Experiential luxury at the Nimb
To tourists, visitors and locals alike, there is an indefinable magic to the city centre of Copenhagen. It comes in part from the chocolate-box beauty of the city’s most famous squares and canals, from the extraordinary quality of the baked goods and coffee available from kiosks throughout the town, and also from the city’s embedded heritage of storytelling and fairy tale – with Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ statue posing as one of the most distinctive examples.
It also comes from the fact that there is an historic amusement park, Tivoli Gardens, situated in pride of place in the middle of the city centre. From all around this hallowed city square, the sounds of whoops, cheers and screams rise up from the third oldest amusement park in the world. It is an unusual sight and sound for a city centre. And right alongside it, the Nimb Hotel beckons joy-seekers in.
The history of the amusement park and the hotel go hand in hand. Dating back to 1843, Tivoli Gardens was first opened as a sort of world’s fair; a place where Danes could experience cultures from around the world, right here in Copenhagen. This international theme informed an integral part of the architecture that still stands today – the Chinese-style pantomime theatre, the Japanese flower gardens, the Middle Eastern-inspired palace on the park’s west side.
Today, it is that very palace that forms the Nimb Hotel: a place that has long been defined by culinary and gastronomical adventure, now rated the 40th best hotel in the world. Naturally, it takes its place-brand very seriously.
Offering a range of physical products, experiential services, culinary delights, and immersive indulgences, the Nimb Hotel is perhaps one of the most pervasive place-brands in the world. In every sense, customers experience this place. The Nimb’s Head of Content, Camilla Kjær, meets me to explain exactly how the hotel achieves this all-encompassing guest experience.
Camilla is a warm, approachable woman with a formidable CV. Having grown up in the small towns of Greenland and Bornholm, she took her first job at the age of 18 in Disneyland Paris. There she learnt the ropes of VIP customer service – laying the foundations of the expertise she now applies to guest experience at the Nimb. But between Disney and luxury hotels, Camilla has worked in journalism, digital marketing, and global branding. She is the perfect brand guardian for the Nimb Hotel.
As we settle onto a sofa in the hotel’s lavish ballroom and cocktail bar, Camilla is already presenting me with a gift: a beautiful silk sleep mask, decorated in peacock feathers.
“Because the peacock is sort of our mascot, we have many of them here in Tivoli Gardens.”
Indeed, I’m immediately reminded that I was greeted in my own room by a peacock feather laying artistically on the bed. This is the first essential cornerstone of the Nimb’s place-brand philosophy: brand coherence.
Brand coherence
There is an understated consistency across all of the Nimb Hotel’s physical and experiential touchpoints. For a hotel where all 38 rooms are totally unique – even with furniture differing from room to room – it is quite a feat to ensure that everywhere feels part of the same place. Coherence in design and storytelling is the key to the Nimb’s success.
While the peacock references are a perfect example of this coherence, there is an even more pervasive example in the physical design of the interiors and exteriors of the building. On the street-facing side of the hotel, the façade is adorned with a distinctive pattern of repeating stars and circles. It may not be immediately noticeable, but this design is repeated and hinted at throughout the hotel’s interiors: in the windows, in the bathroom doors, in the walls of the spa facilities, in the welcome booklet. It is an innate part of the brand architecture that is designed to be felt rather than noticed by guests.
This brand coherence also goes beyond the physical. Acknowledging the close ties that the Nimb shares with Tivoli Gardens, there is a strong element of storytelling and play that feeds into the guest experience. This is most pronounced in the ballroom and cocktail bar, where Camilla gestures to the walls.
“You’ll see we have a series of murals around the room. We commissioned a local artist to do these. They tell the story of the Greek myth of Philomela, where a wife seeking revenge serves up the head of her son at her husband’s feast.”
When I comment on the grotesqueness of the story, Camilla smiles and agrees. “Grotesque, yes, but also dramatic. It’s a dramatic story for a dramatic room.”
