Lu Schildmeyer began his Hospitality Design career at Westin Hotels in 1980. At that time the company was called Western International Hotels. The division Lu worked in was Western Services, which had a Interior Design staff of 25; a food facilities staff of 9; and a purchasing staff of 6. Lu was assigned to the interior design team that was in charge of all remodel and upgrade interior design for existing Canadian Westin Hotels, South Coast Plaza in Newport Beach, CA, and the new Westin Hotel Vail, CO. THIS TEAM CONSISTED OF ONLY TWO DESIGNERS LU AND HIS SENIOR DESIGNER / MENTOR RAY WEYERTS. The other interior design teams had three designers.
Lu was involved in all aspects of Hotel Interior Design: space planning; color and material selection and specifications; design concept sketches; presentation preparation of color boards and colored floor plans; plans production; custom lighting design; custom carpet pattern design; and traveling to existing hotels and new properties for site review and client meetings.
The experience and exposure to one of the most respected and prestigious high end hotel chains during there "Golden Age" of growth and expansion, (as Lu's first exposure to hospitality design), has proven invaluable to Lu's philosophy of design practices and methods to this day.
