By Erik Streif
Los Angeles | Tue August 3, 2010 12:45pm
(REPREAL) - Not to be outdone by the Swedish resort town Lysekil that offers a special emergency room for families to visit in order to work out conflicts during vacations, the up-scale Ritz-Carlton resort in Laguna Beach, CA., now offers special suites featuring a Panic Room.
"We looked at the tremendous benefit that an emergency room in Lysekil provides to a quarreling family. It is a therapeutic place to open the lines of communication again when a vacation starts to go awry," Kevin Posey, New Ventures Director of the Ritz-Carlton, explained.
"Our survey of hotel guests found a strong demand to literally get away-from-it-all, including one's own spouse and children, even in the midst of a vacation. Residents claimed that inevitably, during any vacation, frustrations mount, fights escalate, and there is usually no place to go. You feel trapped at a five-star resort."
Contracted by the Ritz-Carlton, psychologist Ryan Sinclair worked with award-winning designer Beth Traurig to design a space within the hotel suite to serve as a Panic Room. Sinclair explained, "The Panic Room had to be a thickly insulated, sound-proofed, bullet-proofed space that allows the person to feel secure and safe, plus include enough amenities and supplies to ride out a difficult vacation - maybe two to three days."
Traurig provided more details, "There are two phone lines, a computer with Skype pre-installed, high-speed internet access, a preloaded iPod, a blueray DVD player with assortment of DVD's, a comfortable bathroom with shower, a Sleep Number® bed with 1200 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, a well-stocked mini-bar, and a room service slot that is only accessible by hotel staff to serve meals from any of the six restaurants on the property."
The Ritz-Carlton has yet to publish the standard room rate for a suite with Panic Room.
"Families have often booked adjoining suites when vacationing: a space for themselves, a space for the kids, and a space for the nanny," Posey interjected, "Our guests can still reserve adjoining rooms and now have the option to upgrade to a special suite that contains a Panic Room."
Posey sought to clarify the need, "In these hectic times, affluent families are just not used to being confined with one another to a few rooms for seven consecutive days."
"Now we have found that there are fights over who gets to go to the Panic Room first. The Ritz-Carlton sees it as an opportunity during the next expansion to create two Panic Rooms in each suite to resolve this dilemma."
