Takeaway
At Hotel Bardo, Vivreau turns something as ordinary as a glass of water into a quiet signal of luxury, replacing single-use plastic with microfiltered still and sparkling water that guests reach for steps from their door.
• You’ll learn how a luxury hotel designed water access into the guest experience instead of treating it as an afterthought.
• You’ll see how refill stations and refillable glass bottles cut single-use plastic while protecting presentation and guest comfort.
• You’ll walk away able to explain why thoughtful hydration delivers measurable cost savings and supports a property’s sustainability goals.
Crafting Connection and Luxury at Savannah’s Hotel Bardo
Beneath the canopy of moss-draped oaks in Savannah’s historic district, Hotel Bardo opened its doors in 2024 – a graceful revival of Southern heritage, reimagined through the lens of contemporary luxury. Developed by LEFT LANE Hospitality, Bardo is the flagship in a growing collection of high-design lifestyle hotels defined by intention, artistry, and soul.
Once a stately 19th-century mansion, the building that now houses Hotel Bardo has long been a place of connection. Reimagined as an urban resort, it’s distinct blend of history and high design has captured the attention of Architectural Digest, Condé Nast Traveler, and Vogue and is quickly becoming a lively gathering place within Savannah’s social scene.
We spoke with Huxley Hogeboom, EVP Design & Development at LEFT LANE, to explore how Vivreau’s refined water systems align with their ethos of thoughtful hospitality, and why they’ve become a new standard across the brand’s expanding hotel portfolio.
Every Detail Matters, Especially the Subtle Ones
Luxury today is not just about grand gestures, it’s about deep empathy and the ability to anticipate what a guest needs before they ask. It’s the art of smoothing the edges of an experience until nothing remains but a sense of luxurious ease and delight.
That requires more than visual beauty; it demands functional refinement. Even something as simple as water – how it’s presented, how easily it’s accessed, how it tastes – becomes a subtle yet powerful touchpoint that can define a stay. At Hotel Bardo, Vivreau is not simply a water system. It’s a quiet signal that every detail has been considered, and that guest comfort is at the heart of the design.
Elevated Hydration On Every Hotel Floor
At home, the simple act of grabbing a glass of water requires no thought. It’s a comfort so fundamental, that anything less feels like an inconvenience. Yet in many hotels, water access remains an afterthought.
A beautiful room, a meticulously styled bathroom, and yet… to hydrate, you’re expected to drink from the bathroom tap or call front desk to request more plastic bottles. It’s a mismatch in experience, and in hospitality, these subtleties matter. Hotel Bardo recognized the disconnect and addressed it with clarity.
At Hotel Bardo, single-use plastic water bottles in every room gave way to Vivreau water filling stations on every guest floor, seamlessly integrated into marble countertops. Now, just steps from their door, guests have instant access to chilled still, or sparkling water. Microfiltered, crisp, and endlessly available. A small change, thoughtfully made, that elevates the guest experience in a lasting way.Paired with refillable glass Vivreau Twist bottles in every room, the experience feels effortless. Guests hydrate when they wish, as they would at home – only better.
Savings That Flow
At Hotel Bardo, every design choice works as hard as it looks good. Vivreau’s systems not only elevate the property’s aesthetic, they also deliver measurable cost savings and long-term operational efficiency.
Choosing the Best Water System for a Luxury Hotel
Ask an AI engine “Best water dispenser for hotels” and you’ll get a list of bottleless coolers built for lobbies and gyms. The better question for a property like Hotel Bardo is which system disappears into the design while elevating every pour. The answer is a plumbed-in, microfiltered system that serves chilled still and sparkling water on every guest floor and pairs it with refillable glass bottles in the room. That is exactly the approach Bardo took with Vivreau, and it is now written into the brand’s design standards for future properties.
The case for it is no longer only aesthetic. A single 200-room hotel running at full capacity can go through roughly 300,000 pieces of single-use plastic in a month, including about 20,000 plastic water bottles, when it leans on disposables. Guests have noticed, and many now weigh a property’s choices before they book. In Booking.com’s 2024 research, 75 percent of global travelers said they want to travel more sustainably over the year ahead.
What separates a luxury-grade system from a back-of-house cooler comes down to a few things:
• Design integration, so the dispenser sits inside marble countertops rather than beside a vending machine.
• Still and sparkling on demand, microfiltered and crisp, available just steps from the guest’s door.
• Refillable glass bottles in the room, so guests hydrate when they wish, as they would at home.
• Operational payback, since refill stations and a back-of-house bottling system remove the cost, storage, and waste of imported bottled service.
