Paris’ Plaza Athénée is also home to a signature bear. “Gustave was born in 2004,” spokeswoman Isabelle Maurin says. “His name is a tribute to Gustave Eiffel, who built the Eiffel Tower not far from the hotel, which some rooms have views of. It was natural for us to call him Gustave.”
Naturally, too, Gustave is made by a French company, La Pelucherie, a family firm run by two sisters, and he is bright red, to match the hotel’s signature awnings. When the Plaza Athénée closed for refurbishment in 2013, the bear kept guests entertained with Instagram posts.
“The staff were travelling and taking pictures of Gustave everywhere. So Gustave was in Los Angeles, Rome … It was fun to see him all over the world,” says Maurin.
The Conrad Macao went a step further and launched a social media competition featuring its signature bears. Since opening, in 2012, the hotel has given complimentary gold-coloured teddies to guests. Another four seasonal styles based on a theme are produced each year.
Since 2014, the hotel has held an annual #TravelBear competition, inviting guests to post social media pictures of their Conrad bears at worldwide landmarks to win hospitality prizes. The latest winner Instagrammed theirs in front of Vessel, British designer Thomas Heatherwick’s art structure at the centre of New York’s Hudson Yards. This year’s campaign is on hold, as is the launch of the seasonal bears.
“Due to the pandemic, our bears are staying home safely and we will relaunch in 2021,” says senior public relations manager Joyce Chiu.
The teddy bear was created in 1902, in honour of American president Theodore Roosevelt, but history does not record the birth of the first hotel teddy. In 1982, bears dressed in steward and waiter uniforms went on sale in the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express on-board boutique, and later on Belmond’s sister train, the British Pullman.
“Over time, the steward bears on board the train became known as ‘Arthur’, after one of the longest serving stewards,” says a Belmond spokeswoman.
At Belmond’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, near Oxford, England, a teddy in chef’s whites, named Bear Blanc, an homage to founder Raymond Blanc, greets child guests with a handwritten note. And children often write back to him after their stay, according to the spokesperson.
It’s a similar story at the Island Shangri-La, in Hong Kong, for which a team of teddies was created in 2013.
“Originally there were five bears: Sam the chef, Tony the bellhop, Vera from housekeeping, Pierre from the health club and William the engineer. They were based on actual colleagues at the Island Shangri-La,” says corporate communications officer Helena Fung. Sam and Tony are still available for sale in the gift shop. Proceeds go to the Heep Hong Society, which helps children and teenagers with educational needs.
Some hotels produce bears for the festive season but others are not just for Christmas, taking up full-time residence.
A human-sized teddy greets guests in the lobby at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore. Dressed in a postman’s uniform, to reflect the hotel’s heritage as a general post office, the bear is called Robby, after Sir Robert Fullerton, the hotel’s namesake and first governor of the Straits Settlements. Smaller versions are for sale and there have been more than 20 variations of The Fullerton bear mascots since the hotel opened, in 2001.
According to director of corporate communications Cathy Chia, bestsellers are the Grand Prix racing driver bear (The Fullerton is on Singapore’s Formula One circuit); a bear in dressing gown and slippers, created for the hotel’s spa relaunch; and bears in traditional Chinese, Malay, Peranakan and Indian costumes.
At the Langham Melbourne, in Australia, the teds are a big commitment. Three hotel directors work with a teddy bear designer to come up with new styles every year. Public relations manager Tara Bishop says many guests collect them.
“We have been overwhelmed by guest responses to the bears. During a normal year, 5,000 bears are rehomed. They often sell out before the year ends,” she says. “Even during the lockdown we have had dozens of requests – especially collectors asking about this year’s bear. Our next bear will be in 2021, she’s been delayed due to Covid-19. We’re thinking that our next one may wear a timeless trench coat as we’ve done plenty in dresses.”
While teddies obviously appeal to children, adults fall for them, too. In 2010, British hotel chain Travelodge conducted a survey that found a staggering 35 per cent of British adults slept with a teddy bear, which they found comforting and calming. The survey was carried out after a 12-month period in which the hotel chain reunited “over 75,000 forgotten cuddly bears” left in its 452 hotels.
And some bears in hotel gift shops around the world, with their high price tags and limited quantities, are specifically aimed at adults.
The Beverly Hills Hotel, in Los Angeles, in the United States, launched exquisite handmade Steiff chef and doorman bears selling for US$175 each after retail director Kristy Whitford found guests were asking for more than the “basic teddy bear with a shirt that had our logo on it”.
For sister hotel The Dorchester, in London, English teddy bear maker Merrythought created a limited-edition doorman in a green and gold frock coat in the early 2000s followed by a haughty chef bear in toque and apron. There are 15 of the latter still available, priced at £125 (HK$1,223) each.
Merrythought also designed the new Savoy “guardsman” bear, launched last year, which adults buy as much for themselves as their children, according to The Savoy’s director of marketing communications, Virginia Webb. Merrythought’s latest hotel teddy is a limited run of 500 for Adare Manor hotel, in Ireland. Dara, retailing at €130 (HK$1,140), has pink silk paws, wears a custom knitted jumper and comes in a presentation box.
Adults love Plaza Athénée’s bear as much as children do, Maurin says, “Women particularly. When they take Gustave in their arms and don’t want to leave him.”
Bo Bear, left on guest beds at The Bowery Hotel, in New York, is catnip to the hotel’s female celebrity guests. Amanda de Cadenet, Poppy Delevingne, Pixie Geldof and Courtney Love have all posted pictures of Bo on their Instagram accounts. Director of sales Leo Jacob is too discreet to say whether any of the celebrity guests have taken a bear – dressed in the same raffish red waistcoat and black bowler hat worn by the staff – home with them.
It’s not just women who fall for hotel bears, though. Lawyer Jason Price, who lives in New York but travels regularly to Asia in “normal” times, has a collection of hotel teds. “It started when I bought one for my wife as a cute memento from the hotel we were staying at when I proposed. Then we bought another on our honeymoon and it grew from there,” he says.
His pack includes a limited-edition page bear from The Peninsula dressed in the Hong Kong hotel’s distinctive white uniform. Peter bear is one of only 18 made and comes with his own suitcase and passport.
London-based banking consultant Simon Frew, who travels extensively, takes teddies from various hotels on his trips (and features them on his The Luxury Travel Blog). His first hotel bear was Issy, a gift from Isadore “Issy” Sharp, founder of the Four Seasons hotels.
Issy was created for the Four Seasons by Beanie Babies, to raise money for cancer research after the death of Sharp’s son, Christopher. (The owner of Beanie Babies, Ty Warner, also owns the Four Seasons New York.) Issy has the Four Seasons’ tree logo on his chest and a moving dedication to Christopher on his ear tag.
While Frew was staying at the Four Seasons Koh Samui, he would return to his room to find the staff had made outfits for Issy, including a hotel dressing gown, massage pyjamas and a Muay Thai boxing outfit complete with gloves.
“So many hotels have created spectacular one-off outfits for Issy,” he says. “Hotels give me bears and sometimes specially create them for me. I have more than 150 hotel teddy bears, all associated with special memories.”
Cuteness and comfort aside, that seems to be the enduring appeal of the hotel teddy – a memory in fur form.
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