five-star hotel in the heart of Wellington. To match its glamourous and sumptuous décor and impress its guests, there was one thing missing at Christmas time. That was a stylish, sophisticated, and beautiful Christmas tree that was crafted just for them.
The guests the hotel gets are wide and varied during the Christmas season. Some come to Wellington for weekend getaways, friends and couples enjoy time together and families stay at the hotel for the holidays. The InterContinental Hotel also receives its fair share of famous visitors, including the All Blacks.
Christmas is a more important time than ever to instil great memories in the minds of travellers spending a holiday away from home. As professional Christmas decorators we knew this Christmas tree needed to be spectacular.
Initial Site Visit
Julia Fink from Christmas Creatives met the Marketing Manager, Marna, onsite for a relaxed, in-depth discussion and to personally view the space available and existing décor. As well as an invaluable and important part of the creative process, the site visit also allows any potential health and safety hazards to be identified then mitigated while our team of Christmas tree decorators is working onsite.
Since the hotel’s decorated Christmas tree was to take up residence next to one of the three foyer elevators, this elevator would be locked while the team was working onsite. Hotel guests would be temporarily diverted away from the work site and the cables of the Christmas tree lights would be tidily tucked out of harm’s way before we made it public.
Creating A Unique, Boutique Look
The next step Christmas Creatives took was getting to work offsite to mock up a tree and providing photos to the Marketing Manager for feedback. The team explained their thoughts behind the design and why they chose these particular Christmas decorations. The proposed look complemented the hotel’s décor, while also being absolutely unique in design. Marna loved the concept and the team got straight to work.
A majestic, eye-catching 10ft Christmas tree was put in place, the biggest they could fit in the available space. The Christmas tree decorations included beautiful red magnolias, white sweet peas, eucalyptus sprays – and rose gold baubles – to match the hotel’s rose gold mosaic wall feature. The hotel’s existing large round ottoman in the foyer was incorporated into the design, with surplus decorated presents stacked up on top, extending the display with the perfect Christmas accessory.
The Christmas Creatives team maintained a tidy and compact work zone, important during guest check in and check out, with plenty of guests and staff around constantly. With well-organised pre-planning, the team was able to work quickly onsite, minimising disruption to the hotel, and were onsite for less than three hours.
The Result
Christmas Creatives used 800 lights, dozens of magnolias and hundreds of sweet peas. The whole tree was covered, with the fir underneath barely visible.
An eye-catching, sophisticated, beautiful Christmas tree was the result. It fitted perfectly into the hotel’s existing, glamourous décor, while proudly displaying its own unique look. Guests stopped by to enjoy the decorated Christmas tree and take photos as souvenirs. A picture of the tree was even spotted on the Facebook page of a famous New Zealand designer as a hotel guest modelled her outfit in front of the giant Christmas Creatives tree.
“Thank you for the lovely tree installation. I am thrilled. The presents are also beautifully on brief with the tree colours etc. We have placed the extra presents on-top of the Ottoman and it looks lovely.”
Marna, Marketing Manager, The InterContinental Hotel
Christmas Creatives were rebooked promptly for the following Christmas and with extra time for planning, the team has already ordered supplies to elevate the look for next year, and are confident they can make it even more special next Christmas.