Hotel ballrooms are generally remembered more for dinners dished out to the masses than for their superior design notes. Things are done differently at The Ritz, though. The hotel has undergone a major makeover, starting with The Lobby Lounge and moving to the reception area and ballroom. “The old ballroom was 10 years old,” says general manager Douglas Chang. “It needed to be relevant and contemporary.”
The transformation is nearly as dramatic as Julia Roberts’ makeover in Pretty Woman. Boston-based Jinnie Kim Design, which also redid The Plaza and the St. Regis hotels in New York, oversaw the redo. The reception area is now papered in cobalt blue, the ballroom walls are taupe with white millwork, and the carpeting has a gray, blue, and beige pattern. The existing chandeliers remain.
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For a formal unveiling for party planners this fall, the ballroom was divvied into stations and lounge areas. “I like the way they’ve broken it up into different experiences,” said Laura Katherine Smith, an associate producer at event-planning firm Evntiv. “I think the prefunction area is a lot more dramatic,” added her colleague Sarah Waier. “Everything is new,” Chang says. “We’ve really brightened it up.”