Drama certainly seems to be the word. Beneath the dazzling chandeliers and beguiling murals of the ballroom, guests are invited to choose their cocktails from a menu full of fairy tale references – where every drink is based on a Hans Christian Andersen story. It completes the enchanted feeling of a hotel built around both luxury and play.
Personal service
A crucial requirement of reinforcing this atmosphere of play, Camilla tells me, is ensuring that children always feel welcome at the Nimb. Often, super-luxury hotels tend to be exclusive of children, either formally restricting their access or informally not catering to their needs, but the reverse is true in this hotel.
“We treat children just like any other guest, making sure they have the best possible time while they stay with us.”
This is an important commitment for a hotel that neighbours an amusement park (indeed, all guests are gifted free entry into Tivoli Gardens), but it is also a simple part of the Nimb’s DNA – offering a personal, almost familial service to anyone who walks through the doors.
Practically, this means that hotel staff are specially trained to learn the names and interests of all of their guests upon the very first meeting. For children, the staff members’ first task is to decide which gift would be most appropriate for them. From the moment of check-in, receptionists interact with parents and children together to determine the best toy or game for the child. The relevant board-game, action figure, puzzle or musical instrument is presented to the child only a short while later.
For all guests, this personal approach and ritual of gift-giving is a central strand of the luxury they experience at the Nimb Hotel. It starts from the simplest of gestures: calling everyone – guests and staff alike – by their first name. When I comment that this bears similarity with the Disney philosophy, Camilla corrects me, “yes, in Disney they use first names too. But they also wear name badges. Here we don’t wear badges because that creates a barrier between the guest and member of staff.”
Indeed, as I walk around the hotel during my stay, I am frequently greeted by my first name. As Camilla tells me, as long as they are on property, a staff member is never off-duty, and they “always have an eye for the guest.”
Subtle luxury
When I challenge Camilla to define the Nimb brand in a single phrase, she replies immediately: “subtle luxury.”
This core proposition is clearly evident in the hotel’s approach to brand coherence, customer service and gift-giving, but it is more ubiquitous even than that. It is something one feels through small gestures and extraordinary conveniences.
“At the Nimb we really try to create a home-from-home. I know lots of hotels say that, but we really mean it. If there’s ever anything someone needs, they can call and we’ll sort it for them.”
It is difficult to imagine what more guests could need beyond what is already in their rooms. Bathrooms are stocked full of Nimb-branded face-masks, shaving facilities, nail kits and after-shave. The in-room fittings are made by some of the world’s most celebrated brands: a Dyson hairdryer, a Bang & Olufsen television, a Christiansborg bathtub. Guests are greeted with a Covid safety pack, including Nimb-branded face-masks and hand sanitiser. They can even call down, at any time, to ask a member of staff to light them a fire in their fire-place.
The Nimb Hotel wears a luxury badge and a premium price-tag, yet there is nothing ostentatious about it. There is an honesty in the way that the hotel celebrates its Danish routes, and a playfulness in the way it elevates guests and the guest experience. Through brand coherence, personal touches, and – above all – subtle luxury, the Nimb Hotel is a truly immersive, compelling place-brand.These beautiful, thoughtful details add to guests’ feelings of delight; they are continually surprised by unexpected gifts and comforts. Often, these little gestures are accompanied by letters of instruction and explanation – and this additional opportunity for communication is not wasted by the Nimb brand. In fact, Camilla is a devout believer in the power of the Nimb’s words.
“Our tone of voice is very important, and it’s something that I work on personally. We’re different from other luxury hotels because we get that fine balance between warmth and luxury. Other hotels can convey luxury, but the tone creates a bit of distance, it’s sort of aloof.”
Indeed, the small notes left around the room never detract from the feeling of home – rather, they add to it through warmth, familiarity and indulgence. This is one of Camilla’s greatest legacies at the hotel: a consistent, warm tone of voice that extends from the Brasserie menus all the way to the hotel room bathrooms.
