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Although Pantone, the color-matching company famous for its paint swatches, is based in New Jersey, the company's pinnacle of Pantone-organized life is located in Brussels. And while you can shop for Pantone-themed gear like coffee mugs, iPhone cases, stationery, and makeup (thank you, Pantone x Sephora beauty collaboration) online, there's only one way to sleep at the Pantone Hotel—book a flight to Belgium.
A room at the Pantone Hotel
However, design freaks, don't arrive and expect that your room is going to be head-to-toe Radiant Orchid (their color of the year for 2014): Instead, each of the hotel's seven floors is assigned a color - the first is blue, the second is green, and so on.
The rooms themselves are mostly white, with a gentle color gradient on the walls and flashes of color (the occasional blanket, for example) throughout the room. If you're booking your room in advance—which shouldn't be a problem for any organized traveler—you can request which floor you'd like to be on, and reception promises that these requests are almost always fulfilled.
Some of their guests, in fact, are so committed to living the Pantone ideal that they come for multiple visits and ask for a different floor every time so that they can cross each hue off of their list. [If you don't want to commit to a color, you can opt for one of the two rooms on the not-color-coded eighth floor that were added during a recent renovation and don't quite blend in with the rest of the hotel's vibe.]
When it comes to décor, it's all about European minimalism. The all-white beds and bedspreads practically glow against the green (or pink, or yellow) walls. There's a small white bedside table/bookshelf combo, a silver reading lamp, and a white chair, and each room has a few Pantone chip paintings in contrasting colors against the wall. But to get the full drama of the color gradient, you'll want to turn off the overhead lights, close the blinds, and turn on the small lamp.
And the effect works from the outside as well. Coming up on the chic, streamlined hotel in the trendy La Louise shopping district of the Belgian capital, the all-white building has pops of color on the glass balconies. At night, the color is even more intense, with light streaming from behind the colored glass for a super-saturated effect. Don't forget to check your bathroom, by the way—yes, that's Pantone-branded toilet paper that you see, in shades like hot pink and neon orange.
But what about the common areas? The hotel's lobby and roof feature brightly-hued pillows, poufs, and chairs against dramatic white backdrops. And the service may not be color-coded, but it goes with the vibe of the hotel: efficient, clean, and impossibly cool.
Of course, you can't stay in the hotel all day—the hotel doesn't offer meals beyond breakfast, and there's no spa or pool to entertain you. Instead, the Pantone team wants you to take in everything that Brussels has to offer.
The Hotel Pantone
The hotel is about a fifteen minute walk from the Grand Place, the largest and most iconic square in the city. That also puts in you close proximity to some of the city's most famous landmarks, including the Mannekin Pis (that's right, a sculpture of a naked little boy peeing has become an international celebrity), the Rene Magritte Museum, the Royal Palace, and the Cathedral de Saints Michel et Gudule.
Good news if you're hooked on Citi Bike: Brussels has its own well-organized bike share system, and there's a pickup stop just in front of the hotel. The front desk staff (who speak English, French, Flemish, and a smattering of other languages) can help you rent one. The hotel is also convenient to the Louise metro station on the yellow or #2 line, which puts you just two stops away from the main Central Station, which can connect you to the airport. Where the bathrooms have boring old white toilet paper.
Lilit Marcus is a New York City-based writer and tea addict. Her first book, Save the Assistants, was published by Hyperion. You can also look for her work in the Wall Street Journal, Teen Vogue, and The Forward. Her sister says she dresses like a librarian. You can find her at twitter @lilitmarcus
