LOS ANGELES-Juergen Bartels, CEO of the London-based Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts, shared his vision with a small crowd gathered in the Garden Room of his Le Meridien at Beverly Hills this week. He said that the independent luxury hotel group is set on becoming the number-one brand in the international hotel trade by 2004. To implement this, he outlined a widespread $1.2 billion global investment program designed to upgrade its facilities.

At the heart of the renovation program is the introduction of a new luxury standard, called the Art + Tech room. With the more discerning frequent traveler moving to so-called “boutique hotels” over the last three years, Le Meridien is the first international hotel brand to take these upstarts on head-to-head by combining individual style and service with a global portfolio of luxury properties.

The Le Meridien at Beverly Hills, near the completion of a re-branding from its former owners the Nikko Group and a $50 million renovation, show hints of what is to come for the hotel giant in its attempt to regain its place on top of the hotel heap. The new Art + Tech rooms will not skimp on luxury, and is defined by the use of the latest in technology. For example, each newly designed room will feature 42-inch plasma screen TVs, specially designed beds and mattresses and shower rooms with free standing shower towers incorporating shower and body jets with glass screens or bathrooms where a large steel bath with a circular end.