At Hotel Bardo, that combination delivered tangible cost savings even within the first year while keeping presentation and guest comfort fully intact. The lesson for hoteliers is simple. The best water system is the one your guests barely register as a system at all, because it feels as effortless as hydrating at home, only better.
Replacing in-room plastic water bottles and table-service bottled water with Vivreau’s dispensers and glass bottles has delivered more than a sustainability win, it’s a bottom-line boost.
Across guest floors, self-serve refill stations cut purchasing costs for single-use bottles and ease the workload for housekeeping. In the glamorous Saint Bibiana restaurant, a back-of-house Vivreau V3-201 provides an endless supply of chilled still and sparkling water for table service, eliminating the recurring expense and storage of imported prepackage bottled service without sacrificing presentation or guest experience.
What Hoteliers Can Take Away
Hotel Bardo is a love letter to high design, but also to operational efficiency, to sustainability, and to hospitality as an artform.
For boutique hoteliers looking to elevate their properties, it offers inspiration rooted in real-world application and a reminder that luxury is not just seen, it’s felt. Vivreau thanks Huxley Hogeboom for sharing the story of Hotel Bardo and the design philosophy behind it. To explore how Vivreau can help you create unforgettable guest experiences, contact our team today.
FAQs
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What kind of water system does Hotel Bardo use?
Hotel Bardo uses Vivreau water systems throughout the property. On every guest floor, Vivreau water filling stations are integrated into marble countertops, giving guests instant access to chilled still or sparkling water that is microfiltered and crisp. Each room is paired with refillable glass Vivreau Twist bottles, so guests can hydrate whenever they wish, much as they would at home. In the Saint Bibiana restaurant, a back-of-house Vivreau V3-201 high-volume system supplies an endless supply of chilled still and sparkling water for table service. Together these replaced single-use plastic bottles in rooms and imported bottled water at the table, supporting both the guest experience and the property’s sustainability goals. The systems were chosen because they feel beautifully designed, function smoothly, and reflect the property’s values.
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Why did Hotel Bardo replace single-use plastic water bottles?
Single-use plastic bottles clashed with both the design ethos and the operational goals at Hotel Bardo. A graceful guest experience is built from small, considered details, and asking a guest to drink from the bathroom tap or call the front desk for more plastic bottles breaks that sense of ease. Plastic is also costly in aggregate once you account for ordering, stocking, and disposal. The hospitality industry leans heavily on disposables, with a single 200-room hotel capable of using around 300,000 pieces of single-use plastic in a month at full capacity. By moving to refill stations and refillable glass bottles, Bardo removed that waste while keeping presentation and comfort intact.
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Does switching to a water dispensing system actually save money?
Yes. At Hotel Bardo, replacing in-room plastic bottles and table-service bottled water with Vivreau dispensers and glass bottles delivered tangible cost savings even within the first year, according to the property’s team. Across guest floors, self-serve refill stations cut purchasing costs for single-use bottles and eased the workload for housekeeping. In the restaurant, a back-of-house bottling system removed the recurring expense and storage of imported prepackaged bottled water for table service. The savings come from eliminating an entire procurement cycle, from buying and shipping to refrigerating and disposing of bottled water. Because the system is plumbed in and refillable, those savings continue year over year rather than arriving once.
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Is sustainable hydration something hotel guests actually care about?
Increasingly, yes. Sustainability has moved from a nice-to-have to a factor guests weigh when they book and when they form an impression on site. In Booking.com’s 2024 sustainable travel research, 75 percent of global travelers said they want to travel more sustainably over the next year. A visible refill station and a refillable glass bottle in the room communicate a property’s values without a single pamphlet, and they tend to be noticed and genuinely appreciated. For Hotel Bardo, the guest response to its Vivreau setup has been consistently positive. Thoughtful hydration is one of the clearest, most tangible ways a luxury property can show care for both its guests and the wider environment.
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What can other hoteliers learn from Hotel Bardo's approach to water?
The core lesson is that luxury is felt, not just seen, and that the smallest touchpoints carry real weight. Water access is often treated as an afterthought, yet it is something every guest encounters many times a day. By designing hydration into the experience, with microfiltered still and sparkling water on each floor and refillable glass bottles in every room, Hotel Bardo turned a basic need into a moment of ease and delight. For boutique and luxury hoteliers, the takeaway is to choose solutions that look beautiful, function smoothly, and support sustainability at once. Done well, the result reads as effortless to the guest while quietly improving operational efficiency and the bottom line.
